AMRITSAR, INDIA // Clashes broke out between sword-wielding Sikhs on Friday at the Golden Temple in northern India on the 30th anniversary of a notorious army raid in which hundreds of people were killed.
At least 10 people were wounded in the violence at the temple in Amritsar, which is the holiest shrine in the Sikh religion.
Hundreds of Sikhs had gathered at the shrine to pay their respects to those killed in the June 6, 1984 raid of the temple by Indian troops aimed at flushing out armed separatists demanding an independent Sikh homeland.
“Today we were supposed to have a solemn remembrance for the martyrs of 1984 so what has happened is very sad,” said a spokesman for a radical Sikh outfit called the Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) whose supporters were involved in the clashes.
“The Temple has once again been dishonoured today,” the spokesman Prem Singh Chandumajra told reporters.
The two groups chased each other with swords on the marbled staircase of the revered shrine in Punjab state.
The clashes allegedly broke out after members of Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) insisted they be allowed to speak on the microphone first.
“Members of a radical outfit confronted the temple’s task force, triggering the fight. Some 10 people have been injured, two of them are being treated in hospital,” a police spokesman said.
He said the situation was under control with extra security deployed inside the temple.
At least 400 people were killed in the army’s Operation Blue Star.
The army’s operation enraged Sikhs who accused the troops of desecrating the faith’s holiest shrine.
India’s prime minister Indira Gandhi was shot dead by her own Sikh bodyguards in October 1984 in revenge for the operation.
Her assassination triggered mass anti-Sikh riots in which some 3,000 people were killed, many of them on the streets of New Delhi.
On Thursday, supporters of several radical groups carried out a ‘Genocide Remembrance Parade’ around the streets of Amritsar, shouting slogans to hail the “martyrs” of 1984.
Despite the outrage over the Golden Temple raid, support for an independent “Khalistan”, or the land of the pure, has waned in the last three decades.
Analysts say Punjab’s geopolitical significance, the landlocked region shares borders with Pakistan and restive Kashmir, means sovereignty is almost impossible.
However support for the independence movement remains strong among sections of the Sikh diaspora in Britain, Canada and the United States.
Kuldip Singh Brar, the commander of Operation Blue Star, was seriously injured in 2012 when he was stabbed on a London street. A Sikh gang was found guilty of the attack which was to avenge the 1984 raid.
Amarinder Singh, a prominent political leader from the state, condemned Friday’s violence at the shrine.
“It is very shameful. There is no provision for law and order there,” Mr Singh, who belongs to the Congress Party, said.
“It is unfortunate that such a thing is happening at our religious site.”
* Agence France-Presse
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
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The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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