According to jail sources, the convicts refused to accept tea that is served around 7 a.m. and they also did not take their ration of milk for the day. Later, they missed the meals that were served around 9.30 a.m. and in the afternoon they declined to have tea.

Jail Superintendent Bhajan Singh said initially 10 of the convicts serving jail terms in TADA cases had threatened to launch an indefinite hunger strike from today. Of these 10 convicts, four are over 50 years of age. But, the ones who have started the hunger strike are all youths.

He said the jail authorities had been trying to persuade the convicts not to go on a fast since their representation had already been sent to the government. He expressed hope that even those who were on fast might be persuaded to end their fast.

These lifers have, in a letter addressed to all prominent Panthic leaders and the government, pointed out that now was the time for the community to undertake an exercise in introspection and see how far it had deviated from the path shown by the great Sikh gurus.

``The apathetic and indifferent attitude of the Panthic leadership towards the heroes of the recent Sikh struggle would be a demoralising factor in future,'' they have added. The orphaned children and other dependents of those who had laid down their lives were still leading a wretched life and nobody had bothered to attend to their needs, hopes and aspirations, the convicts lament. The letter said they had got into jail only to maintain the glory of the Panth.

The jail superintendent said there was no provision in the jail manual to allow convicts to go on a fast. He said the jail authorities may have to resort to forcible feeding of those on fast if they did not end it in a day or so. He said he had forwarded to the Inspector General of Prisons the representation given to him by these convicts.

Bhajan Singh clarified that the remission in jail terms announced by the government from time to time was not applicable to TADA convicts and that they were allowed only jail remissions.