No air defence guns deployed at Golden Temple during Operation Sindoor: Army

The Indian Army on Monday dismissed media reports that it had deployed air defence (AD) guns at the Golden Temple in Amritsar during the military confrontation with Pakistan.

 

The assertions came after an additional head priest of the shrine countered the reports, claiming that no permission had been given to the Indian Army to deploy any AD guns on the temple premises.

 

"Some media reports are circulating with respect to deployment of AD 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)," the Army said in a statement.

 

On Monday, during an interview to news agency ANI, Lt Gen Sumer Ivan D'Cunha had claimed that the temple management had allowed the force to deploy air defence guns to counter potential drone and missile threats from Pakistan.

 

"It was very nice that the Head Granthi of the Golden Temple allowed us to deploy our guns. It is possibly for the first time in many years that they switched off the Golden Temple lights so that we could see the drone coming," he had said.

 

Denying his claims, Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) president Harjinder Singh Dhami on Monday said there was no contact from any Army official regarding the installation of air defence guns at Sri Harmandar Sahib.

 

He said the administration contacted them only about switching off the lights during the blackout after recent escalation of tension between India and Pakistan, and they fully cooperated in the interest of administrative responsibility while maintaining the sanctity of the ongoing 'maryada' (conduct).

 

Harmandar Sahib's Head Granthi, Giani Raghbir Singh, also clarified that although he was on a foreign visit during the Operation Sindoor, there was no communication with him regarding any gun deployment, nor did any such incident occur at the Golden temple.

 

India and Pakistan were engaged in a military confrontation after New Delhi launched airstrikes on nine terrorist hubs in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in response to the Pahalgam attack.

 

The Army said Pakistan fired several religious places in India, including the Golden Temple in Amritsar.

India