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MURDER AT THE
MALL
Guard of Sirsa's
rapist baba shoots a Sikh dead, Baba whisked away
Emergency meeting at
6
pm at Sri Guru Singh Sabha Dadar
WSN Bureau
 MUMBAI:
SHOTS rang out in a crowded Mall in
India's
commercial and business capital Mumbai when security guards of Dera
Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim fired point blank into unarmed,
innocent Sikhs protesting against the self-styled fraudulent holy
man. One Sikh was killed, the Baba was whisked away.
The incident
occured at the upmarket Nirmal Lifestyle Mall and agitating Sikhs
immediately took to the streets and blocked traffic. The victim was
identified as Balkar Singh. Two others were also injured. The Dera
chief was present in the area when the killing happened.
The Sikh
community in Mumbai has announced that they will not cremate Balkar
Singh, unless the 'Baba' is arrested.
On Saturday, the
Sikhs blocked railway tracks and a shutdown was observed in areas
dominated by the community. Last evening witnessed clashes between
Sikh protesters and bodyguards Gurmeet Ram Rahim.
India's federal
investigative agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), has
named Gurmeet as a prime accused in murder and rape cases but the
Government of India continues to back and support the baba because
of his anti-Sikh stance.
Sikhs squatted
on railway tracks near Mulund station and stopped suburban and long
distance train services from
11.30 a.m. This
inevitably caused some hardship to thousands of office-goers and
college students.
A Central
Railway spokesman said the agitators blocked all the four lines and
damaged the Mulund railway station. He added that two suburban lines
were later cleared with police help and the other two would be
cleared soon.
Mulund and
neighbouring suburbs of northeast Mumbai remained tense Saturday
with a shutdown observed since morning. Groups of Sikhs were seen
walking the streets, brandishing swords.
All schools and
colleges run by the Sikh community remained closed and a shutdown
was in place in Sikh majority areas in Thane district like Kalyan
and
Ulhasnagar.
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Badal protests
Punjab Chief
Minister Parkash Singh Badal has called his
Maharashtra
counterpart Vilasrao Deshmukh and demanded that those
responsible for the firing be arrested. Maharashtra Deputy Chief
Minister R.R. Patil ordered an inquiry into the incident.
SGPC chief
Avtar Singh Makkar and the DSGMC chief Paramjit Singh Sarna,
alongwith many others, have expressed solidarity with the Sikhs
in Mumbai and urged the government of
Maharashtra
to arrest the pseudo-baba.
SGPC has
announced a grant of Rupees two lakhs for the family of the
deceased who was a daily wage earner for his family. |
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Some of India's
TV news channels went hammer and tongs against the Sikh protesters
in their bulletins, ignoring the long drawn out struggle being put
up by the Sikh community against the Baba who has been provided
Z-level security by the state, the highest in the land. The Sikhs of
course must take care during the protests because there is no end to
the embedded enemies in the media that will make a mountain out of
any mistake.
And for a
community that professes Sarbat Da Bhala, it is all the more
necessary that it sends out signals to that effect.
And the TV
channels would do well to see the restraint of the Sikhs over the
months right from the time when the Sikh crowds could have razed
Salabatpura dera to dust but held their rage and anger. The point
is: When will the media start seeing the things in a wholesome
perspective?
20
June,
2008
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