Hindu mobs attack Sikhs at Yamunanagar in 1983 and Panipat in 1984

Who: Hindu mobs in the Haryana towns of Yamunanagar and Panipat, the Sikhs they attacked, and the Haryana Police, whom Sikhs accused of standing aside. Haryana's Chief Minister was Bhajan Lal.

What: Yamunanagar, October 1983. Gurmit Singh says Hindu mobs burned nine Sikh houses and fourteen shops, attacked two Sikh shrines, and forcibly shaved the hair of some Sikhs and put cigarettes in their mouths, in retaliation for the killing of six Hindus in Punjab. His chronology dates this to 7 September 1983. Khushwant Singh gave the Rajya Sabha a different date on 21 November 1983: anti-Sikh violence in Yamunanagar between 7 and 10 October, after a meeting on 1 October, with 43 injured, one killed and property worth over Rs 12 lakhs looted or destroyed. He was relaying a representation by local Sikhs, all of them members of the Congress (I), which said the mob had been led by a local Congress (I) leader; he added that he was not accusing the Congress.

Haryana, February 1984. The tripartite talks between the Akali Dal, the Government and opposition leaders began on 14 February. The White Paper says violent incidents followed in Haryana on 15, 18, 19 and 20 February at Karnal, Kaithal, Panipat and Jind, and that 11 people died at Panipat, Kaithal and Jind together. The Home Minister told Parliament on 28 February that on 19 February clashes at Panipat killed eight and that police rescued 46 people from a place of worship. Gurmit Singh writes that nine Sikhs were killed and three Sikh shrines burned, and that Sikhs said the Haryana Police connived with the arsonists. Grewal writes that eight Sikhs were killed on the Grand Trunk Road at Panipat within sight of the Haryana Police, and that 35 "Hindus", in his quotation marks, were killed in the following five days in retaliation. The Akali leaders left the talks to go back to Punjab, and the Akali Dal later decided not to return.

Where: Yamunanagar and Panipat in Haryana, with further incidents at Karnal, Kaithal and Jind.

Why it mattered: The attacks showed Sikhs outside Punjab being targeted in answer to killings inside it. Khushwant Singh warned Parliament that such a Hindu backlash was spreading. Grewal writes that the violence in Haryana was generally believed to have been engineered by Haryana's Chief Minister, and that it came just as the tripartite talks were close to a settlement. After the talks failed, Longowal called the district jathedars to Amritsar on 22 February, and they decided on an ultimatum over Article 25.