Carrying black flags and placards, Sikh activists of various outfits, including radical groups, on Tuesday staged peaceful protests at various places in Punjab against the desecration of Guru Granth Sahib last month, with demands for time-bound probe by CBI.
The protesters were also demanding recovery of stolen ‘bir’ (religious scripture) of the holy book from village Burj Jawahar Singhwala on June 1 at Faridkot, arrest of real desecrators and of those cops who had fired at protesters killing two Sikh activists and injuring several others at Behbal Kalan village last month and making their names public.
They also demanded scrapping permanently the case registered against two brothers Rupinder Singh and Jaswinder Singh, who were arrested earlier but released on Monday with police saying there was not sufficient evidence.
The protesters, including women, formed a human chain adjacent to roads, including National Highways and State highways criss-crossing the State without disturbing traffic, the police said.
Chanting ‘Satnam Waheguru’ , the protesters were supported by representatives of Dalit and Muslim communities at various places in the State.
Both the India-Pakistan cross-border Sada-e-Sarhad buses, plying to and fro New Delhi and Lahore, passed through Phagwara normally, the police said.
The protesters were agitating against sacrilege incidents of Holy Guru Granth Sahib at different places in the State last month.
Some of the placards propagated the November 10 ‘Sarbat Khalsa’ (congregation of Sikhs) convened by radical Sikh outfits at Amritsar, the police said.
Apprehending that the CBI probe into the desecration incidents could meet the fate of 1984 riots, the protesters demanded a time-bound probe by the investigating agency.
“If the CBI probe into the desecration cases is to go the anti-Sikh riots way where nothing came out even after 31 years, then the inquiry into incidents of desecration should be handed over to United Nations (UN)”, demanded the protesting Sikh Sangat, Sikh bodies, Gurdwara committees, women wing societies, the Dalit and Muslim representatives. At Moga, the protesters gathered on both sides of the roads, including National Highway and link roads, the police said. Reports of similar protests were received from Bathinda, Mansa, Patiala, Ludhiana, Amritsar and Tarn Taran. Policemen were deployed in strength at various places as a precautionary measure. - PTI
