Communal tension defused in Phagwara

A possible face-off between hardliners of two communities here was averted today after the administration intervened to defuse the tension.
It was a poster war that triggered tension between the two communities, police said.
According to police, an activist of Akal Students Federation Gurdip Singh had put up a poster of slain militant Jarnail Singh Bhindrawale outside his house in Adarsh Nagar yesterday.
This was objected to by Deepak Bhardwaj, state unit president of Akhil Bhartiya Hindu Surakhsha Samiti. Bhardwaj then put up outside his house a poster of General AS Vaidya who had played key role in the Blue Star Operation in which Bhindrawale was killed.

Houses of both Gurdip Singh and Bhardwaj are situated side by side in the same locality.
Soon after, Federation activists converged outside the house of Gurdip Singh, police said, adding Bhardawaj also called supporters of his organisation.

Police was called and a contingent was deployed in front of their houses to ward off any ugly incident. Additional force was requisitioned from adjoining districts as a precautionay step and kept on stand-by, police said.
Police authorities intervened and brought the two sides to a negotiating table.
After the talks which went on till midnight, both sides relented. While Bhardawaj removed Vaidya's poster, Federation activists removed Bhindrawale's poster.

When contacted today, Phagwara SP Ajinder Singh said the matter was amicably resolved and that there was no tension whatsoever in the city.