CHANDIGARH: India's prime minister appealed for calm Monday as riots spread to several northern Indian cities to protest a deadly shooting at a Sikh temple in Austria. Hundreds defied a curfew and army patrols, attacking police stations and torching the car of a senior officer and several trains. In two places police opened fire on mobs, wounding at least four people, said senior police officer Khubi Ram. The violence centered on the north Indian city of Jalandhar, a stronghold of the Dera Sach Khand, a Sikh sect comprised of mainly``untouchables,'' or Dalits. A leader of the sect was killed and another preacher wounded Sunday when Sikhs wielding knives and a handgun attacked the two in Vienna. At least 15 other people were wounded, Austrian police said. Witnesses said the perpetrators were fundamentalist Sikhs from a higher caste, who accused one or both of the preachers of being disrespectful of the Holy Book.Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, India's first leader of the Sikh faith, said he was ``deeply distressed'' by the attack and subsequent violence. ``Whatever the provocation, it is important to maintain peace and harmony among different sections of the people,'' Singh said, adding that ``Sikhism preaches tolerance and harmony.'' Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna said India was working with Austrian authorities to ``ensure that the perpetrators of this completely mindless and wanton attack are brought to justice. `` Late Sunday after news of the Vienna attack, hundreds of Dera Sach Khand followers, supported by other local Dalit organizations, took to the streets of Jalandhar, burning several vehicles and a bank, stoning buses and blocking railway lines and roads, police said. Sporadic violence was also reported from several nearby towns, said Sanjiv Kalra, a senior police official at Jalandhar, some 210miles (337 kilometers) northwest of New Delhi. On Monday morning, about 400 soldiers patrolled the area and police set up roadblocks across the city. Initially it appeared that the move had restored calm, but later protests spread to at least five nearby cities.``Curfew in the entire district has been extended for an indefinite period and five columns of army have been deployed to control the violence,'' local government official A.S. Pannu told news agency.
Friday, August 14, 2009 MUMBAI: A 26-year-old woman died Thursday of H1N1 swine flu in the southern city of Bangalore, raising India's death toll from the virus to 20, authorities said.The death was the first reported in India's information technology capital, the Press Trust of India reported.Meanwhile in Pune, the worst-affected in India, two more victims of the virus died Thursday, raising the death toll in that western city near Mumbai to 12, the report said. The victims were an 11-month-old boy and a 75-year-old old woman.US media reported movie halls, schools and colleges were ordered closed Thursday for three days to a week in Mumbai, the commercial and financial capital of the country, as fear of the pandemic spread.Prajakata Lavangare, a spokeswoman for the government of Maharashtra state of which Mumbai is the capital, said similar orders were issued in Pune, which is also located in the state.The woman who died in Bangalore was identified only as Roopa, a teacher in
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