Taking Stock

mindless killers of innocent people in Punjab cannot be isolated from their social base and curbed. The already proved ineffectiveness of purely police methods, even if conducted under the command of an ace policeman, should serve to underline the necessity, and indeed the urgency, of such moves for the emotive reclamation of the hurt Sikh community. There is perhaps not much time left to lose in making such reconciliatory moves. The continued and escalating murder spree in Punjab can some day set off an engineered or even spontaneous violence in some other parts of the country, making the situation even more favourable for the extremist operations in Punjab as a result.