Member of Gandhi party gunned down Toronto Sun NEW DELHI, India (UPI) — Militant Sikh gunmen killed a local leader of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's party yesterday in the northern state of Punjab. Hardayal Singh, president of the Jalandhar district committee of Gandhi's ruling Congress Party in Punjab, was shot by two gunmen who drove up to him in a car as he talked with friends. When the first shots missed, the gunmen leaped out of the car and chased Singh, also a Sikh, into a shop, where they killed him. Two others were injured in the attack in Jalandhar, 80 km (50 miles) east of the Sikh holy city of Amritsar, 400 km (250 miles) north of New Delhi. Sikh militants, who are waging a violent campaign for greater autonomy for the northern state of Punjab, have vowed vengeance against Sikhs who belong to Gandhi's Congress party. Meanwhile, the New York Times reported yesterday that Gandhi is insisting tha "certain foreign powers," including the CIA have supported the Sikh militants, with the aim of destabilizing India. The state department in Washington denied the report. And the Sikh political party declared today a "Day of Mourning and Protest" for the Sikhs killed in a battle with soldiers June 6 at the Golden Temple in Punjab, their holiest shrine. A spokesman for the Akali Dal, the Sikh political party, said in New Delhi that all Sikh men are to wear black turbans and woman black shawls for the day of mourning. Sikhs also must sleep on the floor during the period of mourning. |