Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Thursday asked the state's civil and police administrations to brace up for serialised incidents of desecration of the Guru Granth Sahib by ensuring confidence of the people and maintaining law and order at the same time.Addressing a high-level meeting of top brass of state civil and police administration, including all divisional commissioners, deputy commissioners, top police officers and others at Punjab Bhawan here on Thursday evening, Badal asked civil and police officers to win over the confidence of the people in the wake of the current scenario resulting from recent incidents of sacrilege of the Guru Granth Sahib.
Badal asked the officers to deal with this piquant situation, unlike of normal crime, was of typical religious in nature fanned by the political rivals to exploit the situation to their vested interests thereby stirring up communal tension in the state."He said the current situation warranted utmost sensitivity and restraint to come out of this crucial phase," said a spokesman of the chief minister's office.Punjab has been witnessing protests and violence in the past one month from radical Sikh activists following repeated incidents of desecration of the Sikh holy book.Badal said no one would be allowed to disturb the hard earned peace and communal harmony in the state.He pointed out that the present crisis "was probably more serious in nature than of those during the black days of militancy".Violent protests and roadblocks across Punjab in the past month left two people dead in alleged police firing and many others injured.