Centre asked Punjab to end Amritpal's free run

Officials of the Punjab police were given the “strong advice” to take decisive action against Khalistani sympathiser Amritpal Singh Sandhu soon, as time was running out for the state administration, with his clout growing rapidly.

- ABHINANDAN MISHRA & TARUNI GANDHI

Official sources told The Sunday Guardian on Saturday, even as Punjab police was still trying to arrest Amritpal, that if the police had not done what they did on Saturday, the only option that would have been available to restrain him was to involve the Central forces, a scenario that would have opened the border state to civil disruptions similar to what it had witnessed in the 1980s.

After getting this advice from Delhi, Punjab police officials decided to act and try to detain him after a G-20 meeting ended in Amritsar on Friday.

The much-delayed action against him came after questions started being raised as to what political benefits the state government leaders were factoring in while treating him with such “affection”.

As per discussions in relevant circles, influential people in Punjab wanted Amritpal to become “big”, a scenario that would have forced the Centre to intervene with its full might, an event that would have caused the bloodshed of Khalistani sympathsiers, security officials apart from causing collateral damages, all of which would have dented the image of the decision-makers at the Centre.

Official sources in New Delhi told The Sunday Guardian that regular inputs were being shared from the beginning with the state police apparatus on Amritpal’s links with people working with Pakistan’s intelligence agencies. However, the action of acting on these inputs was the state police’s responsibility, which for a long time kept dithering as the timeline of events shows.