The Himachal Pradesh Transport Corporation on Wednesday indefinitely suspended services on 10 routes to Punjab after two of its buses were vandalised in Hoshiarpur and Mohali in the past two days amid a row over images of Khalistan separatist Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, the Hindustan Times reported.

“As a preventive measure, we have suspended services on 10 routes to Punjab,” Himachal Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri told the state Assembly. “We will resume services only after the situation becomes normal. We are in touch with the Punjab authorities. Punjab is our big brother and we will resolve the issue amicably.”

The buses were vandalised amid a row that erupted after two tourists from Punjab allegedly displayed a flag featuring images of Bhindranwale on their bikes in Himachal Pradesh’s Manali.

The police registered a first information report against the two tourists based on a complaint filed on March 14 by a man named Subhash from Manali, India Today reported.

Subhash claimed that he saw the two men from Punjab carrying a flag of Bhindranwale’s image on their bikes and asked them to remove it. However, he claimed that the bikers threatened to kill him, according to India Today. Locals intervened and forced the bikers to remove the flag.

Following the altercation, activists from Dal Khalsa, a radical Sikh organisation, in Punjab allegedly stopped Himachal Pradesh Transport Corporation buses and other vehicles with registration numbers from the state and pasted images of Bhindranwale on them two days ago, the Hindustan Times reported.

In the Assembly on Wednesday, Agnihotri, who holds the transport portfolio, said that images of Bhindranwale were pasted on a state transport corporation bus on the Jalandhar-Manali route on Monday.

He added that another bus at the Una depot was targeted. The driver and the conductor were reportedly assaulted when they tried to protest the pasting of the images.

On Tuesday, another Himachal Pradesh Transport Corporation bus on the Chandigarh-Hamirpur route was stopped and was vandalised, the deputy chief minister added. Stones were also thrown on another bus on the Chamba-Delhi route in Sirhind.

Agnihotri added that a FIR was registered in Sirhind after the incident, the Hindustan Times reported.

Addressing the Assembly, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said that he had spoken to his counterpart in Punjab, Bhagwant Mann, who assured him of the safety of the buses.

“He [Mann] has also said that strict action will be taken against the miscreants involved in these incidents [of vandalism],” Sukhu added. “DGP [director general of police]-level officers will discuss to take action on the issue.”

He added that police security would be provided to the buses if required, the Hindustan Times reported.

“Drivers and conductors have been instructed to stay alert,” Agnihotri added. “Safety of passengers and staff is our priority.”

Bhindranwale, along with his armed followers, was killed in the Golden Temple complex in Amritsar during Operation Blue Star, which was ordered by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1984.

The Indian Army launched the operation to eliminate Bhindranwale, the leader of the Sikh religious group Damdami Taksal, who had amassed a significant cache of weapons inside the temple.