GUJARAT, INDIA, May 7, 2002: A force of 1,000 specially-trained riot police is to be deployed in the troubled western Indian state of Gujarat. These men have been specifically trained to tackle the kind of situation that persists in Gujarat. A spokesman for the Gujarat Government told the BBC that 1,000 commandos from the northern state of Punjab are to be sent to Gujarat to assist the state’s police force. The announcement was made as fresh violence in Gujarat on Tuesday left another nine people dead and more than 10 injured. The Gujarat spokesman, IK Jadeja, said that the decision to requisition the special force was made by the state’s recently-appointed security adviser, KPS Gill. Mr. Gill told the BBC huge numbers of additional security forces were required to tackle the problem in Gujarat. “These men [from Punjab] have been specifically trained to tackle the kind of situation that persists in Gujarat,” he said. He also indicated there would have to be a drastic change in security force tactics in order to control the violence. Mr. Gill gained fame during the late 1980s when as Punjab police chief he helped put down a Sikh separatist movement in the state. In fresh violence on Tuesday, police said a man riding a scooter was burnt to death by a mob in the state’s commercial capital, Ahmedabad. In another attack a man was stabbed to death in the city.
A daily summary of world news for Hindus and non-Hindus alike