Ethnic clashes halt life

Life in Punjab was brought to a standstill when minority riots broke out in
parts of the state following the killing of Sikh preacher Sant Ram Nand of Dera
Sachkhand Ballan in Austria.

The killing flared tension in various parts of the state and it was not long
before clashes and riots broke out.

Cars burnt outside a popular restaurant in Jalandhar

The situation had to be brought under control by a curfew. Rajiv Khanna, CEO,
Computer Touch, Jalandhar shared some pictures of vehicles burnt and charred and
his views on the situation.

“The situation is very bad and all the people are very scared. Monday,
Tuesday and Wednesday was total curfew and on Thursday it was made a partial
curfew, public being free from 6am to 6pm. The government has been very careless
in handling the situation and as always we have suffered, who neither took part
in the riots nor supported it,” Khanna said.

He also stated that loot and destruction have become common in such tense
circumstances and the whole IT industry is scared as their's is a business of
costly items.

“The underlying tension has subsided for the time but there are chances of
them being flaring again as the body of the Sikh leader will be brought to the
country soon next week. The common man here as of now is agitated as the
authorities have not handled the situation well at all, when they could have had
it under control from the start itself,” he added.

As all wait for the situation to get normal once again, it is yet to be seen
whether the government is able to bring peace back to the areas or the common
people keep suffering under the curfew and fear of loss.