Punjab: Pro-Khalistani March In Amritsar Amidst Tight Security

Pro-Khalistani slogans, placard and posters found their way outside Golden Temple in Amritsar on the 38th anniversary of Operation Bluestar. Videos of a large number of people brandishing swords and raising slogans in support of Khalistan and Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale emerged.

Members of radical Sikh groups such as Dal Khalsa took out a ‘freedom march’ in the city flanked by a large deployment of police officials. The procession displayed pictures and portraits of damaged Akal Takht and Sikh martyrs during Operation Bluestar and chanted ‘Azadi’ slogans.

While addressing the crowd gathered outside Golden Temple, Akal Takht chief Giani Harpreet Singh called for all Sikhs to train in weaponry. It was reported that Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann had visited Harminder Sahib temple a day before and met with the Akhal Takht chief in a closed-door meeting.

This comes in the context of growing instances of violence in Punjab. The volatile situation has brought back the fear of terror rearing its head, among the locals.

On May 9, 2022, a rocket-propelled grenade was fired at the state police’s intelligence wing in Mohali. The role of Babbar Khalsa International, a terror organisation wanting to establish a separate state for Sikhs, besides the nexus of gangsters and Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is suspected to be behind the attack.

On May 29, 2022, popular singer and Congress member, Sidhu Moosewala was shot dead. This incident happened a day after the AAP government in Punjab withdrew his security cover, along with that of 424 other VIPs, and publicised the move. In a turnaround, it restored the security cover of the VIPs after a public backlash in the aftermath of Moosewala’s murder.

On June 3, a labourer was attacked and hacked to death at Bada Bazaar of Badhni Kalan, Moga. The assailants wielding swords and sharp-edged weapons chopped off the victim’s legs and head. The AAP government has been facing a lot of criticism from the opposition for the deteriorating law and order situation in the state, for which it has been unable to provide an answer.