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Operation Bluestar anniversary observed

Akali leaders attend prayer meeting

Amritsar: The 22nd anniversary of `Operation Bluestar' which is observed every year as `ghallughara divas' (genocide day) passed off peacefully inside the Golden Temple complex here on Tuesday.

Akali leaders joined the prayer meeting at the Akal Takht in the Golden Temple complex, paying homage to those killed during the operation in 1984 on this day, coinciding with the martyrdom day of fifth Guru Arjan Dev Ji.

Shiromani Akali Dal president Parkash Singh Badal and Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) chief Simranjit Singh Mann were among the leaders who paid obeisance at the Golden Temple.

Though the Akali leaders decided not to deliver speeches, a few radical elements raised pro-Khalistan slogans on the occasion. They were, however, pacified by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee task force. Later talking to newsmen, Mr Badal said that a handful of people with a radical bent had no mass support and they wanted to create confusion and gain political mileage. SAD (Amritsar) chief Simranjit Singh Mann, talking to newspersons, demanded `a Sikh nation'.

Taking an exception to the utterances of Mr Mann, Mr Badal said the `panth' (Sikh community) had been observing day of martyrs peacefully while certain elements used such occasions for political mileage. -- UNI

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Operation Bluestar anniversary observed

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