Former Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Thursday expressed grave concern over the incident where supporters of self-proclaimed religious leader Amritpal Singh laid a siege on the Police Station at Ajnala in Punjab’s Amritsar, which led to a scuffle and injuries to several police personnel.

“This is not only a complete collapse of the law and order situation in Punjab, it is more serious than that,” Amarinder said in a statement, while pointing out that the incident has serious security implications for the state and the country.

The senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader drew the Central government’s attention to this incident warning that there was a particular pattern in these incidents, which does not bode well for the national security.

“Particularly when Pakistan is there to encourage and exploit such a situation”, he observed, while raising questions over the competence of the state government in dealing with such a situation.

Amarinder also questioned the motive behind carrying holy Guru Granth Sahib to the protest site, which he said was unacceptable.

The former CM appreciated the restraint exercised by the police in dealing with those who laid siege to the police station. “While the situation needs to be handled with care, at the same time, rule of law must prevail”, he added.

A large number of followers of Amritpal,  president of Waris Punjab Dae, had started gathering at Ajnala this morning in front of the police station to protest against the filing of an FIR against Amritpal and his associates.

Amritpal had warned to hold a meeting at Ajnala and offer court arrest if the government did not scrap the FIR registered against him and his associates.

A resident of Chamkaur Sahib, Varinder Singh, had filed a complaint against Amritpal and his followers for allegedly kidnapping and thrashing him while he was in Ajnala to attend a religious function.

Amritpal had denied the charges and claimed that the police had registered a case against him and his followers on the complaint of a mentally unstable person who had already been spewing venom against his jatha.