Anil Kumar (identify modified), a 62-year-old material service provider in Ajnala in western Punjab, was anguished. Having lived by way of the tumultuous interval of the Eighties, when there was a decade-long insurgency in Punjab over the demand for ‘Khalistan’, or a sovereign state for Sikhs, he immediately is aware of when there’s hassle brewing. Sitting in the principal market of Ajnala, Anil recalled some of the incidents of final 12 months in the border State which despatched a chill down his backbone: the homicide of rapper and songwriter Sidhu Moosewala in Mansa district, the explosion at the Punjab Police’s Intelligence Wing headquarters in Mohali, and the killing of a Dera Sacha Sauda follower in Kotkapura in a shoot-out. The newest incident which has left him nervous came about close to his store.
It occurred on Thursday, February 23. Led by the self-styled Sikh preacher and pro-Khalistan propagator Amritpal Singh, a mob armed with swords, weapons and sharp weapons barged into the Ajnala police station, a number of kilometres from the International Border with Pakistan. They protested in opposition to the arrest of Amritpal’s shut affiliate, Lovepreet Singh alias Toofan Singh, in an alleged kidnapping and theft case. Amritpal demanded that the First Information Report (FIR) filed in opposition to Lovepreet and him be cancelled, and his aide be launched. Calling the FIR “politically motivated,” Amritpal issued a menace: if his calls for weren’t met, “the administration would be responsible for whatever happens,” he mentioned. He even warned the police about registering an FIR in the case surrounding the incident at Ajnala.
Amritpal Singh and his supporters barged into the police station with weapons. The surprised police gave in to their demand.
| Photo Credit:
PTI
The surprised police gave in to his demand. Senior Superintendent of Police (Amritsar Rural) Satinder Singh mentioned, “According to the evidence given by Lovepreet’s supporters, he was not present at the spot where the alleged incident (assault and kidnapping) occurred. So, the police submitted the evidence before the court for his discharge. We have set up a Special Investigation Team to probe the matter (FIR) based on which Lovepreet was arrested. Once its report is out, a decision will be taken.” Lovepreet was launched after an area court docket issued the order.
Days after the incident, the Punjab authorities transferred 18 law enforcement officials, together with Amritsar Commissioner of Police Jaskaran Singh. But regardless of six policemen getting injured in the violence at the station, the police are but to register any FIR in the Ajnala matter. Punjab Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav mentioned “action will be taken against those who attacked the police” after “analysing the video footage.”
Anil mentioned seeing the mob carrying weapons at Ajnala reminded him of the days when kids would stroll the streets of Punjab, some 4 a long time in the past, flaunting weapons and swords. “If a group of people can attack a police station, if a police station is not safe, then how can the people feel secure,” he requested. “Right now, I am as scared as I used to be during that period of terrorism. It’s not just me, many feel the same way.”
‘Fear is bound to creep in’
Three days after the incident, there was an uneasy calm in Ajnala. It was the final Sunday of the month. While the native market is normally closed on this present day, it was open that Sunday as merchants and shopkeepers have been hoping to make up for the misplaced enterprise of the earlier three days.
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Bittu, 50, a taxi driver, hardly had any enterprise in the days following the mob incident in Ajnala. “There were barricades installed on the main road and at our taxi stand. Taxi operators did not come here because there was tension. Now, things seem to have settled down, but most people don’t seem to want to venture out unnecessarily,” he mentioned.
Police personnel stand vigil at Ajnala days after a violent mob stormed into the native police station.
| Photo Credit:
SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA
Close to the police station advanced, a number of police personnel, together with the anti-riots drive, have been nonetheless deployed. The native police, nonetheless, asserted that the “situation was under control.”
Anil begged to vary. “Several instances of gangster-related incidents have taken place in the State. All these indicate that the incumbent government is weak,” he mentioned. While he didn’t deny that there have been crimes earlier than the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) got here to energy, now “there is no fear of the law,” Anil mentioned. “If the situation is not brought under control immediately, it could become worse.”
