OPERATION BLUESTAR ANNIVERSARY ON JUNE 6: Deputy CM meets Sikh leaders, calls for peace

OPERATION BLUESTAR ANNIVERSARY ON JUNE 6

Deputy CM meets Sikh leaders, calls for peace

In view of the Operation Bluestar anniversary, security personnel take out a flag march in Jalandhar on Friday. Tribune Photo: Malkiat Singh

Archit Watts

Tribune News Service

Badal (Muktsar), June 3

Three days ahead of the 32nd anniversary of Operation Bluestar, Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal today met a five-member committee of Sikh radical leaders at his residence at Badal village here.

Sukhbir said: “I have appealed to the committee members to maintain peace on June 6 during the observance of Operation Bluestar anniversary.” He said the delegation did not have any grouse against the state government.

The committee comprised SAD (A) leaders Jaskaran Singh Kahansinghwala and Prof Mohinderpal Singh and UAD leaders Bhai Mohkam Singh, Gurdeep Singh Bathinda and Wassan Singh Jaffarwal.

They handed over a four-page handwritten memorandum, which they drafted on the spot, to the Deputy CM seeking a ban on the deployment of SGPC taskforce and policemen in civvies at the Golden Temple complex.

They also sought an assurance from the government that the three parallel jathedars won’t be arrested during their address to the Sikh sangat from Akal Takht. They also demanded the release of political Sikh prisoners, referring to fasting Surat Singh Khalsa’s struggle.

“We are awaiting Sukhbir’s reply over the memorandum given to him. He has assured us in the morning that he would discuss the demands with Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal,” said Kahansighwala. Bhai Gurdeep Singh said they had told the Deputy CM that they wished to address the sangat at the Golden Temple on June 6. "We also informed him that the Sarbat Khalsa Organisation is against the deployment of heavy forces in Amritsar," he said.

He said the deployment of a large number of security personnel in uniform and in plain clothes not only created panic among the community but also sent a wrong signal across the globe.

"We have no hidden agenda. We do not want to disturb the hard-earned peace of Punjab. All we want is to address the public on June 6," he added.

Courtesy: The Tribune