Separatist slogans at Bluestar anniversary

http://www.dailyindia.com/show/31957.php/Separatist_slogans_at_Bluestar_anniversary

By Indo Asian News Service

Amritsar, June 6 (IANS) Slogans for a separate Sikh state were raised inside the Golden Temple complex to mark the 22nd anniversary Tuesday of Operation Bluestar, the June 1984 Indian Army assault on the Golden Temple to flush out terrorists holed up in the shrine.

The annual remembrance ceremony organized by the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) at the Golden Temple complex culminated in chaos when a number of young Sikhs unsheathed their swords and raised separatist slogans.

Golden Temple head priest Joginder Singh Vedanti's failure to specifically mention the names of the late fundamentalist preacher like Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale during his address apparently offended the hardliners.

Bhindranwale and his armed supporters, who many Sikhs revere as martyrs, were killed during Operation Bluestar and the hardliners have been demanding that a befitting memorial be raised for them.

Though the SGPC had promised a memorial inside the Golden Temple complex almost two years ago, it has maintained a careful silence on the issue following vehement criticism from many quarters.

Harnam Singh Dhumma, chief of the Damdami Taksal Sikh seminary once headed by Bhindranwale, also criticized the SGPC and the head priest for glossing over the 'great sacrifices' of the militants who were killed combating Indian Army soldiers in June 1984.

He also offered to construct a Minar-e-Shaheedan commemorative column if the SGPC publicly acknowledged its incapacity to do so.

Addressing devotees after the official SGPC function, radical Sikh politician

Simranjit Singh Mann reiterated his demand for an independent Sikh nation of Khalistan.

Clearly unmindful of the sedition cases instituted against him following a similar speech at the Bluestar anniversary last year, Mann insisted that 'azaadi' (independence)' was the right of the Sikhs and reiterated his demand for 'Khalistan as an independent buffer state between India and Pakistan'.

Overshadowed by the vociferous hardliners, the moderate Sikh leadership, headed by former Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, preferred to keep a low profile and only spoke out briefly against the Congress party and its role in ordering the army into the Golden Temple.

The function ended with devotees rushing to grab copies of posters and calendars bearing images of the destruction caused during Operation Bluestar, alongside portraits of Bhindranwale and Shabeg Singh, the former army major general who helped plan and build the militant defences before Operation Bluestar

Copyright Indo-Asian News Service