Vehicles carrying stickers and posters of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale on the rear windscreen are not an uncommon sight in the State of Jammu & Kashmir. But on Wednesday when a kingsize poster of Bhindranwale surfaced on a hoarding near Ranibagh Gurudwara on airport road it created tension in the area. The State police personnel rushed to the spot were caught unawares as youth shouting pro-Khalistan slogans chased them away brandishing sharp edged weapons.
A junior police officer was even stabbed by the sikh youth, majority of them turned out to be new age sympathisers of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. As the stand-off prolonged and continued for three long days it alerted the local intelligence agencies to dig deep under the surface and probe the background of protesters who remained at the forefront. The police even detained some of the notorious youth from the area to prepare a dossier of their activities in the past.
As the dust is settling now and peace is returning gradually it appears sleeper cells of Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF) were also actively involved in the protests and had penetrated in the local groups who were staging protest demonstrations. Ranjit Singh Neeta, self-styled chief of Khalistan Zindabad Force is struggling for past several years to revive his cadre in the region to carry out his activities. His close aides may have sensed an opportunity to rope in vulnerable youth and activated their sleeper cells to tighten their grip. Neeta already figure high on the list of 20 Most wanted Indians since 2008.
Even before this incident came to light a group of radicalised youth have been kept on the watch list of police as they have been found raising provocative slogans even during routine religious functions in the area much to the chagrin of residents living peaceful lives. According to preliminary assessment of various intelligence agencies after the peaceful protest on day 1 (June 3) the command of the protesters was taken over by those people who were sympathisers of Khalistan movement. According to their assessment these hardliners made deliberate efforts to stoke communal tension in the area by targeting policemen and even media selectively. Even on saturday these youth shouted pro-Khalistan slogans during the cremation ceremony of sikh youth killed in police firing.
A section of leadership of local sikh bodies, owing allegiance to different political parties also accused the state govt of hatching a conspiracy to divert the attention from burning issues of setting up of AIIMS in Jammu and completion of work on the Artificial lake. The police officers, however, claimed the way two policemen were stabbed and their weapon was snatched by the protesters while official vehicle of a media house was torched during the protests with the use of petrol bombs cannot be ignored. The way protesters used petrol bombs and chased strong posse of police force clearly point out to their grooming in a professional manner, the police officers revealed.
“Some of them even wore T-Shirts with images of Bhindranwale and successfully mobilised large number of women to participate in the protest and used them as shield”. These tactics are often used by stone pelters in the valley to shield themselves from the fury of police action. A senior police officer supervising the situation on ground zero told The Pioneer, “regrouping and emergence of supporters of Khalistan movement in Jammu area is not a health sign”. It does not augur well for the peaceful atmosphere in the region.
He said the way radical sikh youth were attacking policemen on the streets they looked no different than notorious stone pelters of Kashmir valley. They were well trained and guided by hardliners from behind the scene. According to official sources, “Tension was prevailing in the area since Wednesday morning after a local police officer removed the poster as he had found it ‘objectionable’. The police action may have created heart burn among section of people in the vicinity but the prevailing tension was diffused on day 1 of the protests on June 3 with assistance of Deputy Commissioner Jammu Simarandeep Singh and local religious leader who appealed for exercising restraint and maintaining peace.
The trouble started early morning on June 4 when simmering with anger supporters of Pro-Khalistan movement mobilised a large group of people to organise a dharna demanding action against the policemen for hurting their ‘religious’ sentiments”.We donot know what happened behind the scenes in the 24 hours which changed the course of agitation by the sikh protesters.