Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann met Union Home Minister Amit Shah here on Thursday and said the Center and the state would cooperate on law and order even as about 1,900 personnel of the CRPF and its dedicated counter-insurgency unit were deployed. state to strengthen the safety net.
The two officials discussed the issue of law and order. Mann told Shah about the circumstances leading to the Ajnal incident, sources said.
On February 23, self-styled Sikh preacher and Khalistan sympathizer Amritpal Singh and his supporters, some brandishing swords and weapons, broke through barricades and stormed the Ajnal police station on the outskirts of Amritsar, obtaining assurances from the police that his aide and the kidnapping case accused Lovepreet Singh will be released.
Opposition parties criticized the AAP government over the incident. After the meeting, the chief minister said in a Punjabi tweet that he had discussed the issue of drones and drugs along the border with the home minister.
He said the issue of moving barbed wire along the border was also discussed. Mann said he has asked Shah to release the frozen fund for rural development in Punjab soon. “Centre and Punjab will work together on law and order,” he tweeted.
Official sources added that the Union Home Ministry last week also directed the deployment of 18 companies in Punjab ahead of the three-day ‘Hola Mohalla’ Sikh festival to be celebrated on March 8 to “assist the state government in discharging its statutory duties.
Of the 18 contingents, eight are from the Anti-Movement Rapid Action Force (RAF), while the rest are regulars. The total strength of these companies is around 1900 employees.
These companies were initially mandated to deploy in Punjab between March 6 and 16 and their stay could be extended after consultation between the state and the Centre, sources said.
They said the companies will assist the state police with security duties during the three-day Sikh festival ‘Hola Mohalla’, which will be celebrated between March 8 and 10.
Central government officials said the Union Home Ministry was “closely monitoring” the situation in Punjab due to renewed activities by some Khalistani supporters.
On February 24, the Punjab Police said protesters used the holy Guru Granth Sahib as a shield and attacked police personnel in a cowardly manner, injuring six of them.
Lovepreet Singh left jail on February 24 on a court order.
Amritpal Singh, who returned to Dubai, was inaugurated as the head of ‘Waris Punjab De’ last year, which was founded by actor-activist Deep Sidhu, who died in a road accident last February. The event was held in Moga’s Roda, the native village of slain militant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale.
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