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Tuesday, May 26, 2009
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Army called out in Jalandhar

Sarabjit Pandher

Curfew imposed in four cities following rioting and arson

— Photo: PTI

VIOLENT ECHO IN PUNJAB: Followers of Dera Sach Khand take to the streets in Amritsar on Monday, reacting to the attack on the sect head Niranjan Das and killing of his follower Sant Rama Nand in the Austrian capital of Vienna on Sunday.

CHANDIGARH: The Army was called out in Jalandhar on Monday to assist the administration in checking rioting that was sparked by a group clash in a gurdwara in Vienna that led to the death of a preacher. Besides Jalandhar, curfew was imposed in Ludhiana, Hoshiarpur and Phagwara as protests were reported from different parts of Punjab.

At least one person was killed and four persons were injured when Army personnel opened fire to disperse a mob that attempted to burn down a police station near Lambra, 30 km from Jalandhar. One person was seriously injured when the police opened fire at a mob that attacked the Jalandhar Cantonment railway station and torched a train. Jalandhar zone Inspector General Sanjiv Kalra and his gunmen were injured when a mob attempted to ransack the Maqsudan police station. Vehicles parked on the premises of the police station were burnt.

On Sunday night, a mob gathered at the Nakodar roadabout and threw stones, damaging a building housing the Nari Niketan and orphanage. The 32 girls sheltered there and staff members who supervise a nursery of newborns were left terrified, a trustee of the organisation, Seema Chopra, said.

Late on Monday evening, tension continued in the affected areas. Personnel of the Army, the paramilitary forces, the Rapid Action Force and the Punjab police took out flag marches. Local peace committees were being formed. The problem started in Jalandhar late on Sunday when the news from Vienna came. Preacher of the Dera Sach Khand, Sant Niranjan Das, and his deputy, Sant Rama Nand, were among those injured there after a rival group attempted to disrupt a sermon. The Dera, which claims a following among the Scheduled Caste sections of the Sikh community, has its headquarters at Vallan village of Jalandhar district.

The situation deteriorated in the forenoon after news came that Sant Rama Nand had died. Thereafter, two trains and an automobile showroom with more than a dozen cars were torched in Jalandhar. Preliminary reports indicated that over three dozen vehicles were destroyed in arson at different places.

Mobs damaged government and private property. Vehicles in Patiala, Nawanshahr, Banga, Moga, Nakodar, Ferozepur and Gurdaspur were hit. The police resorted to cane-charging and burst teargas shells to disperse a mob that damaged vehicles at the bus station and ransacked commercial property near the Hall Gate in Amritsar.

With the Dera followers and the Shiromani Akali Dal calling for a day’s bandh to protest the killing in Vienna, National Highways and State Highways were blocked by the protesters burning tyres and wood. Rail traffic on the Delhi-Jammu, Delhi-Amritsar and the Ferozepur sectors was disrupted.

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal said 40 battalions of the Punjab Armed Police had been deployed while the State government had sought another 25 companies of paramilitary forces.

PTI reports:

A man allegedly entered the Golden Temple in Amritsar with some animal meat and was held by volunteers for the “sacrilegious” act, an SGPC official said.

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