APRIL 16, 1984, FORTY YEARS AGO

ARSON IN PUNJAB

TERRORISTS SET ON fire 31 railway stations spread over nine districts of Punjab, in what the police described as a major pre-planned action. (According to a PTI report, the number of railway stations burnt was 37). A Punjab police spokesman said the terrorists in groups of six to 15 struck at the wayside railway stations and burnt records, looted cash and escaped.

ASSASSINATION PLAN

THE SECRETARY OF the Shiromani Akali Dal, Gurcharan Singh, has hatched a conspiracy to get Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his chief lieutenants assassinated. The murder of Surinder Singh Sodhi in a hotel is part of the conspiracy. Rachhpal Singh, personal assistant to Bhindranwale, played a tape-recorded “confessional statement” made to the “men of Bhindranwale” by one Baljit Kaur who is allegedly involved.

SRI LANKA’S CLAIM

SRI LANKA PRESIDENT Junius Jayewardene has expressed resentment at what he sees as India’s attempts to “bully” his government. “The Indian government keeps saying: Don’t enter into this pact. But why should they tell me what I should or shouldn’t do? That goes against my grain, what I learnt from Mahatma Gandhi and others including Mrs Gandhi’s father, Jawaharlal Nehru”. He did not think India would invade his country, but if it did, that would be “the end of Tamils in his country.”

ZIA’S REFERENDUM CALL

PAKISTAN PRESIDENT ZIA ul Haq said that, if necessary, he might hold a national referendum to determine whether the people wanted the Western form of democracy or an Islamic system of government. He reiterated his resolve to implement the August 12 plan and bring in the Islamic form of government in the country.