Security at RSS shakhas up after intel warning

Ravi Dhaliwal

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Tribune News Service

Gurdaspur, March 31

The state police have deployed extra security at all 900 RSS shakhas in the state after an input by the Intelligence Bureau (IB).

In this border district, there are nearly 30 shakhas, while the neighbouring district of Pathankot has only 16 such places.

A communiqué from the state intelligence authorities has asked commissioners of police (CPs) and SSPs to personally visit these shakhas. Large shakhas are given the priority. The communiqué has been dispatched to police chiefs based on intelligence inputs.

An SSP-rank officer disclosed that such alerts were “routine matters”. He, however, admitted that extra security had been deployed at most of these places.

Batala SSP Opinderjit Sing Ghuman said all shakhas in the city and its adjoining towns had been “well covered” (an euphemism to describe enhanced security in and around these places).

An RSS spokesman claimed that meetings were held in open grounds in the morning. “Police officers visit us almost everyday at the break of dawn. The security has been increased. Such things happen whenever the RSS tries to expand its base in the state.

These alerts actually showcase the tension between two communities. The animosity between the RSS and Sikh hardliners dates back to the 1980s, when militants uprooted shakhas from border areas of Punjab,” he said.