AMRITSAR: The Akali Dal ‘Mann) president, Simranjit Singh Mann, appealed to the Secretary General of the United Nations to provide him security, He said that the Prime Minister, Narasimha Rao, should be held “responsible if any attack is made on me and I am eliminated.”

In a statement released to W.S.N. Akali Dal leader, Simranjit Singh Mann acknowledged that he has written to Prime Minister Rao and to U.N. general secretary. Boutros Ghali about alleged threats on his life and other Akali leaders .

Saying that confidential sources have warmed him about plans to “physically abolish” the whole Akali Dal leadership, especially the president, Mann didn’t trust the Beant Singh government to protect him, In his letter to Rao he said “I have come to learn from very confidential sources that the Beant Singh government vigilante groups called the ‘Cats’ to abduct senior leaders of the Shiromani Akali Dal and then to eliminate them, Sardar Balwinder Singh Sangha who was Our party’s candidate from Tarn Taran Constituency in the aborted elections of June 1991, has already fallen victim to this policy of annihilation. I too have received information that the “Cats” will gun me down, When I was arrested near Behla in Amritsar district in June 1992 the Senior Superintendent of Police, Tam Taran used police recruits in plain clothes from Goindwal and Amritsar to demonstrate in front of Valtoha Rest House where i was incapacity, The recruits threw stones and used abusive language Recently when I was out on tour the Senior Superintendent of Police, Chandigarh had raided my house and searched it. My wife and two daughters were alone to face the terror of the police. The police had no search warrants and did not make a search slip. No women police accompanied the raiding party.

I am bringing these incidents to your kind notice so that the responsibility can be fixed as the elimination plan is being put into operation.”

Listing several examples of a system gone awry he noted that; Senior V.P. of Akali Dal (M) Tirlock Singh (Bapu) has been missing since July 22 when he was picked up by Dera Baba Nanak police, and has been kept in a secret place where he is probably suffering torture. Mann fears for the V.P.’s life. Ex-President of Sangrur District, Chand Singh Rajomajora was picked up, along with two companions, three months ago. Their whereabouts and fate remains a mystery. Ex M.P.Dhian Singh Mand was taken into custody by Bathinda Police, is being tortured and it is feared he will lose his life at the hands of his jailers. Mann also alleged that the police had taken all weapons from the Mann security guards.

Addressing a hurriedly summoned press conference recently, Mann said the Punjab government and its Director General of Police had hatched a conspiracy to eliminate him and other senior leaders of his party.

Mann and senior Dal leaders visited Tam Taran and met the alleged sufferers of police repression in that police district.

Mann alleged the police had let loose repression on the sympathizers of militants and their relatives and that it was killing Sikh youth in fake encounters without asking any questions of making proper enquiries.

Mann and other leaders met Baba Bhola Singh at Guru Ram Dass hospital here and made enquiries about police repression let loose on him.

Manna told newsmen that the Akali Dal (Mann) would hold a protest rally on August 5 at Tarn Taran. Akali leaders such as Gurcharan Singh Tohra, president of Shiromani Gurdwara Baba Joginder Singh Khalsa president of Akali Dal (Badal) Parkash Singh Badal, p of Akali Dal (Badal), Singh, president of the faction of All India Sikh Students Federation (AISSF), Jagdey Singh Talwandi, Akali leader Boaba Thakur Singh of Damdami Taksal chief, Rajinder Singh Monga and other Sikh leaders will address the protest rally.

Mann expressed his indignation against the official media  for glorifying the killing of top) militant. Gurjant Singh Budhsinghwala.

On the inflow of Sikh and Hindu refugees from Afghanistan, Mann said it was due to the faulty policy of the Indian government in supporting the Najibullah government and Soviet Union. He appealed to the governments of Iran and Pakistan to exercise their influence on the Mujahideen and tell them that the Sikhs had never supported the Najibullah government in Afghanistan and the Soviet Union.

Article extracted from this publication >> Aug 14, 1992