No plans to enter Dera headquarters in Sirsa: Army
HIGHLIGHTS
- Army and Haryana government said there were no plans to let security forces enter the Dera headquarters nears Sirsa
- The clarification came after Army, RAF and police were deployed around the Dera campus earlier in the day
NEW DELHI: Army has no immediate plan of entering
Dera Sacha Sauda sect headquarters in
Sirsa and it is focusing on maintaining law and order in the wake of violence triggered by the rape conviction of sect head Gurmeet Ram Rahim, a top officer said today.
The Army along with the police and paramilitary forces has put up barricades at entry points of the Dera premises, where tens of thousands of Dera followers, including women and children, stayed put despite an appeal by authorities to leave.
Major General Rajpal Punia said the Army has no immediate plans to enter the Dera campus.
"There is some confusion that the Army is going inside the Dera campus. At the moment there is no such plan," General Punia told mediapersons at a press conference.
He said he would be going to the sect headquarters to talk to the Dera management to vacate the campus.
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On evacuation of Dera followers from the headquarters, he said: "We will come back to you."
Earlier in the day, the Army, Rapid Action Force (
RAF) and the police were deployed around the sprawling Dera campus, which led to speculation that they'd soon be moving in to vacate the one lakh people still camped inside to protest the conviction of sect chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim.
Denying these reports,
Haryana chief secretary DS Dhesi said the Army had moved in only to "sanitize" the area in the periphery of the Dera headquarters near Sirsa.
"We have appealed to the Dera followers and management to come out of the complex peacefully. No action has been initiated by the Army so far. The Army has only moved to sanitize the area," Dhesi said.
The Haryana government has ordered a search of all congregation centres belonging to the Dera Sacha Sauda in the state, a senior official said.
"We have ordered a search of all 'naam charcha ghars' (congregation centres) of the Dera Sacha Sauda wherever located in Haryana," state Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Ram Niwas told PTI.
"We have asked security personnel to conduct searches at all Dera centres thoroughly and seize any weapons found," he added.
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