LUDHIANA: President of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Mann), Simranjit Singh Mann, has asked the newly formed government of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Delhi to arrest the four major culprits of the anti-Sikh riots of November 84 within a month to prove its credentials of being sincere towards the Sikhs.
Mann told a press conference here, on Dec.4 that Congress leaders Sajjan Kumar, Jagdish Tytler, H.KL.Bhagat and Arun Nehiny must be put behind bars since they had been indicted by various inquiry commissions, Otherwise, he said his fears would come true that the support extended by the Badal faction to the BJP would prove dangerous for the Sikhs, Mann charged Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) of sabotaging the Akali morcha on the Gujarwal sacrilege incident at the behest of the government since it feared the dominance of Akali Dal (Mann) Justas the morcha in the early 80’s was overtaken by Jamail Singh Bhindranwale, He said no single party could call off the morcha unilaterally. The decision to restart the morcha would be taken only after consulting all Akali parties and the SGPC, he said.
He flayed former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal for damaging Sikh interests and for lacking any political program for the community. In a departure from usual rhetoric, Mann emphasized that his party would struggle to pet an independent, sovereign, Sikh state through democratic, peaceful means and mobilizing the masses after creating awareness. He rejected the stand of the Punjab Governor on human rights and alleged that gross and systematic violations of human rights in the state had been the order of the day for the last 10 years. India, according to him, had no. tradition of respect for fundamental freedoms. Mann’ criticized Surendra Nath for remaining silent when the Punjab Public Service Commission had been reduced to a dummy. And ad hoe appointments of gazetted officers were taking: place with impunity.
Hailing the decision of the Ganadian Government to open it counselor office in Chandigarh, Mann pleaded that it should be set up at Amritsar.
Article extracted from this publication >> December 10, 1993
