NEW DELHI: Reports emerging from the border region between Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand have alleged a severe security crackdown on Sikh protesters, with witnesses and protest organizers claiming that Indian security forces opened fire on demonstrators.
According to sources, a fierce bloody clash broke out at the Kalhal border between hundreds of Sikhs marching from Pointa Sahib and state forces when armed forces of the Indian Army and Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) used brute force to block the path of the naked Sikhs.
Eyewitnesses and defense sources say that instead of dispersing the protesters, the Indian Army and Police opened fire directly on the Sikh protesters, as a result of which several Sikh youths died on the spot and dozens were seriously injured. After this indiscriminate firing by the Indian security forces, a huge stampede broke out in the entire area and the situation has taken a very horrific form.
After the arrival of the Indian Army, the border districts of Himachal and Uttarakhand have been completely sealed and after the deployment of heavy military personnel, the entire region has been converted into a military cantonment. According to sources, the Modi government has issued orders to suspend internet services and media blackout in the affected areas to hide the videos and facts of the incident from the world, while aerial surveillance is also being carried out through drones.
Analysts and defense experts say that this latest bloody crackdown is not just an ordinary clash, but a systematic link to the growing awareness of the Sikhs and the Khalistan movement by the Indian state. Sikh organizations had announced this march against the state violence against Sikh pilgrims and the insulting of their religious symbols (turbans) in Chamoli, to which the Indian government responded with bullets.
The situation in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand is currently extremely tense and explosive, and the Sikh leadership has issued a strong response to this bloodbath by Indian forces and a warning of nationwide protests.