The AAP authorities in Punjab, which got here to energy practically a 12 months in the past, has largely been on the again foot over the breakdown of legislation and order. Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has been downplaying the scenario by asserting that nobody can be allowed to disturb the hard-earned peace of the State and the authorities is dedicated to sustaining legislation and order. Days after the incident, he mentioned ‘Khalistan’ supporters have been receiving assist from Pakistan and different nations. Only a handful of folks supported the pro-Khalistan motion, and the Punjab police is absolutely succesful of dealing with the scenario, he mentioned.
But the persons are not satisfied. Parvez, a 32-year-old vegetable vendor, sits a number of metres from the Ajnala police station. While attending to clients, he mentioned, “What happened that day cannot be justified. An armed group of people laid siege to a police station. If the government is really strong, not even a leaf can move.”
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Another store proprietor mentioned such incidents will stop to happen provided that there’s political will. “The government needs to tackle fringe elements who are vitiating the atmosphere. It needs to take immediate action against them. There is a strong bond between all the communities here. The majority of the people don’t support the pro-Khalistan narrative. But if violent incidents take place, fear is bound to creep in,” he mentioned.
The abandoned market three days after the conflict. Traders and shopkeepers mentioned enterprise had been hit by the incident at Ajnala.
| Photo Credit:
SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA
Narinder Bhamra, a Ludhiana-based industrialist and president of the Fastener Manufacturers Association of India, identified that the incident came about on the identical day that the Punjab authorities held the Progressive Punjab Investors Summit at Mohali. “This leaves the impression that government is not in control of the situation on the ground. How can a few hundred anti-social elements attack a police station and get their demands accepted? And no FIR has been registered against those involved. What does this indicate? If this is the situation, let alone a new industry coming to the State, even the existing industry will think of moving out,” he mentioned.
Increasing militant exercise
Amritpal, 30, is understood to talk the language of separatism and secession. The radical preacher, who was born in 1993, hails from Amritsar district. He left India to work in his household’s truck-related enterprise in Dubai in 2012. In 2022, he returned to take over as the head of Waris Punjab De, which was arrange by actor-turned-activist Deep Sidhu, who died in a street accident in February final 12 months. Amritpal’s anointment ceremony was held at Rode village in Moga district, which is the native village of the slain militant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, and reverberated with pro-Khalistan slogans. According to Sidhu, who rose to prominence throughout the agitation in opposition to the three farm legal guidelines, Waris Punjab De’s mission is to guard the rights and tradition of Punjab and lift social points.
Police and anti-riots personnel deputed in Ajnala city days after a violent mob laid siege to a police station.
| Photo Credit:
SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA
Amritpal is a self-confessed follower of Bhindranwale and even attire like him. Sporting a navy blue turban, a white gown, and a sword-sized ‘kirpan,’ the sacred dagger of the Sikhs, he’s all the time surrounded by weapon-wielding guards. He has mentioned that “glorification of weapons is not a crime.” Referring to the Khalistan motion, he mentioned, “Has the Prime Minister or Home Minister ever said that they will stop people who talk about a ‘Hindu Rashtra’? It means there’s discrimination… Sikhs have their aspirations and Hindus have theirs, while they [Hindus] can freely talk about theirs, we [Sikhs] can’t. I firmly believe that it [the Khalistan movement] can’t be stopped from flourishing.”
The concern over Amritpal’s statements and actions is palpable past Ajnala, particularly since there have been a collection of incidents with Khalistan hyperlinks in Punjab, which have rekindled fears of an armed militancy.
Last 12 months, on April 29, a curfew was imposed in Patiala quickly after a gaggle that calls itself Shiv Sena (Bal Thackeray) clashed with pro-Khalistani activists. The Shiv Sena (Bal Thackeray) had sought permission to carry a march in opposition to the backdrop of the announcement by the banned Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) outfit to mark the basis day of Khalistan. The following month, a number of ‘Khalistan’ flags have been discovered held on the principal gate and separatist slogans have been discovered scribbled on the boundary partitions of the Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly premises in Dharamshala. Both these incidents came about following an enchantment by the SFJ chief.
