Die Presse, May 26th, 2009.

Violence between Sikhs shocks Vienna

Published on 26 May 2009 at 17:03
Die Presse, May 26th, 2009.

In the wake of the May 24 armed attack in a Sikh temple that killed one and injured 12, Die Presse asks the question “Why Vienna?” in its report on the carnage. “It would be more logical to expect this type of attack in London or India,” notes the daily. Regrettably it now seems that conflict between orthodox Sikhs and the Ravidasi movement can erupt anywhere in the world. Some orthodox Sikhs have been angered by the Ravidasi movement’s rejection of the caste system and what they believe to be a failure to observe all the tenets of Sikh scripture.

According to Die Presse, the incident occurred in Vienna for two reasons: “Sikhs account for a disproportionately large percentage of the Indian community, because when they were forced to flee the Punjab in the 1980s, it was easy to find work in Austria.” Moreover, the sect that was attacked on Sunday “had been very active in recent times.”

The Viennese daily also examines the situation in neighbouring Germany, where two Sikh groups that have been classed as terrorist by the European Union are known to be active. A report on the protection Germany’s constitution explicitly mentions both of these groups and further notes that “for decades, Sikh extremist groups have made use of terrorist methods, in the hope that they will lead to the creation a Sikh homeland to be known as ‘Khalistan’ in the Punjab.”

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