NEW DELHI. May 4: India s President has given blanket protection from prosecution by state authorities to security forces accused of committing human rights abuses tn areas facing nationalist rebellions, reports AP.

President Ramaswaml Venkataraman promulgated an ordlnace Thursday requiring approval by federal authorities before any disciplinary action is taken against a public servant when an area Is under federal rule.

The ordinance was intended to protect police and paramilitary forces in the troubled states of Punjab. Assam and Jammu-Kashmir who fear retribution once new state governments are elected to replace federal authority.

Punjab and Assam are due to hold election in June, following national elections for a new Parliament, while federal rule will remain in effect in Kashmir.

Punjab, where Sikh extremists have been campaigning to secede from India, has been under federal rule since 1987. The local government in Assam was suspended earlier this year when the army was sent to the far eastern state to suppress an ethnic Assamese rebellion.

The ordinance covers any public servant "while acting or purporting to act in the discharge of his official duty."