Old Game in Punjab

It is difficult to imagine a more bizarre sequence of events. The five Sikh priests, arrested at different points of the time on charges of sedition and now released in one of the typical twists and turns of the government of India's Punjab policy, arrive at the Golden Temple in Amritsar on March 4 to a public welcome by Sikh militants in the temple who fire AK-47 rifles in the air in jubilation and raise slogans in support of 'Khalistan.' The Punjab police and the centre's paramilitary forces, amassed in strength in the area, watch the scene without interfering. The episode confirms reports that the militants have re-established control