CHANDIGARH: Punjab director general of police (DGP) Dinkar Gupta’s recent remark that the visa-free passage cleared for Sikh pilgrims via Kartarpur Corridor was a security challenge from the terrorism point of view, kicked up a storm in the assembly on Monday afternoon, forcing two adjournments for half an hour each.
Soon after it met for a discussion on the governor’s address here, the Punjab assembly witnessed sloganeering and protests from opposition Aam Aadmi Party and Shiromani Akali Dal members who demanded Gupta’s suspension for hurting Sikh sentiments.
Though the DGP expressed regret for his statement on Sunday, it failed to assuage the hurt of opposition leaders who rushed to well of the House soon after the proceedings began at 2pm. Ten minutes later, Speaker Rana KP Singh adjourned the House for half an hour amid sloganeering. When the proceedings resumed, the slogan-raising continued, leading to an adjournment for another half an hour.
Akali legislators also wanted action against the state food and civil supplies minister after a suspended deputy superintendent of police (DSP), Balwinder Singh Sekhon, on Sunday demanded that Bharat Bhushan Ashu be booked for his alleged involvement in a bomb blast that took place in Ludhiana’s Gur Mandi area in April 1992.
{{/usCountry}}Akali legislators also wanted action against the state food and civil supplies minister after a suspended deputy superintendent of police (DSP), Balwinder Singh Sekhon, on Sunday demanded that Bharat Bhushan Ashu be booked for his alleged involvement in a bomb blast that took place in Ludhiana’s Gur Mandi area in April 1992.
{{/usCountry}}Sekhon told reporters in Chandigarh that it was Ashu who suggested that the blast be carried out at Gur Mandi as it was a busy area. Ashu was booked for allegedly harbouring terrorists under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act. Sekhon, who was suspended in December for using vulgar language against the minister on social media, alleged that the bombs were prepared in a dairy run by Ashu but there is no mention of it in the case.
The minister dismissed the allegations as “a bunch of lies proffered by a tainted DSP that are nothing but a desperate attempt to malign my political image”.