JALANDHAR: Akali Dal (B) president Parkash Singh Badal Sunday threatened to seek international help w pressurize the Indian Central government to restore what it called “normal civilized conditions in Punjab.
In a press statement here Badal former Punjab chief minister criticized the ban on the Ludhiana rally by six Sikh organizations and said this could only lead to further alienation and frustration among the youth.
The rally has been called by four factions of the Akali Dal and two factions of the Sikh Students Federation in support of a poll boycott call.
Badal said “democracy was being throttled in Punjab” and added that” “we will be left with no option but to look to the international community for putting pressure (on the center to restore the normalized conditions in Punjab.
He said the panthic (Sikh religious and political) organizations did not believe in forcing anyone to boycott polls but they had every right to carry their point of view to the people at Ludhiana.
He said the panthic boycott did not “simply amount to staying away from the polling booths but is an exercise of our democratic will and is in fact a forceful vote against the center.”
Several other organizations had over the years called for international intervention in Punjab mainly on what they allege that terrorism by Indian security forces.
Punjab which goes to polls on February 20 still goes through a daily gory ritual of killings as militants continue to battle security forces for a Sikh homeland called “Khalistan” or the land of the pure.
Article extracted from this publication >> February 14, 1992
