MUMBAI: A gunman shot at a prominent Sikh politician outside the Golden Temple in northern India on Wednesday before police caught and arrested him, in a scare at the popular site that witnessed a bloody clash between Sikh militants and troops four decades ago.
The politician, Sukhbir Singh Badal, former deputy chief minister of Punjab state, was unharmed.
The shooter, identified by police as Narain Singh, 68, was seen in TV footage from news agency ANI walking to the entrance of the temple in Amritsar city, the holiest shrine for Sikhs, and stealthily removing a gun from his pocket to fire at Badal.
He was stopped and pushed away by a policeman in plainclothes who was standing next to Badal, but not before he fired a stray shot, which did not hit anyone, police said.
“Due to the alertness and deployment of our police, this attack attempt was foiled,” Amritsar Police Commissioner Gurpreet Singh Bhullar told reporters, adding that the gunman had been arrested.
The reason for the attack was not immediately clear.
Badal, a former ally of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, was sitting outside the Golden Temple doing a penance ritual imposed on him by the Akal Takht, Sikhism’s highest body.
Sikhism is one of the country’s main religions, and Sikhs form nearly 2 percent of India’s 1.4 billion population.
In 1984, then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi sent the military into the Golden Temple to evict armed Sikh separatist leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his supporters, infuriating Sikhs around the world.
A few months later, Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards at her home in New Delhi.
Gunman shoots at Sikh leader outside India’s Golden Temple, no one harmed
https://arab.news/8jrg5
Gunman shoots at Sikh leader outside India’s Golden Temple, no one harmed
- Politician, Sukhbir Singh Badal, former deputy chief minister of Punjab state, was unharmed
- The shooter, identified by police as Narain Singh, 68, was caught and arrested, police said
US pays about $160m of the nearly $4 billion it owes the United Nations
- The UN has said the United States owes $2.196 billion to its regular budget
- Trump has said the United Nations has not lived up to its potential
UNITED NATIONS: The United States has paid about $160 million of the nearly $4 billion it owes the United Nations, the UN said Thursday.
The Trump administration’s payment is earmarked for the UN’s regular operating budget, UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric told The Associated Press.
The UN has said the United States owes $2.196 billion to its regular budget, including $767 million for this year, and $1.8 billion for a separate budget for the far-flung UN peacekeeping operations.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned last month that the world body faces “imminent financial collapse” unless its financial rules are overhauled or all 193 member nations pay their dues, a message clearly directed at the United States.
The disclosure of the payment came as President Donald Trump convened the first meeting of the Board of Peace, a new initiative many see as his attempt to rival the UN Security Council’s role in preventing and ending conflict around the world.
Trump has said the United Nations has not lived up to its potential. His administration did not pay anything to the United Nations in 2025, and it has withdrawn from UN organizations, including the World Health Organization and the cultural agency UNESCO, while pulling funding from dozens of others.
UN officials have said 95 percent of the arrears to the UN’s regular budget is from the United States.
