Ludhiana

Ludhiana is one of Punjab's major cities, on the Buddha Nala south of the Sutlej. The 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica says it was founded in 1480 by two of the Lodi race. The Lodis held it until 1620, when the Rais of Raikot regained it. In 1806 Ranjit Singh crossed the Sutlej, subdued the Rais and distributed their territory among his co-religionists.

Gurdwara Gau Ghat. The gurdwara stands on the bank of the Buddha Nala. Local tradition holds that Guru Nanak visited in the early sixteenth century, when the local chief Nawab Jalal ud-Din Lodhi asked him to save the town from erosion by the Sutlej. The Guru advised him to be sympathetic and just towards his subjects and to leave the rest to God. A proper building replaced the old platform in 1972 to 1973, and the SGPC is affiliated with it.

Key moments

• 4 July 1965: the Nalwa Conference at Ludhiana demanded a self-determined political status for Sikhs.
• 28 and 29 October 1978: the 18th All-India Akali Conference at Ludhiana endorsed the Anandpur Sahib Resolution.
• 1980s and 1990s: Ensaaf's database documents 56 cases in Ludhiana East subdistrict alone, 42 extrajudicial executions and 14 enforced disappearances, with 10 cases dated 1991 and 16 dated 1992. Ensaaf collected the data through interviews.
• June 1991: UPI reported that two trains were ambushed near Ludhiana and 75 people were shot dead, a BJP spokesman putting the toll at 76 Hindu passengers. UPI blamed "Sikh extremists" seeking Khalistan. The Election Commission postponed Punjab's elections to the end of September, a day before polling, because violence had killed at least 50 people, 24 of them candidates.