Not ‘badlav’, BJP for ‘badla’: Sikh activists

Jalandhar: Taking potshots at BJP's upcoming March 14 rally at Moga to be addressed by Union home minister Amit Shah, Sikh and human rights groups and activists at a Panthic summit held here on Thursday said the "party stood for ‘badla' (revenge) and not ‘badlav' (change)".The speakers said before seeking "change" in Punjab, the Centre should answer for "its own record on repression, impunity, transnational targeting and democratic denials". Former Punjab and Haryana high court judge Justice Ranjit Singh raised the issue of fake encounters and police impunity, saying Punjab could not move forward by normalising killings in the name of order. Taking a stand on the practice of alleged fake encounters, Dal Khalsa functionaries Kanwarpal Singh and Paramjit Singh Mand said law protectors could not behave like law breakers. "If Ranjit Singh of Gurdaspur did anything wrong, it was for the courts to judge and decide about his punishment," they said. Ranjit Singh, one the suspects in the Feb 21 killing of two cops in a Gurdaspur village near the Pakistan border, was shot dead in an alleged encounter on Feb 25. The encounter is under judicial scanner. Former MP Simranjit Singh Mann, jailed Khadoor Sahib MP Amritpal Singh's father Tarsem Singh, and SGPC member Karnail Singh Panjoli were also present on the occasion. MSID:: 129509464 413 |