More than 150 Nihangs are camping at Paonta Sahib Gurdwara in Sirmaur, Himachal Pradesh, awaiting the release of four members of their sect who were arrested in Uttarakhand after a clash with locals.
Sources said on Saturday that the Nihang groups held discussions to determine the future course of action and announced that they will not return to Punjab until the four arrested members are released.
On Thursday, Nihang Jatha tried to force entry into Uttarakhand via Dehradun, which is only a few kilometers away. They also clashed with the police, who were present in large numbers to prevent them from entering.
The standoff between the Nihangs and the Dehradun administration on the Himachal-Uttarakhand border ended on Friday after the Nihangs postponed their march to Uttarakhand for two days.
Jagdeep Singh Akali, who leads the Nihang Jatha, told the media on Friday that the Uttarakhand administration had sought two days to “fulfill their demands”, so the plan for a protest march in Uttarakhand has been put on hold for the next two days.
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But he warned that they would resume their incitement if the detainees were not released.
On June 16, a dispute between residents and a group of nihangs escalated into violence at Karnaprayag market in Chamoli in Uttarakhand, leaving a few locals and one nihang injured, following which police registered a case and arrested four nihangs.
The Nihang Jatha group clashed with police on Thursday evening and broke through security barriers to march towards Hemkund Sahib, a Sikh pilgrimage site in Uttarakhand.
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After meeting the police, the group gathered in Dehradun, accompanied by police, left and took shelter at the Baonta Sahib Gurdwara, a few kilometers from the inter-state border.
A few people crossed the border checkpoint and one or two vehicles crossed but they agreed to return after discussions, Dehradun Senior Superintendent of Police Bramendra Dubal said.
In another related incident, about six members of the Nihang tribe climbed onto the roof of the Nagarasu Gurdwara on the Badrinath Expressway on June 20 and held an elderly man hostage, demanding the release of those detained in the Karnaprayag clash.
The shrine was vacated on June 23 after discussions between the local administration, the gurdwara administration and visiting members of the sect from Punjab.
