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Storm of protests over arrest of
Bhai Daljit Singh, others
Panthic
organizations in US, Canada, Europe condemn police action; Protests
planned in front of Indian Embassies
WSN Bureau
 LUDHIANA/CALIFORNIA:
Slamming the Punjab government for the arrest of Akali dal (Panch
Pardhani) chairperson Bhai Daljit Singh Bittu and his associates
jaspal Singh manjhpur, driver Palwinder Singh Shutrana and sewadar
Gurdip Raju, a large number of pathic organisations in not just
Punjab but also United States, Canada, Germany and elsewhere have
taken strong exception to the developments.
Condemnation was
heaped upon the ruling Akali Dal-BJP regime in Punjab and the
development was largely being seen as a serious move by the
establishment to prevent panthic leaders from participation in
democratic political sphere.
More than a
dozen gurdwara management committees in the United States have
passed resolutions in sangat to condemn the action against the
leadership of Akali Dal (Panch Pardhani) and have said that the
proclivity to link these leaders to violence was a strategy to give
them a bad name.
SAD (Panch
Pardhani) chief Bhai Daljit Singh Bittu and his associates were
picked up by police officials from near Beas in Amritsar on Thursday
evening and police claimed that the action was based on information
allegedly divulged by a suspected militant Balbir Singh Bhootna
arrested earlier.
Indian media has
ever since carried many reports about Bhootna's links and most
reports did not quote any official by name, a typical media practice
in such cases when police versions are unquestioningly carried by
even respected sections of the press.
Police after
accusing the Akali Dal (Panch Pardhani) leader of being part of
efforts to incite militancy in the state obtained their remand from
a court in Ludhiana after presenting them much after the usual
business hours. They were remanded to nine days of police custody
till September 6.
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Bhai Daljit Singh on his arrest
Bhai Daljit Singh Bittu has said he was being framed in a false
case on the directions of Punjab's Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh
Badal. Just as Bhai Bittu was trying to speak to reporters in
the court premises, the police prevented any further interaction
and rushed him away in a jeep. |
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Police claimed
that it had enough evidence and wanted to make some more recoveries
and make more arrests.
Many sections
believe the action against these leaders came because Bittu and his
associates have been leading a relentless agitation against Dera
Sirsa sadh for some time now and in the upcoming SGPC elections,
such an anti-dera culture stand would have benefitted the panthic
forces against the ruling Akali Dal.
Earlier, police
had raided Bittu's residence and office premises in Gurdev Nagar in
Ludhiana and picked up Jaspal Singh Manjhpur, Jaswinder Singh and
Navdeep Singh for questioning from SAD (Panch Pardhani) office
located behind the Circuit House in the city. Computers and
documents were confiscated. Later, two of Bittu's close aides were
picked up from Daroli Kalan in Moga district and one from Baba
Bakala in Amritsar.
Arrests
continue
Meanwhile,
across Punjab, a series of incidents of arrest and people being
picked up continued throughout the week. In Baba Bakala, CIA staff
of
Amritsar
(Rural) police arrested Pavittar Singh, Bhupinder Singh of
Santokhpura in Jalandhar, Amarjit Kaur of New Santokhpura in
Jalandhar and Jaspal Singh of Pathankot. All were booked at
Beas police
station under Sections 107, 120 B, 153-A of the IPC and Sections
25-54-59 of Arms Act.
In Moga, three
young men were arrested after police claimed they were linked with
Bhootna. These are residents of village Darli Bhai, Bhupinder Singh,
karam Singh and Kuljit Singh. They face accusations of snatching a
gun from a resident of faridkot and giving it to Bhootna and Bhootna
in turn used this gun to kill Lily Kumar, a follower of the Sirsa
dera.
In Faridkot,
police arrested two youth Gurjit Singh alias Gigi and Gurjant Singh
alias Jantta under sections 395/458/120B and Arms Act.
Police also
hassled Prof Gurbir Singh and his family members who are closely
related to Bhai Bittu but they were later released after lawyers
went on a strike in support of Gurbir Singh who is himself a lawyer.
Akali Dal (Panch
Pardhani) leaders were now looking forward to get an appointment
with Punjab Governor S F Rodrigues to bring to his notice the
developments.
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SYA condemns arrest of Bhai
Daljit Singh
Sikh Youth
of America has strongly condemned the arrest of Akali Dal (Panch
Pardhani) chairman Daljit Singh and his associates and said it
was a strategy of the Punjab Government not to allow the party
to work within a democratic framework. The SYA said such arrests
were part of a well thought out plan by the ruling Akali Dal
with an eye on the upcoming SGPC elections.
Sikh Youth
of America's president Gurinderjit Singh Maana said it was now
clear to everyone that the alliance of the panthic forces was
becoming a serious challenge to the Akali Dal (Badal) and the
ruling party was looking for any excuse to pave the way for its
victory by getting the opponents embroiled in false cases.
He said
reports trickling in from Punjab show that nearly 150 people
connected with the party have been picked up or are being held
and plans are afoot to get them embroiled in one or the other
case. He said on the one hand the Punjab government was taking
actions not conducive to peace in the state while on the other
hand the Centre was being a mute witness.
He said with
the latest actions of the Punjab government, Bhai Daljit Singh
will only gain more popularity. He also lambasted the government
for the raids on the offices of Shaadat magazine and said the
media in Punjab should raise its voice against such attacks on
the freedom of the press.
He said the
Akali Dal (Panch Pardhani) had nothing to do with certain recent
incidents of violence. He added that the Badal government was
unnecessarily connecting such acts with the party in order to
isolate it.
He said not
only in the United States but also in Canada, Britain,
Australia, New Zealand, Germany and other countries the panthic
forces were coming together on this issue to pressurize the
Badal government to release Bhai Daljit Singh. He said soon
there will be protests in front of Indian embassies.
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2
September 2009
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