Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
Chandigarh, Punjab Chief Minister Mr. Parkash Singh Badal today urged the Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi seeking his prompt intervention to take up the issue of ensuring safety and security of life and property of the Sikh community as well as members of the other minority communities with his Pakistani counterpart Mr. Nawaz Sharif.
In a letter to the Prime Minister, Mr. Badal said that after having taken cognizance of the extremely disturbing media reports originating recently from Pakistan about a spate of targeted killing of Sikhs and others belonging to the minority communities in that country.
Describing this issue of extreme urgency and concerning everyone in India in general and the members of the Sikh community in particular, Mr. Badal apprised the Prime Minister that several innocent Sikhs have been killed by unknown assailants in different parts of Pakistan in recent weeks (as per the report in Hindustan Times of September 9, 2014). The newspaper in its report has confirmed the identities of two such victims as S. Amarjeet Singh and S. Harjit Singh of Peshawar. The report also quoted local Sikh community leaders as saying that S. Amarjeet Singh’s killing was the sixth or seventh such case of killing of community members in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa alone.
The Chief Minister further referred to reportedly wide-spread atmosphere of panic in minority community families in Pakistan following these targeted killings. There was also a wave of anger against the government there for its reported failure to arrest the killers, and take effective steps for providing safety and security to members of the beleaguered Sikh community there.
It may be recalled that the newspaper reported the possibility of a nationwide stir against the government in Pakistan over the issue. A protest march was held in the North-West Mardan city on September 8, 2014 to demand action against the guilty and to put pressure on the government to provide security to the members of the minority communities in that country, especially the Sikhs. Many of the victims happened to be businessmen and traders.
