The Shiromani Akali Dal is a moderate Sikh party founded in 1920. The Shiromani Akali Dal opposes Indian government intervention in Sikh affairs, and believes in autonomy for all states. [ Europa Year Book 1988, (London: Europa Publications Ltd., 1988), p. 1350.] It has approximately one million members. [ Europa, 1988, p. 1350.] In the early eighties, the legally recognized Shiromani Akali Dal was led by Sant Harchand Singh Longowal until his death in 1985, and thus is designated the Akali Dal (L). A faction under the leadership of Jagdev Singh Talwandi (known as the Akali Dal (T) faction) broke off prior to the Golden Temple incident of 1984. In 1985, Baba Joginder Singh formed the United Akali Dal (absorbing the Akali Dal (T)), and in 1986, another faction, under the leadership of Prakash Singh Badal, broke away from the Shiromani Akali Dal to form the Akali Dal (B).

In 1987, these two latter factions merged to form the Unified Akali Dal under the leadership of Simranjit Singh Mann.
This merger was apparently unsuccessful, but the remnants of this faction are now known as the Akali Dal (Mann - M) or the Unified Akali Dal (M). The leader of the Unified Akali Dal (M), is Simranjit Singh Mann, but because he is in prison, a seven-member presidium, including Baba Joginder Singh, leads the (Unified) Akali Dal (M) faction. [ "On a Collision Course", India Today, 15 April 1989, p. 58.] Sant Longowal, the leader of the moderate Akali Dal, was assassinated by extremists 20 August 1985, after he had signed an agreement with Rajiv Gandhi.

Elections to the state assembly were held in the Punjab in September 1985, at which time the Akali Dal (L) party gained 73 of the 117 seats, and formed the state government. [ Keesing's, November 1985, p. 33986.] Surjit Singh Barnala, the new leader of the Akali Dal (L), became the Chief Minister. The Congress (I) Party (Rajiv Gandhi's party) only gained 32 seats. When Badal created the Akali Dal (B), he took 27 members of the Legislative Assembly with him, leaving 46 with the Akali Dal (L) under Barnala. [Keesing's, August 1986, p. 34563.] Barnala still retained the largest group in the 117 member assembly.

In 1984, the Akali Dal (L) was losing support for its moderate policies in the face of repeated failures to negotiate a solution to the Sikh problem in the Punjab with the Indian government, and its popular support was increasingly challenged from the fundamentalist Sant Bhindranwale, who advocated radical solutions. The Akali Dal leadership called for a Sikh campaign of agitation (morcha) in an attempt to maintain the initiative and to prevent militant fundamentalists from gaining control of the Sikh movement. [Keesing's Record of World Events, Volume XXX, November 1984, p. 33221.] As tensions between the government and militant Sikhs escalated, the Golden Temple in Amritsar became the central rallying point. On 1 June 1984, Sikh militants and security forces were involved in fighting around the temple, and on 2 June, the government sent the Army into the Punjab, laying siege to the Golden Temple. [Keesing's, November 1984, p. 33223.] Statistics published by the Indian government in October 1984 put the number of dead from the exchange (including military personnel) at approximately 1000. [Amnesty International, Amnesty International Report 1985, p. 210.]

The National Security Act allows police in the Punjab to detain people without charge or trial for a period of two years. When the Indian army attacked the Golden Temple in June 1984, they detained up to 1500 people, and at the end of 1987, 366 Sikhs were still held without charge in Jodhpur Jail. [ Amnesty International, Amnesty International Report 1987, (London: Amnesty International Publications, 1987), p. 230.] Court proceedings were initiated in August 1986, and all the detainees were charged with being members of either the All India Sikh Students Federation or the (outlawed) Dal Khalsa. [Report 1987, p. 230.] Sixty of the 366 detainees had allegedly been tortured while held in Ladha Kothi jail prior to transfer to Jodhpur in 1984. [ Report 1987, p. 230.] On 6 March 1989, the Indian government released the last 188 of the 366 Sikhs jailed in 1984, but rearrested 84 immediately, allegedly for offences they had committed prior to the Golden Temple incident. [ "If it were 1986," The Economist, 11 March 1989, p. 38.]

