Other States - Punjab

Tension in Jalandhar after clashes

By Our Staff Correspondent

JALANDHAR JUNE 6. The Punjab Chief Minister, Amarinder Singh, has ordered a probe into incidents of violence today between the Jat and Dalit communities in Talhan village of Jalandhar. He has appointed a high-level committee of Ministers and police officers to ensure that peace is established at "all costs".

At least one person was killed and 24 were injured in the violence. Vehicles were destroyed and shops were looted after youths of rival communities clashed in Talhan over control of a "mazaar" of Baba Fateh Shah. The clashes spread to at least three other localities — Buta Mandi, Maksudan and Guru Nanakpura — where police resorted to a lathicharge and firing. Mr. Singh convened an emergency meeting of Ministers and officials to take stock of the situation. Later, a committee headed by the Finance Minister, Lal Singh, was constituted, with other Ministers from Jalandhar district, including Avtar Singh Henry, Chaudhary Jagjit Singh, Chaudhary Santokh Singh, the senior-most Finance Commissioner, Bhagat Singh, the police chief, M.S. Bhullar, and the intelligence chief, S.S. Virk, as members. The panel members were rushed to Jalandhar to initiate talks with both sides.

According to latest reports, peace had been restored in Talhan, where an indefinite curfew was imposed on Thursday night. The problem, which started in the village, soon spread to other areas after the clashes were shown on the local cable network. The incidents are said to have their genesis in the tension that had been brewing between the two communities for almost four months, while the administration preferred to remain indifferent.

The Bahujan Samaj Party leader and in-charge of Punjab, Narinder Kashyap, and the president of the State unit of the party, Avtar Singh Karimpuri, blamed the State Government for the violence saying that it had allowed the situation to deteriorate and then mishandled it.

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