The pro-Khalistan slogans were raised by the members of a radical Sikh group on the premises of the Golden Temple on Monday as the 32nd anniversary of Operation Bluestar was observed amid tight security.
No untoward incident was reported from inside and around the Temple premises, where policemen in civil dress were deployed along with the Shiromani Gurudwara Parbandhalk Committee (SGPC)'s task force to thwart any attempt to disturb law and order.
Over 8,000 security personnel, including from paramilitary forces, have been deployed in Amritsar.
Prayers were offered at the Golden Temple complex on Monday morning to mark the Bluestar anniversary.
SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar said scores of people attended the event.
Supporters of Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) led by its president and former MP Simranjit Singh Mann raised slogans of ‘Khalistan Zindabad’ and ‘Punjab Sarkar Murdabad’ soon after Akal Takht Jathedar (chief) Gurbachan Singh read out his address to the Sikh community.They were whisked away by the SGPC task force and police as the Operation Bluestar anniversary passed off peacefully.
The Task Force members and police personnel kept a close watch on the hardliners who tried to hijack the ceremony. The task force members did not allow the hardliners to take control of the function.
Mann, addressing the gathering from the ground floor of Akal Takht, accused Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal of interfering in the religious affairs of the Sikhs and those of SGPC, the apex religious body of the community. Mann asked the SGPC to reinstate Sikh priest Balbir Singh who denied 'siropa' (robe of honour) to the Chief Minister at the Golden Temple recently. Addressing the gathering, Jathedar Akal Takht Giani Gurbachan Singh lashed out at then Union Government saying that the Sikh community "will, all over the world, remember the unhealed wounds of Operation Bluestar". Memorial dedicated to those killed during 1984 Army action on the Golden Temple witnessed sizeable footfall on Monday. A bandh was also observed in the holy city on the call given by radical Sikh outfit Dal Khalsa.
Tight security arrangements were made by the Punjab police to prevent any untoward incident. (with agencies input)