Chandigarh: While the controversy lingers on over construction of a memorial for those killed inside the Golden Temple complex in the 1984 Operation Bluestar, the BJP on Friday demanded a memorial for the innocent people killed in terrorism in Punjab in the 1980s and 1990s.
The Bharatiya Janata Party`s (BJP) Punjab unit president, Ashwani Sharma, demanded a memorial on the lines of Jallianwala Bagh (in Amritsar) in the memory of innocent people killed during the Pakistan-sponsored terrorism era in the state.
The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), earlier this year, accepted the demand of radical Sikh organisations for setting up a memorial for those killed inside the Golden Temple, the holiest of Sikh shrines, during Operation Bluestar in June 1984.
The construction of the memorial has already started inside the complex.
The raising of the Bluestar memorial is being criticised on the grounds that it will give a ground to radical and separatist elements to honour those extremists who were flushed out of the Golden Temple by the Army during the operation.
Sharma said that the memorial for innocents killed in Punjab terrorism will help future generations remember why peace is important for the state.
He said that many prominent and common people were killed by terrorists during the terrorism years 1981-1992.
IANS
