Amritsar, The 42nd anniversary of Operation Blue Star passed off peacefully on Saturday amid pro-Khalistan slogans raised by supporters and activists of radical Sikh outfits outside the Akal Takht, the supreme temporal seat of Sikhs.
Pro-Khalistan slogans were raised by activists of former MP Simranjit Singh Mann-led Shiromani Akali Dal . Mann was also present on the spot.
Supporters of Khadoor Sahib MP Amritpal Singh were also seen with his portraits. Singh is currently lodged in a jail in Assam in the 2023 Police Station attack case.
Radical Sikh outfit Dal Khalsa’s activists were also seen carrying photographs of the damaged Akal Takht, holding placards bearing portraits of slain militant leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale.
The Dal Khalsa leaders participating in the event at the Akal Takht endorsed Jathedar Giani Kuldip Singh Gargajj’s rejection of an anti-sacrilege law and issued a warning to the Punjab government to stay away from the Sikh religious affairs.
The entire marbled periphery of the Golden Temple echoed with pro-Khalistan slogans and youths holding placards.
Operation Blue Star was a military operation carried out in 1984 to flush out from the Golden Temple militants demanding an independent Sikh state called Khalistan.
Officiating Jathedar of the Akal Takht, Giani Kuldip Singh Gargajj, while reading ‘ardas’ , demanded the release of ‘Bandhi Singhs,’ including death row prisoners Balwant Singh Rajona.
Bandi Singhs are those Sikh prisoners, who parties like Shiromani Akali Dal and other Sikh bodies claim, were in jails even after completion of their sentences.
On this occasion, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee honoured the family members of Sikh leaders who were killed along with Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale in the Golden Temple complex during the Army action in June 1984.
Meanwhile, there was a peaceful bandh around the Golden Temple and the interior walled city on the call of radical outfit Dal Khalsa.
Extensive security arrangements had been made in and around the Golden Temple complex.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
