Golden Temple clash leaves 12 injured
6 Jun 2014 11:57 PM GMT
The situation took an ugly turn when one of the Akali Dal factions led by former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Simranjeet Singh Mann along with his supporters tried to raise pro-Khalistani slogans from the rostrum of Akal Takht, Amritsar police commissioner Jatinder Singh Aulakh said.
Mann was prevented from delivering his speech during a ceremony organised to mark the 30th anniversary of Operation Bluestar following which a clash broke out between activists of his group Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) and guards of Shiromani Gurudwara Parbhandhak Committee (SGPC), he said, adding that swords were used in the violence which left five members of SGPC task force injured. Police personnel are not permitted inside the Golden temple premises where security and other issues are under the control of the task force, Aulakh said.
When contacted Jathedar of Akal Takht Giani Gurbachan Singh said the the incident is being investigated. There was no disruption of worship at the Golden Temple, an official said.Â
Former chief minister and Amritsar MP Captain Amarinder Singh condemnedÂ
the violence.Â
In 1984, following order by then prime minister Indira Gandhi, the Indian army raided the Golden Temple to flush out Sikh separatist militants holed up in the premises for months. The army badly underestimated the resistance at first before being drawn into a three-day assault that left some 400 people dead.
The military operation outraged Sikhs and in a revenge attack a few months later Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh body guards. Retaliatory attacks against Sikhs killed some 3,000 of them. Sikh separatism was stamped out in late 1980s.
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