BJP Asks Punjab Chief Minister To Call All-Party Meet To Discuss Law And Order

The BJP's Punjab unit has sought the convening of an all-party meeting to discuss the alleged "deteriorating" law and order situation in the state.

In a letter to Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, state BJP president Ashwani Sharma claimed that the people of Punjab are in fear due to the "daily incidents of murders, extortion, dacoities and other crimes".

He also mentioned last month's incident in Amritsar's Ajnala in which self-styled Sikh preacher and Khalistani sympathiser Amritpal Singh and his supporters, carrying swords and guns, clashed with police at the police station for the release of one of Singh's aide.

According to a BJP statement here, Sharma said that as chief minister Mann's first duty is to maintain law and order and peace in the state.

He also mentioned about killing of singer Sidhu Moosewala, Kabaddi player Sandeep Nangal Ambia and Shiv Sena (Taksali) leader Sudhir Suri during the last one year. The BJP leader referred to the rocket-propelled grenade being fired on the Intelligence Wing headquarters of Punjab Police in Mohali last year.

Sharma alleged that gangsters are fighting "deadly battles with each other even in jails".

"Separatist forces are raising their heads in the state, there have been instances of inflammatory slogans being written and provocative speeches being made at some places," he pointed out.

Referring to the Ajnala incident, the BJP leader said it has left Punjabis as well as the whole country worried.

"Even more worrying is the government's total submission to the perpetrators of the violence," alleged Sharma, who questioned why an FIR has not been registered against the accused who attacked the police station and injured the police personnel in Ajnala.

"Does the government think that all this violence is not a crime or is the government afraid of the elements indulging in violence? "How can a common citizen expect justice and security from a government which cannot give justice to its police officers and employees? All these questions have filled the minds of the people of Punjab with fear today," Sharma said.

He said this concern deepens even more when we look back in history, "when similar incidents and attitudes had pushed Punjab into a long dark dark phase (of militancy)".

The BJP leader told the chief minister that his government should break its "silence" on the Ajnala incident.

"Today, the morale of Punjab's brave police and Punjabis, who faced terrorism firmly, is completely broken. The law and order situation is continuously deteriorating in the entire state," alleged Sharma.

Amidst all this, "BJP stands like a rock with Punjab .... we are always serious and committed to the peace and brotherhood of Punjab", he wrote.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)