Chandigarh: Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) Wednesday suspended service to Punjab on 10 routes after its employees refused to ply government buses into the neighbouring state fearing attacks and vandalisation in retaliation over Sikh pilgrims being stopped in Himachal Pradesh for sporting flags bearing pictures of slain Sikh separatist Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale.
This comes a day after an HRTC bus travelling from Chandigarh to Hamirpur with two dozen passengers was attacked by two unidentified youths at Kharar, who smashed the windscreen and window panes of the bus. The passengers managed to escape injuries. The police have registered an FIR, but the two men, who were wearing masks and had arrived in a car with the number plate hidden, are yet to be identified.
“We are in the process of identifying the accused, and hope to nab them soon,” Kharar Deputy Superintendent of Police Karan Sandhu told ThePrint Wednesday.
On Monday, another Himachal government-run bus was targeted by a group of radicals in Hoshiarpur, who forced the driver to stop the bus and forcibly stuck Bhindranwale’s posters on the bus, while raising slogans like “Bhindranwale zindabad” and “Khalistan zindabad”.
Speaking about another incident, Himachal Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri told the Vidhan Sabha Wednesday that miscreants stoned an HRTC bus going from Chamba to Delhi at the Sirhind flyover Tuesday night. “The bus was damaged, but the driver managed to continue with the journey. In the incident that happened at Kharar, the bus was so badly damaged that it had to be abandoned, and another bus called to carry the passengers.”
Agnihotri added that the miscreants forcibly stopped three HRTC buses to stick posters of Bhindranwale. “These incidents took place at the Hoshiarpur bus stand and another at Chohal,” added Agnihotri.
There are similar reports of some privately operated buses, and even cars registered in Himachal Pradesh, being stopped.
On Wednesday afternoon, a huge posse of Punjab Police personnel was called into Hoshiarpur after protesting radical bodies gathered at Gurudwara Singh Sabha in the morning, and decided to march towards the Himachal border to mark their protest. They were, however, stopped by the police. Members of the radical outfits Dal Khalsa and Sikh Youth of Punjab were leading the protest.
Buses coming in from Himachal are being targeted by radical bodies as a reaction to reports of Himachali youth allegedly forcing Sikh pilgrims headed to Manikaran Sahib in Kullu on bikes and two wheelers to remove flags bearing pictures of Bhindrawale from their bikes. Video clips of two such incidents, one in Kullu and the other in Manali, are being circulated on social media.
In one clip recorded by an onlooker using a mobile phone, a turbaned youth is seen trying to stop a crowd forcibly removing a Bhindranwale flag from the stick. Himachal Police personnel can be seen watching before moving away. In another clip from Kullu, a hotelier, later identified as Aman Sood, is seen removing the flag and telling the Sikh bikers that any symbol of separatism will not be tolerated in the state. Both the incidents took place Saturday. On Sunday, the police registered two separate FIRs against the bikers on the complaint of local residents.
Bhindranwale, who led the separatist militant movement in Punjab in the 1980s, is viewed as an icon by some radical sections of the Sikh community.
The matter was also discussed during the ongoing budget session in the Himachal assembly for the second consecutive day Wednesday, with the leader of the Opposition and former chief minister Jairam Thakur, highlighting growing concern over the worsening situation.
Chief Minister Sukhwinder Sukhu said that he had spoken to Bhagwant Maan, his counterpart in Punjab, this morning, and that the Punjab DGP (Director General of Police) had also spoken to the Himachal Pradesh DGP. He assured the House that the matter would be resolved amicably between the two states, and the law and order situation would not be allowed to deteriorate. He added that if needed, the buses travelling to Punjab will be given adequate protection.
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Objection to ‘separatist’ flags
Talking to media persons Wednesday, Maan Singh, president of the HRTC employees union, said that to begin with, buses travelling on only 10 routes have been suspended. “However, if the situation doesn’t improve, and our staff and passengers are not assured complete travel security, we will suspend movement of all the buses going to Punjab,” he said.
Sood, who is seen in the video clip of the incident in Kullu, told media persons Tuesday that nobody ever objects to the bikers travelling to Himachal to pay obeisance at Sikh religious places during the Hola Mohalla if they are sporting flags or banners bearing the Nishan Sahib, or have pictures of the Sikh Gurus on the vehicles.
“Our principal objection is to the fact that these persons are sporting the picture of a man whose agenda was separatist and against the integrity of this nation. Bringing such flags hurt our sentiments and we insisted that those flags be removed,” he said.
Sood added that apart from carrying “separatist” flags, there were some—though only a few—among the young pilgrims, who also indulged in bad behaviour during the journey and troubled locals.
A group of biker devotees on their way back from Himachal told mediapersons Wednesday, “Every year, just before we enter Manikaran Sahib jurisdiction, Himachal Police issues a challan for sporting any flag because it is illegal to have any such thing on a two-wheeler. The police ask us to also remove the flag. The cloth of the flag is given to us for safekeeping, and the stick is thrown away by the police. Once we finish the trip to Manikaran Sahib, we collect the stick back and hoist the flag again while returning.”
On Saturday, a few pilgrims had reportedly beat up a Himachal home guard in Una after a minor altercation with him, while the home guard was controlling traffic in the busy old bus stop area.
Voicing support for the pilgrims, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has condemned the incidents of attacks on Sikh pilgrims and other tourists from Punjab by unruly mobs in Himachal Pradesh and demanded strict action against the culprits.
Senior party leader Daljit Singh Cheema called for maintaining peace and communal harmony and said, “Such incidents are a result of a sustained misinformation and hatred campaign against the Sikh community by anti-social elements and agencies. Their sole aim is to disturb peace and communal harmony in the region to realise their ulterior political motives.”
On Monday, Giani Kuldeep Singh Gardaj, the acting Jathedar of the Akal Takht—the highest temporal body of the Sikhs—directed the Shiromani Gurudwara Parbandhak Committee to raise the issue with the Himachal Pradesh Government, and ensure that action is taken against those who damaged the flags.
(Edited by Mannat Chugh)
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These are not radicals. These are terrorists. They must be eliminated at the earliest. Every single Khalistani is a serious threat to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India and must be exterminated.
The people of Himachal Pradesh deserve plaudits for the courage shown by them. They stood up to these terrorists when the police would not.