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Rail traffic disrupted as Sikh bodies observe Punjab bandh
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 1
The bandh call given by the All-India Sikh Students Federation (AISSF) and other Sikh organisations on the 30th anniversary of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots got a mixed response in Punjab today.

Barring delay of trains following protests in Ludhiana and Phagwara, the bandh passed off peacefully with no untoward incident being reported across the state. Education institutions, business and commercial establishments, however, remained closed.

In Amritsar, the police made 200 preventive arrests, including that of AISSF chief Karnail Singh Peermohammed and riot victim Bibi Jagdish Kaur.

A team led by Assistant Commissioner of Police Manminder Singh rounded up around 50 AISSF activists as they tried to disrupt rail and road traffic around 5.30 am.

Sikh Students Federation (Mehta) leader Amarbir Singh Dhot was arrested as a group of activists tried to disrupt rail traffic. Several other Sikh leaders were also rounded up.

In Ludhiana, protesters belonging to various Sikh organisations blocked the railway track near Gurdwara Dukh Nivaran Sahib for over four hours.

The protest that started at 5 am affected movement of at least 15 trains bound for New Delhi and Jalandhar by two to five hours. In Phagwara, too, trains were held up because of the protest.

The police had requisitioned additional personnel from the police lines and reserve battalions as a preventive measure.

Gurdaspur, which remained tense, saw heavy police presence in the town and its neighbouring areas of Dinanagar, Dhariwal and Naushera Majha Singh. Hindu fundamental organisations had last evening claimed they would prevent the AISSF from going ahead with the protest. But the police and district administration effected truce between the two sides. Anti-riot vehicles were stationed at sensitive locations in the district today.

Bandh was complete in Faridkot, Kotkapura and Sadiq towns, but partial in Jagraon, Bathinda, Jaitu and Fazilka.

Volunteers of the Aam Aadmi Party held candle-light marches seeking justice for the victim of riots in Ludhiana and Bathinda.

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