Mixed response to bandh call in Punjab

Chandigarh, A state-wide bandh called by All India Sikh Federation and other Sikhs Bodies to protest against 1984 anti-Sikh riots, evoked a mixed response with rail and road traffic being partially affected at a few place

Members of All India Sikh Students Federation (AISSF) and Sikh Students Federation (SSF) squatted on rail tracks near Gurudwara Dukh Nivaran at Ludhiana for around five hours in the morning following which movement of few trains, including Shatabdi express, Shan-e-Punjab, Katiyar express and Jansewa express remained affected for few hours, police said.

Ludhiana Police Commissioner Pramod Bhan said that no untoward incident was reported and the situation is under control.

Police have been deployed in large numbers at several places across the state as a precautionary measure, he said.

Meanwhile, AISSF President Karnail Singh Peermohammad alongwith around 50 people have been rounded up by police at Amritsar when they were trying to block road traffic movement.

Police have taken few people into preventive custody to keep law and order under control, he said.

Among the detainees include Jagdish Kaur, a witness in the 1984 riots, who had lost her five family members including her husband and children during anti Sikh riots in November 1984, said Peermohammad.

Today is the 30th year of ‘Sikh Genocide’ that took place after the assassination of late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

Activists of Sikh bodies, led by Manjit Singh Khalsa, took out a protest march in Phagwara city, raising slogans for arrest of those responsible for 1984 Sikh carnage.

Representatives of Muslim community also took part in the protest march to express solidarity with their Sikh brethren.

Sikh protesters rued that the perpetrators of 1984 Sikh massacre were not punished even after thirty years.

Though the protesters did not block any train or bus here, yet the railway department itself kept halting Delhi-bound 2014 Down Amritsar-Delhi Swaran Shatabdi at Phagwara railway station for about three hours due to blockade of trains elsewhere in state.

Skeleton private bus services plied at few places, including Phagwara.

Barring at few places, the educational and commercial establishments remained opened in the state amid tight security arrangements, police said.
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