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a265  1707  19 Apr 87
AM-India-Sikh,0286
Swiss Man Among 11 Reported Killed by Sikhs
By H.S. NANDA
Associated Press Writer
    CHANDIGARH, India (AP) - A young Swiss man recently married to a
Sikh woman was among 11 people killed by suspected Sikh terrorists in
a wave of violence reported by police Sunday.
    The death of Ronaldo Vallarsa, 21, was the first reported slaying of
a foreigner during the six years that Sikh militants have fought for
a separate homeland or greater autonomy, police in the northern
Punjab state said.
    Details of the other killings, all in the past day, were not
immediately available, but police said the victims included four
members of a Hindu family and a Hindu priest.
    The latest occurred Sunday night when armed fundamentalists fatally
shot the owner of a liquor store, according to the United News of
Inda.
    The slayings raised the year's terrorist death toll to at least 272.
    Vallarsa was married by Sikh rites in February over protests of Sikh
militants who said a Sikh woman should not be allowed to marry a
clean-shaven man. Hindus, whom Sikh extremists see as their
oppressors, are often clean-shaven.
    Swiss Ambassador Jean Cuendet in New Delhi confirmed that Vallarsa,
from eastern Switzerland, was fatally shot by six Sikh gunmen
Saturday night at the home of his in-laws.
    The assailants first demanded jewelry and gold ornaments, then
forced their way in and killed Vallarsa, police said. His wife, who
was not identified, escaped unhurt.
    Vallarsa was planning to be married in a civil ceremony that would
be recognized by Swiss law, the embassy said. Vallarsa had worked
with his wife's brother in Switzerland, but his occupation was not
given.
    
 
 
AP-NY-04-19-87 2007EDT
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a246  1738  08 Jul 87
AM-Digest Briefs,0813
By The Associated Press
    ---
    SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - The government released 357 political
prisoners Wednesday. Many marched through the gates shouting ''Down
with the military dictatorship!'' and demanded freedom for all their
comrades.
    Relatives and friends greeted them with flowers. Chants of ''Long
live democracy!'' rose from the crowds outside prisons in Seoul and
25 other cities.
    Meanwhile, radical students continued with plans for a ''democratic
peoples' funeral'' in the capital Thursday for student who died
Sunday from injuries received in a clash with riot police a month
ago.
    ---
    CHANDIGARH, India (AP) - Hindu mobs killed five Sikhs and injured
another 87, burned their shops and stopped trains in lynching
attempts Wednesday to avenge 72 Hindu bus passengers massacred by
Sikh terrorists.
    The army went on full alert in north India and New Delhi and the
capital braced for violence as opposition parties called for a
protest strike on Thursday.
    Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi met with his Cabinet ministers and
opposition politicians to discuss the crisis.
    ---
    WASHINGTON (AP) - Feminist leader Eleanor Smeal said Wednesday that
Congress should consider impeaching President Reagan and other top
officials, saying the ''nation deserves a return to ... real
morality, where no person stands above the law.''
    The president of the National Organization for Women decried what
she said are the abuses of power, the lying and illegal actions of
the Reagan administration in the Iran-Contra affair, the Wedtech
scandal and other matters.
    ''It's time to say what we are all thinking, or at least what a lot
of us are: Why aren't the impeachment proceedings beginning?'' she
told a National Press Club luncheon. ''The House Judiciary Committee
should be cranking up at least the investigation for possible
presentation of articles of impeachment.''
    ---
    PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Protest groups asked a judge Wednesday to
protect their rights to demonstrate freely and without police spying
at Independence Hall during the Constitution's bicentennial events.
    A civil rights lawsuit heard by Chief U.S. District Judge John
Fullam sought an injunction which would prohibit police from
infiltrating protest groups for monitoring purposes and also
guarantee access to historic sites.
    The suit was filed by 36 people and 16 groups, including Pledge of
Resistance, Americans for Democratic Action, National Organization of
Women, and the Lesbian and Gay Task Force. Among the defendants are
the city of Philadelphia and We the People 200, which is the sponsor
of the Constitution celebration.
    ---
    CHERNOBYL, U.S.S.R. (AP) - Holding a public trial to fix blame for
the world's worst nuclear accident shows how seriously Soviet leader
Mikhail S. Gorbachev takes his campaign against bureaucratic
bungling.
    Six former top officials and technicians of the Chernobyl power
plant 11 miles north of the Ukrainian town of Chernobyl entered the
squat, columned House of Culture on Tuesday to hear criminal charges
read against them.
    A dozen foreign reporters brought in by bus for the trial's opening
day were told after the session that they would be invited back for
the verdict, probably in about three weeks.
    Former plant director Viktor P. Bryukhanov and the other defendants
are accused of blatant and repeated breaches of safety regulationsm,
leading to the explosion and fire in the No. 4 reactor April 26,
1986.
    ---
    JERUSALEM (AP) - Foreign Minister Shimon Peres' popularity has begun
to fade in public opinon polls and among his own party activists
after he failed to force national elections on the issue of Middle
East peace.
    In an apparent effort to regain momentum and maintain his own
personal credibility, Peres has scheduled meetings with President
Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and U.N. Secretary-General Javier Perez de
Cuellar in Geneva on Thursday.
    The expected focus of the meetings is a proposed international
conference that is opposed by right-wingers headed by Prime Minister
Yitzhak Shamir. The proposed conference would be convened by Perez de
Cuellar and be attended by the five permanent members of the U.N.
Security Council - the Soviet Union, China, the United States,
Britain and France - as well as by parties in the region.
    
 
AP-NY-07-08-87 2023EDT
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