SGPC, Dal Khalsa question tight security, say government creating atmosphere of fear, terror

In a press note issued Saturday, Shiromani Gurudwara Parbhandak Committee (SGPC) president Harjinder Singh Dhami ‘condemned the government for turning Amritsar city into a police cantonment in view of the commemoration of the June 1984 Holocaust Week’.

“By doing so, the government is creating an atmosphere of fear while this day is very serious and painful for the Sikh Qaum (community). Every year on Ghallughara Day, the Qaum congregates to commemorate its martyrs and therefore, the government should not present this occasion as fearsome”, Harjinder Singh said.

Dal Khalsa activists have been also campaigning while seeking support for a ‘bandh’. They were distributing pamphlets and displaying banners in public places to publicise their planned event of Azadi March on the evening of June 5 and a bandh on June 6.

“In the name of maintaining law and order during Ghallughara week, police was creating terror by targeting Sikh youth at police nakas. The government and police should desist from such terror tactics,” said Dal Khalsa leader Kanwar Pal Singh. Kanwar claimed his Twitter account had been withheld on the complaint of the Indian government before the anniversary and termed it as an assault on freedom of expression and his right to hold independent thoughts.

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Saturday reviewed the law-and-order situation in the state ahead of the Operation Bluestar anniversary on June 6 and said the police have been put on high alert for maintaining peace.

Operation Blue Star was carried out by the Indian Army in June 1984 to flush out militants hiding in the Golden Temple complex in Amritsar.

Chairing a meeting with senior officers of the police and civil administration, Mann asked them to ensure elaborate security arrangements before June 6 across the state. The chief minister said no one should be allowed to disturb the hard-earned peace of state at any cost.

Asserting that his government is committed to making Punjab a peaceful and frontrunner state in the country, he said anybody trying to disrupt peace will be dealt with sternly. Some forces inimical to the progress and prosperity of the state are making constant attempts to derail the peace in the state. But the AAP government will not allow any such nefarious move to succeed, Mann said.

The Punjab Police has been put on high alert and central paramilitary forces have been deployed to assist them in maintaining peace in the state, the chief minister said. Exhorting the Punjabis to uphold the ethos of peace, communal harmony and brotherhood in the state, Mann urged them “to teach anti-Punjab forces a lesson by foiling all their conspiracies aimed at pushing Punjab back to the black days”.

An Amritsar police spokesperson said that it is the first time since 2019 that the paramilitary forces are deployed in the city ahead of the anniversary. A clash between the Sikhs activists and the SGPC task force was witnessed in 2014 inside the Golden Temple premises after the anniversary function. During a press conference on Saturday, Amritsar Police Commissioner Arun Pal Singh said that people are happy about the tight security as they want their safety. “I have come across no complaint that anyone is harassed,” he said.