In November 1985 a call went out to militant Sikhs to abandon support for the United Akali Dal (the group which had absorbed Talwandi's faction) and join with the Damdami Taksal and a militant faction of the All India Sikh Student Federation (AISSF). In January 1986, a group of 20,000 Sikh members of the Damdami Taksal and the AISSF entered the Golden Temple in Amritsar, took control from the moderate Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC), and announced the establishment of an "advisory panel to look after the religious and political affairs of the Sikhs." [ Henry Degenhardt, ed, Revolutionary and Dissident Movements, (Essex: Longman, 1988), p. 157.] On 22 April 1986, the faction of the AISSF led by Harinder Singh Kahlon broke away from the United Akali Dal, and aligned itself with the Damdami Taksal. [Keesing's, August 1986, p. 34563.] One week later, on 29 April, the 150 member advisory panel declared a separate Sikh state of Khalistan. [Keesing's, August 1986, p. 34562.] Secessionist-related violence in the Punjab escalated after the declaration of Khalistan.

In March 1986, a new Director General of Police of the Punjab "announced new police and paramilitary operations aimed at the elimination or arrest of leaders and members of armed Sikh groups." [ Report 1987, p. 230.] Amnesty International received reports that many Sikh activists were killed in fake encounters staged by the police or paramilitary forces. [ Report 1987, p. 231.] Allegedly, the new police chief had prepared a "hit list" of Sikh "terrorist leaders". [ Michael Hamlyn, "First peace signs in Punjab begin with police reform", Times of London, 18 April 1986.] Extrajudicial killings of Sikh militants by Border Security Forces have also been alleged. [ Amnesty International, Report 1987, p. 231.] According to official figures, in 1987 there were 1246 deaths linked to the Sikh secessionist movement in the Punjab, including the death of 97 policemen. [ Keesing's Record of World Events, Volume XXXIV, February 1988, p. 35718.] One report in March 1989 stated that an average of 11 people are "being gunned down" every day in the Punjab. ["Punjab: Encouraging Signals", India Today, 31 March 1989, p. 29.]

On 11 May 1987, the central government imposed President's (Direct) Rule in the Punjab, dismissing the state government and appointing Siddharta Shankar Ray as state governor. [ Shankar was appointed governor 1 April 1987.] (President's Rule had previously been in effect in the Punjab from October 1983 to September 1985.) [ Keesing's, July 1987, p. 335247.] The government brought in approximately 70,000 paramilitary personnel for the massive security operation, and by 13 May, the government had arrested at least 450 suspected Sikh militants. ["Indian Government holds hundreds of suspects in Punjab crackdown", Globe and Mail, 15 May 1987, p. A10.]

Akali Dal political activists and even Akali Dal leaders have been arrested in addition to other suspected Sikh militants. For example, Simranjit Singh Mann, Prakash Singh Badal, and Gurcharan Singh Tohra (of the moderate Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee) were all held in prison either without charge, or on charges of sedition, by the Indian government. [Inderjit Badhwar and Vipul Mudgal, p. 31.]

In March 1989, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi made a number of changes to limit police and Army powers in the Punjab, including
restricting the use of the Punjab Disturbed Areas Act, and withdrawing the special amendment to the National Security Act which permitted detention of prisoners in the Punjab for up to two years without review. ["Punjab: Encouraging Signals", India Today, 31 March 1989, pp. 28-9.]

As of 15 March 1989 at least three identifiable Akali Dal groups existed:

(Shiromani) Akali Dal-L

(Surjit Singh Barnala);

Unified Akali Dal-(Mann)

(Joginder Singh acting head);

United Akali Dal

(Jagdev Singh Talwandi)
Jagdev Singh Talwandi, the president of the [United] Akali Dal, was wounded by gunmen near Kamalpur 29 November 1988, the day after he held unification talks with leaders of other Akali Dal factions. [ Sanjoy Hazarika, "Gunman Wounds a Sikh Leader", The New York Times, 30 November 2988.] Unification talks over the next few months proved inconclusive, as many members of the Akali Dal (M) faction were not interested in uniting under the leadership of Talwandi. [Pankaj Pachauri, "On a Collision Course", India Today, 15 April 1989, p. 58.]
Please see the attached articles:

- "Akali Dal-Mann Rejects Merger", South Asia, FBIS-NES-89-049, 15 March 1989, p. 63.

- Henry Degenhardt, Revolutionary and Dissident Movements, London: Longman Group UK Ltd., 1988

- Alan Day and H. Degenhardt, Political Parties of the World, Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1984.

- Anuradha Dutt, "Harbinger of Peace", Illustrated Weekly of India, 29 May, 1988.

- Christopher Shackle, The Sikhs, London: Minority Rights Group

- Sanjoy Hazarika, "Gunman Wounds a Sikh Leader", The New York Times, 30 November 1988.

- Indjerit Badhwar and Vipul Mudgal, "Punjab: Encouraging Signals", India Today, 31 March 1989.

- Pankaj Pachauri, "On a Collision Course", India Today, 15 April 1989.