The Punjab government on Thursday decided to restore the security of all the 424 protectees in the state whose cover it had pruned. The development comes days after popular Punjabi singer and Congress leader Sidhu Moose Wala — whose security was curtailed by the AAP government — was shot dead in a daring daylight murder.
In a sealed cover, Punjab’s senior deputy advocate general Gaurav Dhuriwala told the High Court that the security of all the 424 protectees will be restored from June 7. The court was hearing a petition by former minister OP Soni, who is among the 424 VVIPs whose security was curtailed.
The Punjab Police, in an order last week, withdrew the security of the 424 VVIPS, which included former MLAs, Jathedars of two Takhts, heads of Deras, and police officers. Former Congress MLAs Kuljit Singh Nagra, Balwinder Singh Laddi, Harminder Gill, Madan Lal Jalalpur, Surjit Dhiman, Hardial Kamboj and Sukhpal Bhullar, former BJP and SAD legislators Dinesh Babbu, Sharanjit Singh Dhillon, Kanwarjit Singh and Gurpartap Singh Wadala were among those whose security cover was curtailed.
Punjab DGP VK Bhawra has earlier said that Moose Wala’s security was withdrawn as additional forces were needed due to the anniversary of operation ‘Bluestar’ and ‘Ghallughara week’ that falls this month.
The AAP government had come in the eye of a huge storm as the fatal attack on the 28-year-old Congress leader took place a day after the state government withdrew his security cover. The opposition parties said that the AAP-led government was fiddling with the security of individuals in Punjab over political considerations rather than serious threat perception.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court had on Monday asked the state government to explain the basis on which it pruned the security cover of over 400 protectees in the state. It also demanded to know from the state government whether the decision was taken after examining threat perception in each case. The court further asked the state as to how the information regarding it was made public.
Reacting to the Punjab government’s order, BJP leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa slammed AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal and CM Bhagwant Mann and said “Punjab’s youth would never forgive them for their hypocrisy”.
“Kejriwal-Mann duo bite the dust; again. They refuted back in High Court on their claim of reducing VIP culture in Punjab by saying that it was a temporary withdrawal @AAPPunjab cheap stunt cost Punjabis a precious life. Punjab’s youth would never forgive them for their hypocrisy,” he tweeted.
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