The storming of the Ajnala police station on Thursday was the second assault on cops by Khalistani components in Punjab. (Photograph: PTI)
By India At present Information Desk: A Khalistan separatist chief has introduced Punjab police and the administration to their knees. Punjab, a state with a troubled historical past of insurgency and counter-terror operations, goes by means of one in every of its darkest phases. However the important thing query is the place is Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann when his state wants him essentially the most?
Tons of of supporters of Khalistan chief Amritpal Singh stormed a police station in Ajnala to free his aide who has been arrested in an abduction case. Amritpal Singh is the chief of Waris Punjab De, an outfit fashioned by actor-activist Deep Sidhu.
Police appeared like sitting geese as tons of of males armed with swords and weapons broke by means of police barricades erected exterior Ajnala Police Station in Amritsar. Six cops have been injured within the rampage.
That is the second assault on police in a fortnight.
On February 8, 33 policemen have been injured and dozens of police automobiles broken after armed protesters in search of the discharge of Sikh prisoners went on the rampage.
ALSO READ: What led to Amritpal Singh’s meteoric rise to fame?
The Khalistani components even snatched some arms and ammunition, and tried to kill policemen. The attackers included radicalised minor boys. Professional-Khalistan slogans lease the air.
In not one of the two incidents, police didn’t dare use any pressure, barring water cannon.
The police acquired no orders from the political management to make use of pressure in opposition to the pro-Khalistani mob. Regardless of being challenged brazenly by Khalistanis, the administration didn’t dare to arrest them.
A HISTORY OF INSURGENCY
Punjab has misplaced a long time and a whole era to an rebel motion, attempting to interrupt away and grow to be a separate nation — Khalistan — and the Centre’s counter-insurgency measures.
So, fanning of the embers of separatism within the restive state is worrying. It wants the energetic involvement and dedication of the chief minister. However Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann is MIA — lacking in motion.
The chief protagonist of the insurgency was Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale.
Bhindranwale was a small-time priest on the Damdami Taksal seminary in Punjab’s Majha area who rose to grow to be a cult determine of militancy. He occupied the Golden Temple and the Military needed to conduct Operation Bluestar in 1984 to flush out the insurgents.
Months after Bhindranwale’s killing in June 1984, then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated in a reprisal assault related to Operation Bluestar.
In recent times, there was a development of Bhindranwale worship, and stickers of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale are seen adorning automobiles. There has additionally been a revival of the Khalistani sentiment, fanned by components exterior India.
ALSO READ: Bhindranwale 2.0: Who’s Khalistani separatist chief Amrit Pal Singh?
That Amritpal Singh fashions himself after Bhindranwale and instructions a devoted following is equally worrying. Intelligence companies are mentioned to have their eyes on Amritpal Singh.
It’s strategically essential for nationwide safety because it shares borders with Pakistan. Punjab has seen an increase in drug and weapons smuggling from throughout the border.
BHAGWANT MANN IS MIA
Amid all these worrying indicators and troubling details, the massive query clearly is — The place is Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann?
Bhagwant Mann is slated to participate in an occasion associated to the BMC polls in Mumbai in the present day. He’s set to marketing campaign for the Mumbai civic physique election together with Delhi Chief Minister and AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal.
Aam Aaadmi Celebration (AAP) has thrown its hat into the ring for election of the BMC, India’s wealthiest civic physique. This comes after AAP wrested Delhi Municipal Company’s management from the BJP after 15 years.
Bgahwant Mann has been a showpiece of AAP’s political campaigns.
Bhagwant Mann and Arvind Kejriwal launched AAP’s Himachal Pradesh election marketing campaign with a large roadshow in Mandi in April final yr.
After his campaigning spree in Gujarat with rallies from Ahmedabad to Kutch, Bhagwant Mann was branded “absentee CM” by the Opposition in Punjab.
Chief of Opposition in Punjab and Congress chief Partap Bajwa had in November final yr complained that the regulation and order scenario in Punjab had “collapsed” at the same time as Bhagwant Mann was on the marketing campaign path.
Pratap Bajwa cited the killings of singer Sidhu Moosewala and kabaddi gamers as a breakdown of the law-and-order equipment in Punjab.
ALSO READ: Amritpal Singh aka Bhindranwale-II: Ignoring the Khalistani risk might value Punjab
Comic-actor-turned chief minister, Bhagwant Mann is understood for his campaigning vitality. He’s reported to have addressed as much as 10 rallies a day through the elections in Punjab, which AAP received by a landslide.
Earlier in January this yr, Bhagwant Mann was the one one of many three chief ministers to be the visitor at an Opposition rally organised by Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) chief Okay Chandrasekhar Rao. The opposite two have been Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Kerala counterpart Pinarayi Vijayan.
The truth is, requested concerning the threats by Khalistani chief Amritpal Singh earlier this week, Bhagwant Mann tried to deflect the problem by speaking concerning the achievements of the AAP-led Punjab authorities, together with the Mohalla Clinics.
—- ENDS —-