NEW DELHI — A massive manhunt in India for a Sikh separatist leader has failed to find its target for more than a week. But authorities’ no-holds-barred search — including the deployment of thousands of paramilitary soldiers, a statewide internet blackout and a high-speed chase — has captured the attention of the nation and the world.
Police accuse Amritpal Singh, a 30-year-old self-styled preacher who seeks a sovereign Sikh homeland, of disrupting communal harmony, among other mounting charges. Officials say they are worried he could stir violence in his home state of Punjab, where thousands of people were killed in the 1980s as the Indian government battled a bloody insurgency for an independent Sikh state known as Khalistan.
The crackdown has unnerved the public, said Sukanya Singh, a university student in Amritsar, Punjab’s second-biggest city.
“There is panic buying because we don’t know how long it will go,” the 20-year-old, whose last name is common among Sikhs and who is unrelated to Amritpal Singh, told NBC News last week. “Half of my dormitory is empty; everybody just wanted to reach a safe space.”
As the search for the preacher began March 18, authorities blocked mobile internet and SMS services, restricting communication for Punjab’s 27 million residents — almost the population of Texas. Service was gradually restored over several days, though it is still out in some parts of the state.
“There seems to be no sense of control of the situation,” Sukanya Singh said of the government’s actions.
In their effort to apprehend Singh, Indian authorities have arrested more than 200 people and enforced heightened security measures in Punjab, a state in northwestern India that borders Pakistan.
Journalists and activists who have been commenting on the situation in Punjab, including prominent Sikh figures abroad, say their Twitter accounts have been blocked in India at the government’s request. The Twitter account for the…
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