The Punjab government has at long last arrested a prominent Akali leader, who has been encouraging violence in the state. Sukhjinder Singh is a well-known extremist. He was arrested during President’s rule in Punjab. Even so the Akali leadership not only chose him as one of its candidates for election to the Vidhan Sabha in September last year, but also appointed him a minister. This did not persuade him to change his stance and when the Dal split last May, he quit the Barnala ministry and made common cause with the Badal group. Apparently this released him from whatever restraint he might have felt obliged to exercise in his speeches as a minister. Recently, he went so far as to say that the attempts on the life of the Prime Minister on October 2 and of the Punjab police chief on October 3, showed that Sikhs were “alive” and that whoever “tarnished” the image of the community “would not be spared.” This shocked even some members of the breakaway Badal faction and Mr. Amrinder Singh, leader of its legislative wing, wrote to Mr. Badal objecting to the statement. Even so the Barnala government, for reasons best known to it, did not act against him. Finally Mr. Ribeiro seems to have had his way. He is known to have been advocating the arrest of prominent Akalis who continue to incite violence and registration of cases against them. Thus the police have also arrested Sukhwant Singh Akhanwali, a member of the so-called presidium set up by the All-India Sikh Students’ Federation. He was alleged to be extorting funds for financing the gathering that is planned to be held in Amritsar on October 31 to “honour” Mrs. Indira Gandhi’s assassins. Perhaps the gathering cannot be banned, because it coincides with the traditional Diwali mela in which thousands of ordinary Sikhs participate. But the mischief can be minimized if leading advocates of terrorism can be arrested.
But however welcome the arrests of Sukhjinder Singh and Akhanwali, the country cannot derive much satisfaction from them in view of the spurt in terrorist killings in recent weeks. It is difficult to interpret the significance of this spurt. It is possible that the terrorists under police pressure are wanting to demonstrate their capacity to attack and kill on the eve of the second death anniversary of Mrs. Indira Gandhi on October 31 and Diwali the next day. But one cannot be sure. Similarly, it is difficult to say whether there is a pattern in the recent killings, though several of them have taken place in semi-urban and predominantly Hindu localities. We have to wait and watch before the picture becomes somewhat clearer. Meanwhile it does not look as if the terrorists are on the run. And if they are, they are managing to hide this fact very well. Certainly they have not decided to lie low and bide their time.