Securitymen in Punjab on high alert on eve of Operation Bluestar anniversary

The security personnel in Punjab are on a high alert on the eve of the 33rd anniversary of the Army's Operation Bluestar on Tuesday with arrangements stepped up to prevent any untoward incident.

Amid apprehensions that Sikh hardliners might object to the customary address by the Akal Takht (the highest temporal seat for Sikhs), Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh, on Tuesday at the Golden Temple, the Amritsar city has been turned into a fortress with the deployment of about 5,000 security personnel, including seven companies of paramilitary forces. 

Radical outfit Dal Khalsa has called for a shutdown in Amritsar on Tuesday, on the anniversary of the Army's 1984 operation to flush out terrorists from the Golden Temple.

To prevent anti-social elements from fomenting trouble, as many as 15 companies of paramilitary forces, including the CRPF, the ITBP and the RAF, have been deployed in different parts of the state. Punjab Director General of Police Suresh Arora had recently reviewed the security arrangements in Amritsar.

Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) chief Kirpal Singh Badungar has appealed to all the Sikh organisations to unite and invited them to Tuesday's event. He has also held a meeting with SAD(A) chief Simranjit Singh Mann and Dal Khalsa leader Kanwar Pal Singh to discuss ways to keep the event peaceful in accordance with Sikh 'maryada' (tenets).

The Sarbat Khalsa-appointed "parallel" Jathedars are also expected to reach the Akal Takht on Tuesday to take part in the event. To keep a tab on the anti-social elements, the police has also been conducting vehicle checks at several places. Flag marches were also conducted by the police, along with the paramilitary forces, at several places, including in Ludhiana, Phagwara and Pathankot.

At Amritsar, security personnel have been deployed on the roads leading to the Golden Temple and the police was also keeping a surveillance on the vulnerable areas through CCTVs. At the Golden Temple, the SGPC task force is on an alert. While seven companies of paramilitary forces have been deployed in Amritsar, the rest have been deployed in Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Phagwara, Mohali, Batala and the border districts of Pathankot and Gurdaspur.

Meanwhile, the Dal Khalsa took out a 'Genocide Remembrance Parade' in Amritsar with photos of the damaged Akal Takht. On June 6, 2015, five youths were injured in a clash inside the Golden Temple during an event to mark the anniversary of Operation Bluestar. A group of Sikh youths had even raised pro-Khalistan slogans on the periphery of the temple near the Akal Takht.

On June 6 last year, pro-Khalistan slogans were once again raised on the Golden Temple premises. The state police has claimed to have busted three terror modules following three separate operations over the last fortnight.

Meanwhile, there was a "poster war" between two groups in Phagwara, triggering tension in the city. While Sikh hardliners put up posters of separatist militant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale at different places, right wing Hindu outfits displayed posters of former prime minister Indira Gandhi, Army General A. S. Vaidya, former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh and former state DGP K. P. S. Gill. However, there was no report of any law-and-order issue. Bhindranwale was killed during Operation Bluestar in 1984 while Gandhi, Vaidya and Beant Singh were assassinated subsequently.

Source: Timesofoman