Associated Press and BBC report

“Smoke billowing over New Delhi reflecting the mood of India as the country started twelve official days of mourning violence, mixed with grief. Tough curfews were imposed to thwart the ominously growing sectarian violence. The Press Trust of India reported at least 15 people killed and 700 wounded in Delhi alone. Scores of cars belonging to Sikhs were burnt. Most taxi drivers in Delhi are Sikhs, proving easy targets for angered Hindus.

Rioters set more than 60 houses alight, throwing stones at Sikh property and damaging everything in sight. Many Sikhs left their homes and went into hiding abandoning their belongings, which became easy targets for the looting and rioting mob.

Reports from many parts of the capital said shops owned by Sikhs had been burned and the owners and their families terrorised. Heavily armed troops moved into eight provincial Indian cities and the capital, taking command of the worst hit areas. Ordinary police forces were overburdened and could not cope with the situation. The troops were under orders to shoot on site to avoid any further bloodshed and a deepening of the present crisis and the tough measures appear to have worked. As mike fell an eerie silence was lying over the capital.

Firefighters battled 500 blazes set in Delhi during a night of violence. Sikh property was ransacked and destroyed. Even Hindus were not safe from the mob if they were seen helping the Sikh. 150 people were killed, a thousand others injured and some 2500 cars burnt. In this backlash of anger against Mrs. Gandhi’s assassination and there are fears that the worst is not yet over. Authorities are afraid the Sikhs will take their revenge on Hindus to this night of carnage. India’s new Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi went on national television to appeal for calm.

Communal madness will destroy us. It will destroy everything India stands for. As Prime Minister of India I cannot and will not allow this.

But neither the Prime Minister’s strong words nor an indefinite curfew have stopped these people from going into the streets burying their relatives and scarcely hiding their anger. The army is out in force trying to keep what peace they can. City and country sliding perilously close to civil war.

A Sikh temple burns on the eastern outskirts of Delhi. Cycle rickshaws have been destroyed. The whole community has been devastated by inter communal hatred. Hindus enraged by the murder of Mrs. Gandhi, have ignored the pleas of her son, the new Prime Minister, to stop the violence.

Jane Corbin, BBC

Sikhs have retaliated.

Everyone has fled from the mobs. Bodies, Sikh and Hindu lie abandoned on the streets. Sikh families have taken refuge in a nearby wood. Their homes and all their possessions have been destroyed. There are many women and children. They’re afraid of a Hindu crowd gathered just a short distance away.

The violence of the past two days reached its height in a massacre in the suburb of Trilokpuri. According to eyewitnesses, the narrow lanes were blocked by a mob of youth. All the men in the houses were dragged out, knifed and set on fire. Those who resisted were hacked to pieces.

Hours after the cremation of Indira Gandhi. These were the scenes in New Delhi’s western suburbs. Amongst a trail of debris, the barely recognisable remains of a Sikh temple. But the night of Hindu vengeance didn’t stop at demolishing property. Mutilated bodies bear a grim testament to the religious hatred now dividing India. More than a thousand Sikhs and Hindus have died like this in the few days since Indira Gandhi’s assassination. Row upon row of Sikh homes and shops lie smashed, burned and looted. Throughout these western suburbs, the streets are deserted. The only cars on the road, smouldering wrecks.

Refugees are streaming into police run food distribution points. Many of the Sikhs have shaved their heads to avoid being identified by the Hindu mobs. Having lost everything they own, once wealthy citizens are left clamouring for charity. But just a few miles to the east, things look startlingly different. The appetite for life has returned. Things are getting back to normal.

The streets are busy, shops and offices opening again. Sikh bus riders once again ferry Hindu passengers around the capital. The Hindus seem to be losing their thirst for revenge. Some, no doubt, are still not satisfied. And the Sikh extremists are warning that Rajiv Gandhi is next on their list. For the moment, however, life goes on.”

News reports from the Associated Press and BBC on the violence.