NEW DELHI. Feb 1: Police fired tear gas and used water cannon here Tuesday to scatter thousands of Sikhs protesting against US President Bill Clinton's remarks on the rights of Sikhs in the Indian state of Punjab, re ports AFP

Steel-helmeted policemen lobbed 12 tear gas shells In quick succession after the estimated 10.000 demonstrators threw stones and almost broke through a Security cordon in a bld to march on the US em

The Sikhs chanting slogans and waving placards denouncing Clinton, immediately scattered A police officer was in Jured after being hit by a stone.

The demonstration was organised by the Punjab chapter of India's ruling Congress (I) party and the protestors arrived in the capital in buses from the northern state, where a Sikh separatist* campaign is on its last legs.

It was the third and the biggest demonstration here since Clinton wrote a letter on December 27 to US representative Gary Condit saytng he wanted a "peaceful solution that protected Sikh rights" In Pi^ab

The letter was in reply to a letter seeking US intervention "to end the misery in Khallstan , where over 110.000 Sikhs have been 'killed by Indian security forces since 1984 and 70.000 Sikhs are languishing in Jails without being tried."

Khallstan. or land of the pure, is the name given to Punjab. India s only Slkh-ma-jority state, by Sikh militants campaigning for an Independent homeland

"There is a lot of anger In Punjab over Clinton's remarks." said Ram Lubaya Chowdhury, a leader of the Punjab Congress chapter Sikh rights are perfectly safe in Punjab." added Gurumukh Singh, a Sikh fanner.