Deadlock ends, morcha agrees not to enter Chandigarh

Since January 7, Sikh activists under the banner of the Qaumi Insaaf Morcha have been protesting at YPS Chowk in Mohali, blocking traffic movement on the crucial Chandigarh-Mohali route

After being denied permission by the Chandigarh Police to hold a protest march in the city on Independence Day to observe it as a “black day”, the Qaumi Insaaf Morcha (QIM) on Monday agreed to conduct the procession in Mohali.

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Since January 7, Sikh activists under the banner of the Qaumi Insaaf Morcha have been protesting at YPS Chowk in Mohali, blocking traffic movement on the crucial Chandigarh-Mohali route.

The coordination committee of the morcha after over two hours meeting with the Chandigarh and Mohali police on Monday evening decided to restrict their protest march to Mohali and not to enter Chandigarh.

The morcha representatives earlier had held a series of meetings with Chandigarh and Mohali police where they had refused to budge.

The deadlock ended merely a few hours before morcha’s scheduled protest in Chandigarh.

As per the new plan, the march will begin at 10am on Tuesday from YPS Chowk from where the protesters will march towards Phase 3-A. From HP fuel station in 3-A, the protesters will march towards Madanpura Chowk and from there, the procession will move towards the Airport Road and further reach Sohana Gurudwara and finally conclude at the YPS Chowk.

Confirming the development, Gurcharan Singh, foster father of Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) chief Jagtar Singh Hawara, said, “We do not wish to enter into any confrontation with the government. It is a peaceful agitation and continues to remain so till our demands are met. After the Chandigarh administration did not agree to allow us to protest in the capital, we agreed on a revised route plan as we do not want to clash and cause inconvenience to people,” he said.

On February 8, the Sikh activists clashed with the police, leaving 33 personnel injured at the Sector 52-53 dividing road when the 31-member delegation (jatha) marching towards the chief minister’s residence was stopped from entering Chandigarh.

Earlier in the day, Punjab governor and Chandigarh administrator Banwarilal Purhoit intervened after the organisers of the Quami Insaaf Morcha refused to call off their protest march towards Chandigarh on Tuesday.

After two failed attempts by Chandigarh Police to convince the organisers of Quami Insaaf Morcha to not hold the protest march in the city on Independence Day, Purhoit held a special meeting with the representatives of morcha, including Gurcharan Singh, Jaswinder Singh Rajpura and advocates Gursharan Singh, Amar Singh Chahal and Dilsher Singh Jandiala.

Praveer Ranjan, director general of police (DGP), Chandigarh, Kanwardeep Kaur, senior superintendent of police (SSP), UT, along with K Siva Prasad, additional chief secretary (ACS) to Punjab governor, were also part of the meeting where the UT police stuck to their stand of not allowing entry to the protesters citing imposition of Section 144 of CrPC (prohibit assemblies of four or more individuals) across Chandigarh.

UT to seal borders, deploy 1,000 cops

Even when the morcha has agreed to refrain from entering the city, the Chandigarh Police will seal all the 12 entry and exit points in the city to ensure that protesters don’t enter the city.

Moreover 1,000 cops will guard these barricaded borders, including Sectors 52/53 Chowk, near Burail jail, Mataur Barrier and Sectors 53/54 point.

Paramilitary forces, Rapid Action Force (RAF), ITBP, CRPF along with Chandigarh Police will remain deployed.

“We have clearly told them that they won’t be allowed inside the city, and we have made adequate arrangements for the same,” the UT SSP said.

Meanwhile, after holding a meeting with the UT administrator, the Chandigarh Police held another meeting with the morcha organisers in the evening in the presence of their Mohali counterparts, including IGP Gurpreet Singh Bhullar and Mohali SSP Sandeep Kumar Garg.

It was in this meeting that the morcha agreed to hold a protest in Mohali and they were given a route map.

“To avoid violence, another meeting was held with the organisers in the evening and a route map was offered. Since there is a hearing scheduled in the Punjab and Haryana high court on August 17, the morcha also wanted to avoid any clash but still we are prepared to tackle any untoward situation,” an officer said.

Notably, earlier two meetings of the Chandigarh Police with the morcha to call off the march had failed on Wednesday and Sunday.