DHARAMSHALA: Chief minister Jai Ram Thakur on Sunday said the act of tying Khalistan flags on the main gate of the Himachal Pradesh legislative assembly complex in Dharamshala was an act of cowardice.
The flags were put up on the outer side of gate number 1 of the assembly complex and slogans were written on the wall. Locals who spotted the flags promptly informed the police. A police team immediately rushed to the spot and removed the flags and erased slogans.
Thakur, who ordered the police to carry out a thorough probe and bring the culprits to book, said it was an act of cowardice carried out in the dark of the night.
“Those who have done this disgusting thing, if they had guts, they should have done it in daylight,” said Thakur, adding that the miscreants took advantage of the security arrangements at the complex used for only the winter session of the assembly.
“The police have registered a case and CCTV footage is being analyzed,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}“The police have registered a case and CCTV footage is being analyzed,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}A case under sections 153A (Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence), 153B (Imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration) and Section 3 of HP Open Spaces (Prevention of Disfigurement) Act, 1985.
In a communication sent to journalists and government functionaries, the Sikhs For Justice (SFJ), a banned Khalistan group claimed responsibility for putting up the flags and claimed that the flags were raised to commemorate the 36th year of Khalistan Declaration Day.
Himachal Pradesh director general of police (DGP) Sanjay Kundu constituted a seven-member special investigation team (SIT) to probe the case. Deputy inspector general (Intelligence and Security) Santosh Patial will lead the probe team
Meanwhile, the opposition Congress hit out at the government over the incident which it said reflects the inefficiency of the state security agencies under the BJP regime.
“It is a failure of the government. This incident has proved that the Jai Ram Thakur-led government is incompetent to run the state,” Congress campaign committee chief Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said.
The Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) state spokesperson and retired DGP ID Bhandari waded in.
“This was a shameful act in which miscreants put up Khalistan flags at a high-security area like state Vidhan Sabha,” Bhandari said at a press conference at Shimla. He said that the government under whose rule such an incident has happed has no right to be in power.
Himachal assembly speaker Vipin Singh Parmar condemned the incident and said the culprits will be nabbed and strict action will be taken against them.
Parmar also attacked some political parties for trying to vitiate the peaceful environment of the Himachal Pradesh, the land of Gods and Goddesses. He said that the ruling party in neighbouring Punjab was behind the re-emergence of terrorist groups and Patiala clashes was a fallout.