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In May, a rocket-propelled grenade was fired at the headquarters of the Punjab Police Intelligence Wing in Mohali. The police indicated that the Babbar Khalsa International, a terror organisation striving for a separate Sikh state, and a nexus of gangsters and Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence have been behind the assault.
On December 8, the National Investigation Agency arrested alleged terrorist and pro-Khalistan operative Bikramjit Singh, who was wished in reference to the Tarn Taran bomb blast in Punjab in September 2019, after his extradition from Austria. Two folks have been killed in the blast. And on December 16, the Punjab police claimed that it had solved the rocket-propelled grenade assault on the Sarhali police station in Tarn Taran, by busting a foreign-controlled terror module.
Despite these incidents, it could be fallacious to imagine that there’s a revival of a pro-Khalistan motion, mentioned Kamaljot Singh, 25, from Ajnala. “I don’t think it’s going to happen. I don’t want it to happen. I believe that if everyone is united, only then will we prosper. While I appreciate Amritpal’s initiative against the drug menace, violence cannot be justified,” Kamaljot mentioned.
‘Failure of intelligence’
Incidents equivalent to the one at Ajnala and the lack of motion taken in opposition to the mob will solely “embolden radical elements,” mentioned Shashi Kant, a former Punjab DGP, who has served in quite a few intelligence companies. “It equally raises questions about police Intelligence,” he mentioned. “If the protesters were carrying the Guru Granth Sahib, what was the Intelligence doing? It was a total collapse of the Intelligence machinery.”
The mob led by Amritpal Singh clashing with the police at the police station in Ajnala on February 23. Six policemen have been injured, however no FIR has been filed in opposition to Amritpal or his associates but.
| Photo Credit:
ANI
But Kant was additionally fast to reward the police. “When the protesters attacked the police while carrying the Guru Granth Sahib, the police exercised restraint. That is commendable,” he mentioned.
Kant appeared nonplussed by the lack of motion in opposition to Amritpal. He mentioned, “This is a total failure on the part of the government, and it’s demoralising for the police. While I don’t see any revival of the Khalistan movement in the absence of popular support, concerns over the activeness of Khalistan sympathisers or pro-militant elements across Punjab and other States can’t be ignored.”
Since Punjab is a border state, legislation and order has all the time been a fragile area and the authorities must deal with such delicate conditions fastidiously, others mentioned. “The State has been vulnerable to the machinations of inimical, and not necessarily all foreign, forces,” mentioned Ronki Ram, Shaheed Bhaghat Singh Chair Professor of Political Science at Panjab University.
The Waris Punjab De has been making headlines ever since Amritpal took over as its head, Ram mentioned. “The Ajnala incident needs to be located within the broader context of various public utterances by its current president and the responses to those by the State government. It seems like the law enforcement agencies took precautionary measures to prevent this from swelling into another issue of communal conflict. This is especially important at a time when the long-drawn-out [2015] ‘Bargari sacrilege’ case still remains under investigation. The line of action taken by the current regime is politically correct; a contrary stance could easily have led to an inflammatory situation. However, there is another equally important, but often neglected, dimension that needs to be boldly underlined, which is to figure out how to preempt such a situation from arising at all. There is a dire need to apply the lessons learned in the past.”
Ram additionally demanded to know why each the State authorities and distinguished Sikh institutional our bodies have been restrained of their statements after the occasions led by Amritpal. “This could lead to accusations of complicity, for political goals or other considerations,” he mentioned.
Traders, shopkeepers and others mentioned they have been nervous about the lack of motion in opposition to the mob and in opposition to Amritpal by the Punjab authorities. The authorities mentioned it could take motion after “analysing the video footage.”
| Photo Credit:
SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA
While many are asking questions of the administration, Gurpinder, who runs a roadside dhaba at Rayya city on the busy Delhi-Amritsar National Highway, had a extra quick fear. “I usually get a handsome number of customers at the weekend. But this week hardly anyone has stepped in,” he mentioned.
Anil was clear that if the scenario worsens, he would depart Punjab. “It would be terrible if Punjab saw those dark days again,” he mentioned.
