The Punjab government has extended the suspension of mobile internet and SMS services till Tuesday noon as part of a crackdown on Waris Punjab De members and its leader Khalistani sympathiser Amritpal Singh.
Singh, who is wanted for barging into Ajnala police station near Amritsar with his supporters and demanding the release of a member on February 23, had escaped the police net when his cavalcade was intercepted in Jalandhar district.
Police speculate that the incident could be backed by Pakistan, claiming they might have an "ISI angle." They suspect foreign spending as well.
Punjab IGP Sukhchain Singh Gill on Monday told reporters that the situation is stable and that six criminal cases had been registered against a few "Waris Punjab De" elements.
According to Gill, 144 elements that attempted to disturb peace and harmony in Punjab have been rounded up and arrested. Around 78 of them were arrested on the first day, 34 on Day 2 and two others last night. Around 10 weapons were recovered, Gill said.
Police on Sunday held flag marches and searches across Punjab, arresting 112 supporters and shifting some of them to a jail in Assam in an IAF aircraft, in what is said to be a coordinated operation between the AAP-led Punjab government, BJP government in Assam and the Centre.
The transfer has been done under the National Security Act which allows persons arrested to be kept in jail in any part of the country.
Punjab Minister Balbir Singh on Monday told ANI that the DGP will inform the media if and when Amritpal Singh is arrested.
"If he (Amritpal Singh) will be arrested then he (DGP) will inform you. There are some evil forces but the police is doing good work. I appeal to people of Punjab to maintain peace and brotherhood," Singh said.
Protests at embassies
Several people belonging to the Sikh community gathered outside the British High Commission in Chanakyapuri here on Monday to protest pro-Khalistan separatists pulling down the Indian flag at the Indian High Commission in London a day earlier.
Carrying the tricolour and placards, protesters raised the slogan "Bharat humara swabhiman hai (India is our pride)" and said that they will not tolerate any insult to the national flag.
Pro-Khalistani supporters also vandalised the Indian Consulate in San Francisco, US.
Police action
Police have added Arms Act in a fresh FIR after weapons were recovered following Amritpal’s chase and escape. Illegal arms were recovered after the incident.
Amritpal Singh's uncle Harjit Singh and driver Harpreet Singh have surrendered before the Jalandhar police
The leader’s Mercedes car is the third vehicle said to have been seized by the police.
Police have said that the situation is under control and a tight vigil is being kept on law and order. A heavy deployment of police has been made in Amritsar and Jalandhar.
The government has extended the suspension of mobile internet and SMS services till Tuesday noon.
“….it is directed that all mobile internet services (2G/3G/45/5G/CDMA/GPRS), all SMS services (excluding banking and mobile recharge) and all dongle services provided on mobile networks, except the voice calls, in the territorial jurisdiction of Punjab shall be further suspended from March 20 (12.00 hours) to March 21 (12.00 hours) in the interest of public safety, to prevent any incitement to violence and to prevent any disturbance of peace and public order," the Home Affairs Department and Justice said on Monday.
The government has however not suspended broadband services so that banking facilities, hospital services and other essential services are not disrupted.
In a search of Amritpal Singh's house, the police recovered jackets and rifles with AFK or Anandpur Khalsa Force written on them as he was trying to raise his own army.
"There was an attempt to form a Jathebandi called 'Anandpur Khalsa Fauj,'" Gill told reporters on Monday.
Tricolour vandalism and India’s response
Sikh separatists protesting in UK’s London against the crackdown on Khalistani elements in
Punjab allegedly attempted to bring down an Indian flag hoisted in front of the Indian High Commission in London. But officials reportedly foiled the attack. A video of an Indian official rescuing the tricolour went viral.
An Indian High Commission official was seen taking a
Khalistani flag from a protester who was attempting to hoist that flag on the post, and throwing it away, in a video that went viral.
The Indian government lodged a strong protest with the British deputy high commissioner Christina Scott late Sunday over the attack and the security lapse. Later, Indian High Commission officials hung a huge tricolour outside the office in London.
(Edited by : Pradeep John)
First Published: Mar 20, 2023 2:48 PM IST
