40 years ago October 29, 1986: More violence in Punjab

This is the front page of The Indian Express published on October 29, 1986.

This is the front page of The Indian Express published on October 29, 1986.

2 min readOct 29, 2026 06:40 AM IST First published on: Oct 29, 2026 at 06:40 AM IST

Sewa Singh Bhinder, vice-president of Gurdaspur district Congress-I and uncle of a former chief of Punjab and Delhi police, was among the seven persons killed by terrorists in the state in the past 24 hours.

PM for defensive measures

Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi said in New Delhi that the presence of outside navies in the Indian Ocean remained a source of worry and stressed that the country could not ignore any possible threat from this region while planning its defence. Addressing the first-ever joint conference of senior officers of the Army, Navy and Air Force, he said the proposal to make the Indian Ocean a zone of peace had not met with success yet. On the induction of sophisticated arms into Pakistan, he said it was regrettable that Pakistan had not evinced any serious interest in the normalisation of relations.

Congress impasse

The impasse in the Congress-I following working president Kamlapati Tripathi’s stand on relinquishing the post appeared to be ending with him offering to step down. “If the Congress-I president, Rajiv Gandhi, gives me the slightest indication that he wants me to resign, I will quit immediately.”

Samora Machel laid to rest

Mozambique President Samora Machel, considered one of the greatest freedom fighters of southern Africa, was laid to rest with full state and military honours amid renewed determination by the government and the party to fight racism and colonialism. Machel, who became the symbol of armed struggle in the region and won freedom for his country from the Portuguese in 1975, found his final resting place in the Heroes Square.