India has not only been decked in tricolour hues in the lead up to the 76th Independence Day celebrations, but also put under a heavy security blanket, right from Delhi, the epicentre of the mega celebrations, to Jammu and Kashmir.
There is a heightened security presence and barricades have been erected outside the Indian High Commission in London on Wednesday due to a planned demonstration called by some British Sikh groups.
Elaborate security measures have been put in place in and around Ramlila Maidan where the Aam Aadmi Party will hold a 'Maha Rally' on Sunday against the Centre's ordinance on control of services in the national capital, police said.
The Punjab Police has already invoked the stringent National Security Act (NSA) against the Khalistan sympathiser.
Amid a police crackdown on Amritpal Singh and his outfit, the pro-Khalistan preacher appeared in a video on Wednesday, calling for a 'Sarbat Khalsa' congregation on Baisakhi to discuss issues related to the Sikh community and saying he is in high spirits.
'Many times when Khalistan slogans are raised, it is from those who feel alienated, not because they want a separate state.'
The Indian Army is one of the very few armies in the world that operates tanks at high altitudes up to 16,000 feet, and in large numbers.
The entire area has been cordoned off while drones and sniffer dogs are being used to sniff out the terrorists that might be hiding in the area, they said.
Khan was arrested on Tuesday in the case, sparking massive country-wide protests by his supporters.
Several people were feared trapped under the debris, police said, adding that the rescue operation was underway.
Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu Monday called Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann the 'most protected CM' as he took on the Aam Aadmi Party government over the law and order situation in the state and also claimed that his security has been pruned.
A group of four-five 'Nihangs' (Sikhs armed with traditional weapons and dressed in loose blue top) were travelling in a vehicle and they were asked to stop at a vegetable market by the Mandi board officials at around 6.15 am, police said.
Officials said security personnel, including those from paramilitary forces, have been deployed to keep a strict vigil. Security at inter-state and inter-district borders has also been tightened, they said.
The Punjab police, which is investigating the matter along with their military counterparts, said according to the information gathered so far, the incident was not a terrorist act. The four personnel, in their mid 20s, were sleeping when the firing took place around 4.30 am near the barracks behind a mess.
Security agencies could track the flight path and even address of criminals involved in this cross-border illegal activity that is rearing its head over the last few years, he said on Saturday.
The water level rose above the danger mark in Haridwar and Delhi and the level at Bhakra dam was a foot above the permissible mark.
Delhi high court judge Justice S Muralidhar was on Wednesday transferred to the Punjab and Haryana high court. A government notification about the transfer was issued on Wednesday which said that after consultation with Chief Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde, President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday transferred Justice S Muralidhar, judge of the Delhi high court, as judge of Punjab and Haryana high court. The notification further said the President has directed Muralidhar to assume charge of his office in Punjab and Haryana high court.
Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal exhorted the people to exercise restraint and observe the 32nd anniversary of Operation Bluestar peacefully.
The Yamuna river in Delhi swelled to the highest recorded level in 10 years on Tuesday and is expected to rise further, officials said on Tuesday.
Gogamedi, the chief of Rashtriya Rajput Karni Sena, was shot dead in Jaipur on Tuesday by unidentified bike-borne criminals.
The assembly polls are seen as a test of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's popularity, especially in the wake of demonetisation.
The chief minister further informed that an FIR has been registered following the incident and a probe has been ordered to nab the culprits.
The ministry of home affairs (MHA) on Monday sent a letter to the West Bengal State Election Commission (SEC) seeking details of the need for additional 485 companies of central forces, for which it has sent a requisition, an official said.
Union Minister and Akali leader Harsimrat Kaur Badal on Wednesday blamed a "foreign hand" behind the turmoil in Punjab over the recent incidents of desecration of a Sikh holy book and said the government will expose such elements.
Punjab, which faced two terror attacks in six months, on Sunday announced deployment of a commando battalion and a special SWAT team in Pathankot as a "second line of defence" and also sought deployment of more Border Security Force troops along the state's border with Pakistan.
As many as 231 Indians, including 208 Gujarat residents, who were evacuated from strife-torn African nation Sudan under the Centre's 'Operation Kaveri', landed at Ahmedabad airport on Tuesday, said a state government official.
Two gangsters involved in the killing of singer Sidhu Moosewala were eliminated in an encounter by the Punjab police in Amritsar on Wednesday, an officer said.
The recommendation is being forwarded to the Union government.
Accompanied by some relatives, Moosewala's father received his son's body from Mansa Civil hospital, where it was kept for post-mortem, around 8.15 am.
Days after assessing the COVID-19 situation in the five poll-bound states, the Election Commission has asked them to step up the inoculation drive against the viral disease and ensure that the personnel to be deployed on election duty are 'double vaccinated.'
The home ministry has taken cognisance of the "serious security lapse" and has sought a detailed report from the state government. The State Government has also been asked to fix responsibility for this lapse and take strict action.
A video shared by Qureshi's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party on Twitter shows plain-clothed men taking him away, with him waving at party workers before departing from the location where he was detained.
Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala on Tuesday indicated that there were shortcomings by the administration in assessing the situation in Nuh, where a communal violence erupted on July 31 during a religious procession.
The damaged drone was recovered in Mahawa village based on the information given by one of the four people the state police arrested on Sunday.
Around 1.76 crore voters will seal the fate of 1,078 candidates, including the two chief ministerial aspirants Parkash Singh Badal of ruling Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party and Amarinder Singh of opposition Congress, in fray for 117 assembly seats in Punjab where polling will take place on Monday amidst tight security.
The two brothers, identified as Rupinder Singh and Jaswinder Singh, of Panjgrain village of Faridkot, were arrested in connection with the first incident of sacrilege in the state in Bargari village in Faridkot
No casualties were reported on the Indian side even as the BSF has decided to lodge a "protest" with their Pakistani counterparts and have sought a flag meeting on Saturday.
Pressures in the BJP-Akali Dal alliance have created grounds for a rise in extremism.
A Supreme Court-appointed committee to probe the security breach during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Punjab in January has found that the Ferozepur Senior Superintendent of Police failed to discharge his duty though sufficient force was available.
Senior officials of the Punjab Police claim that security arrangements across the state have been beefed up following the blast at a Ludhiana multiplex on Sunday, which claimed six lives. However, a ground check by this correspondent found nothing to support their claims. Hardly any police nakas were visible during the journey from Delhi, through Haryana and Punjab, and there were no police personnel deployed to keep a check on visitors entering the state via the highway.
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