Golden Temple Row: No Air Defence Guns Deployed, Says Indian Army After Chief Granthi Refutes Claim

Dismissing the reports claiming Lieutenant General Sumer Ivan D바카라�Cunha, Director General of Army Air Defence said that the head 'Granthi' of the Golden Temple allowed Indian Army to deploy guns to thwart Pakistani aerial attacks on it, the Army Tuesday firmly denied the claim on Tuesday.

Earlier today, the Sikh religious authorities and the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) also refuted the claim and clarified that no such permission was granted.

"Some media reports are circulating with respect to deployment of AD (air defence) guns in the Golden Temple. It is clarified that no AD guns or any other AD resource was deployed within the premises of Sri Darbar Sahib Amritsar (Golden Temple)," an Army statement said, as per PTI.

The confusion stemmed from the news of an interview with news agency ANI, where Lieutenant General D바카라�Cunha had reportedly said, 바카라�The Golden Temple hierarchy realised there was possibly a threat when it was explained to them. They allowed us to deploy guns, to protect바카라� the Golden Temple바카라�s lights were switched off so that we could clearly visualise the drones as they were coming in바카라�바카라�.

Issuing an official statement, Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) said no permission was given to the Indian Army to deploy any air defence guns.

Refuting the claim of Lieutenant General Sumer Ivan D바카라�Cunha, Director General of Army Air Defence where he said that the head Granthi of the Golden Temple allowed Indian Army to deploy guns to thwart Pakistani aerial attacks on it, Sikh religious authorities and the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) on Tuesday clarified that no such permission was granted.

"Indian Army officer바카라�s statement about deploying air defence guns at Sri Harmandar Sahib is shockingly untrue. Head Granthi  also states no such permission was granted, nor did any such incident occur", SGPC said in its official statement.

바카라�The administration contacted us only to request cooperation with blackout protocols. We switched off the external lights after consulting with the additional head granthi. No Army official contacted us about any other matter,바카라� Dhami said.

바카라�It is incorrect to say that the Army was given permission to deploy air defence guns at Sri Harmandir Sahib. No such permission was granted, and no such deployment occurred,바카라� Giani Amarjeet Singh, the additional head granthi of Sri Harmandir Sahib, said in a statement released by the SGPC.

바카라�During the blackout issued by the Amritsar district administration, the management cooperated by switching off exterior and upper lights. However, at places where the religious code of conduct is followed, the lights remained on,바카라� Giani Amarjeet Singh said.

Pak Targeting Golden Temple

After India's strikes against terror camps at nine locations on May 7, Pakistan attempted to target the Golden Temple in Amritsar with missiles and drones.

Major General Kartik C. Sheshadri, General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the 15th Infantry Division, told the news agency ANI.

The Major General told ANI that the Indian Army had anticipated that Pakistan would target its military installations as well as civilian installations, including religious places like the Golden Temple.

"Knowing that the Pak Army does not have any legitimate targets, we anticipated that they would target Indian military installations and civilian targets, including religious places. Of these, Golden Temple appeared to be the most prominent," he told ANI.