Information sought as cops continue probe
A chain of events that started with the desecration incidents last year has placed Punjab on a dangerous slope.
The latest spark is the attack on a Punjab RSS leader, Brig Jagdish Gagneja (retd), which has the potential to reopen multiple latent wounds that remain shallow in the state’s psyche.
It is a very complex web that holds Punjab’s past and present together, with all its pulls in separate directions. No tear should be allowed in this, especially with the state located close to an inimical neighbour.
The most important defence against any disturbance would be people’s sagacity based in experience of how religious passions and historical wrongs have been exploited by the leadership of the day to serve their unholy ends.
The state government too needs to understand its responsibility and how it is guilty of contributing to the present tension. Crimes are committed, but they assume altogether new and divergent meanings in the minds of people when the law is not brought to bear upon them in a credible, fair and visible manner.
There has been no convincing answer to the desecration events of last year as well as the recent violation of the Koran. The attack on Dhadrianwala has gone unaddressed. Amidst all this, Sikh protesters at one point marched menacingly down the GT Road, and recently the Shiv Sena has been demonstrating belligerence.
There have been faked and genuine attacks on Shiv Sena and RSS leaders. SP Salwinder Singh, who may have gone underground, remains a mystery.
The way law and order is administered in the state suggests cases are solved, or not, depending on whether the outcome would suit the government politically. The Badal government must realise that being cunning may serve in politics, but not in governance.
The good of a party in power lies in the fair implementation of the law. Nerves are frayed in Punjab, elections are coming up, and there are many indefinite interests waiting to seize the opportunity. Political leaders of all hues have to understand the critical circumstances.
If the peace is shattered, each one of them would be responsible.
Failing to make headway in the case of the attack on Gagneja, the police announced a Rs 10 lakh cash reward and a job in the Punjab Police to the informer or his kin on the rank of constable.
The informers have been asked to pass on information about the assailants on phone number 87250-01100.
Two companies of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) were deployed in Jallandhar as the situation remained tense following the incident that took place on Saturday.
A senior police officer said: “The CRPF companies were requisitioned a day after the attack, but kept on standby.”
Nilabh Kishore, IG, a member of the SIT headed by IPS Sahota, ADGP, continued with his investigation in the city even as other senior officers returned to their respective stations.
An investigating officer said they were trying to trace a bike with registration number ending with “6157”. The police were tracking all vehicles with this number, he said.
The images of suspected persons have also been released after collating the CCTV footage from more than 20 locations around Jyoti Chowk where the incident took place.
He said the assailants had used two weapons — a .32 bore revolver and a 9-mm pistol. The police had reportedly recovered five empty cartridges from the spot.
Sources said the city SHOs were leading 10 teams to gather information about the assailants. They were conducting raids on various locations across the state. Among other places raids were conducted in Amritsar, Nawanshahr and Jalandhar.
