Three decades after the Indian Armed Forces flushed the heavily armed terrorists out of the Golden Temple in Operation Bluestar, the Sikh’s holiest shrine on Friday witnessed a sword fight between Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) task force volunteers and radical Sikh activists leaving 12 injured.
Swords, spears, sticks, kirpans were used for attack as scores of men chased each other outside the Akal Takht, Sikh's highest temporal seat-inside the complex.Dubbed as the "unfortunate" incident by the leader of the political and religious outfits, cutting across party lines, they condemned the incident regretting that the "temple" has once again been dishonoured.
What is more saddening is that the conflict took place on the day when loads of Sikh disciples and devotees had gathered at the Harmandir Sahib to pay tributes to the hundreds killed during the Operation Bluestar 30 years ago.
Strongly condemning the violent incident, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal said that nobody would be allowed to disturb the hard-earned atmosphere of peace and harmony in the State. He made it clear that anybody found guilty of trying to disturb the peace of the State would be dealt with firmly. Amritsar Police has detained around 19 people, while the police officials maintained that more such detentions were likely.
Trouble had started when the Akal Takht head Giani Gurbachan Singh was addressing the gathering from the Akal Takht, and Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) president Simranjeet Singh Mann tried to disrupt him. "The situation took an ugly turn when Mann along with his supporters allegedly forcibly tried to deliver a message from the rostrum of Akal Takht. And when Mann prevented from delivering speech, a clash broke out between his supporters and guards of SGPC task force," said Amritsar Police Commissioner Jatinder Singh Aulakh.
Task force guards stopped the SAD Amritsar's activists from brandishing their swords and other traditional weapons, besides raising pro-Khalistan slogans inside the complex that further resulted in the altercation.SAD (Amritsar), is a splinter group of Shiromani Akali Dal, led by Simranjit Singh Mann which advocates formation of Khalistan, an independent state for the Sikhs through democratic process.
Police personnel are not permitted inside the Golden temple premises where security and other issues are under the control of task force, Aulakh said, adding that the situation has been defused and things are under total control.The television grabs show dramatic footage of two groups of Sikhs, wearing blue and saffron turbans, rushing out of Akal Takht chasing each other yelling battle cries and brandishing their swords in a violent confrontation in which several people were injured.
Top SGPC functionaries, including its president Avtar Singh Makkar, and Akal Takht Jathedar Gurbachan Singh were present inside the complex when the incident took place."Many people were injured in the clashes. Some anti-social forces sparked the violence. We will investigate the case and take strict action against the perpetrators," said Giani Gurbachan Singh.
Indian Army, in a special operation code named Operation Bluestar, had attacked the Golden Temple to flush out the heavily armed terrorists, led by separatist leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, in June 1984.Hundreds died in the assault which then led to the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who had ordered the Army operations, after her own Sikh bodyguards shot her. Nearly 3,000 people were subsequently killed in retaliatory riots against the Sikhs.
Punjab had witnessed a bloody phase of terrorism between 1981 and 1992 as separatists demanded a Sikh homeland - Khalistan (land of the pure). The terrorism phase left over 25,000 people dead, including hundreds of personnel of security forces.