January 9, 2015 by admin

Sikh organisations give call for statewide bandh on Jan 10

Amritsar, Sikh activist Gurbaksh Singh Khalsa, who was to pay obeisance at the Golden Temple today, could not make it to Amritsar. There were reports that his supporters were headed towards the city. Apprehending trouble, the police last night took some Sikh leaders into preventive custody. They were let off today. Police in strength was deployed in the vicinity of the Golden Temple throughout the day.
A five-member panel, led by SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar, will meet UP Governor Ram Naik in Lucknow tomorrow, seeking Waryam Singh’s release.
The latter has served his sentence. Meanwhile, the Damdami Taksal and other Sikh organisations have given a call for a state-wide bandh on January 10 to press for the release of Sikh detainees languishing in jails even after having served their sentences.
Addressing a press conference here, Taksal leader Bhai Amrik Singh Ajnala claimed that all their pleas on the issue had fallen on deaf ears.
“Successive governments have been indifferent to this long-pending demand of the Sikhs.The NDA government at the Centre as well as the Punjab government are playing politics over the issue,” he alleged.
He rejected the claim of Punjab DGP Sumedh Saini that there was no convict in Punjab jails who had served his sentence.
He claimed that Baaj Singh and Hardeep Singh were lodged in the Amritsar jail despite having completed their jail terms.
“The government is not bothered about releasing the Sikh detainees. On the contrary, it is detaining those protesting peacefully for the cause,” the Taksal leader said. He urged the people to hold protests on January 10, carrying black flags and photos of the detainees.