Several Indian states bordering Pakistan have implemented stringent security measures, including school closures, blackouts, and cancellation of leave for police and administrative personnel, in response to escalating tensions between India and Pakistan. These measures were taken after India conducted airstrikes on terror infrastructure in Pakistan in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam massacre. Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, and West Bengal have all implemented these precautionary measures.
Punjab Bharatiya Janata Party leaders met the governor in Chandigarh on Thursday, demanding the dismissal of the state's home minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and the police chief over the security breach during the prime minister's visit to Punjab.
While six of them have been held from Punjab, five were nabbed from neighbouring Haryana, and one from Uttar Pradesh.
It was not immediately known whether the deportees were in shackles, as the previous batch was.
Two AK-47 rifles, two Glock pistols, and a huge cache of ammunition were seized from them, he said.
The Supreme Court on Friday ordered immediate medical aid for farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal, who is on an indefinite fast at the Punjab-Haryana border. The court also urged farmers to adopt the Gandhian way of protesting and to ensure that Dallewal's life is saved. The court has formed a high-powered committee to make recommendations to the stakeholders regarding the farmers' grievances.
The wife of an army Colonel, who has accused 12 Punjab police personnel of assaulting him and his son over a parking dispute, has started a sit-in protest along with ex-servicemen outside the Patiala Deputy Commissioner's office to press for a CBI probe. The family is demanding a CBI probe and the transfer of Patiala Senior Superintendent of Police Nanak Singh, accusing him of failing to take action on their multiple requests to file an FIR. Despite Patiala Deputy Commissioner (DC) Preeti Yadav assuring them of a fair and transparent probe, the family refused to lift the 'dharna' and said it would continue until their demands were met.
To ensure free, fair and transparent assembly elections next month in Punjab, the police have intensified search operations, especially in the border districts, to keep a vigil on illegal activities in vulnerable areas.
Singh's hand was chopped off and a few others were injured when a group of men dressed as Nihangs attacked them at a vegetable market in Punjab's Patiala district, police said.
On January 5, 2022, Prime Minister Modi's convoy was stranded on a flyover due to a blockade by protesters in Ferozepur after which he returned from Punjab without attending any of the events, including a rally. The security breach ahead of the Punjab Assembly elections had led to a major political controversy.
Accusing DGP Virk of "favouring" the ruling Congress, the Shiromani Akali Dal had asked the EC to transfer him ahead of the February 13 Assembly polls.
The exit deadline for Pakistani nationals visiting India on SAARC visas ended on April 26, while for the rest, except those on medical visas, it is set to close on Sunday, April 27 amid escalating tensions between the two countries over the Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 people.
Jagjit Singh Dallewal, a farmer leader, is on an indefinite hunger strike that has entered its 34th day. The Supreme Court has criticized the Punjab government for not shifting Dallewal to a hospital, while farmer leaders have said they are following Gandhian principles and it is up to the government to decide whether to use force to evict him. The farmers are protesting for several demands, including a legal guarantee for a minimum support price (MSP) for crops. The protests have reached a decisive stage, with the SKM (Non-Political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha calling for a Punjab bandh on Monday.
Enforcement Directorate officials said on Friday they are probing a 'complex network' of agents and facilitators in India, Canada and the US who help Indians illegally enter the US via 'bogus' admissions in Canadian colleges.
The ruling Aam Aadmi Party in Punjab on Wednesday filed a complaint with the state director general of police, seeking a thorough probe into allegations of an attempt by the Bharatiya Janata Party to topple its government.
Punjab's Deputy Chief Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa has said a probe would be carried out to ascertain whether Aroosa Alam, a Pakistani journalist who has been visiting former chief minister Amarinder Singh for several years, has links with the ISI.
'It was inspired by the Hamas attack and was like their attack -- well planned and well executed.'
The attack was carried out at the directions of an intelligence agency of the neighbouring country, director general of police Gaurav Yadav said pointing to Pakistan.
The raids were conducted simultaneously from 6 am to 11am across several districts of the state on the directions of director general of police Punjab Gaurav Yadav.
The Punjab Police has arrested five people in connection with the RPG attack at its Mohali office and pointed at the nexus of militant outfit Babbar Khalsa International and Pakistan's spy agency ISI.
Punjab Director General of Police N P S Aulakh has been appointed as the new chief of the elite National Security Guards and will assume charge on March 1. Aulakh, a 1972-batch officer of the Indian Police Service, will replace J K Dutta who is retiring on Saturday, official sources said on Friday. He was appointed the Punjab DGP in March 2007 after the formation of Shiromani Akali Dal Bharatiya Janata Party combine government in the state. Aulakh is to retire in August 2010
In a statement, Deol said Sidhu's 'repeated utterances seek to derail the earnest efforts of the state government to ensure justice in the drugs matter and the sacrilege cases'.
The DGP told reporters Gagandeep Singh, 31, who was dismissed from service in 2019, had gone to the washroom of the courts complex to assemble the bomb and plant it somewhere.
The latest blast occurred on Wednesday midnight behind the Guru Ramdas Niwas building, police said.
The DGP said that the drone parts were manufactured in US and China.
A bullet each hit Singh in the head and near the chest. Singh was rushed to a private hospital, police said. He is currently out of danger.
The AAP government in the state had earlier claimed that some of its MLAs were approached by the BJP with an offer of Rs 25 crore to each of them.
The decision was reached after an over two-hour meeting at the Punjab Congress Bhavan between chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi and Sidhu, who had resigned from the post of the state party chief on Tuesday.
The Punjab cabinet has approved the summoning of a special session of the assembly on September 22 to bring a confidence motion.
On January 5, 2022, Modi's convoy was stranded on a flyover due to a blockade by protesters in Ferozepur after which he returned from Punjab without attending any event, including a rally.
The remarks came after the Channi government on Tuesday accepted the resignation of advocate general APS Deol, yielding to the pressure mounted by Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu for replacing the state's AG.
Making the announcement at a press conference in Chandigarh, Sidhu, however, said he will assume charge the day Punjab will get a new advocate general.
The Punjab police on Friday claimed to have busted an ISI-backed terror module jointly handled by Canada-based gangster Lakhbir Singh alias Landa and Pakistan-based gangster Harvinder Singh Rinda with the arrest of two of its operatives.
The main accused in the rocket propelled grenade attack at the Punjab police headquarters in Mohali was apprehended from Mumbai on Thursday, DGP Gaurav Yadav said.
Sidhu has been pushing for the replacement of Deol, who had represented former Punjab Director General of Police Sumedh Singh Saini in cases related to the 2015 desecration incidents and police firing on protesters.
In the first case, the arrested accused has been identified as Yograj Singh alias Yog, a resident of Rajoke village in Tarn Taran district.
The Centre has estimated that nearly 14,000 people have gathered along the Punjab-Haryana border with 1,200 tractor-trolleys, 300 cars, 10 mini-buses as well as small vehicles and conveyed its strong objections to the Punjab government for it, sources said on Tuesday.
'My fight is issue-based and I have stood by it for a long time. There can't be any compromise on a pro-Punjab agenda'
Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, state Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu and senior leader Sunil Jakhar met with former party president Rahul Gandhi at his Delhi residence on Wednesday.
The action being contemplated is based on the findings submitted by a Supreme Court-appointed committee which probed the security breach during Modi's visit.
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