|
Does Punjab have double standards on terrorism?
Saturday April 20, 2013 08:50:34 PM,
Jaideep Sarin,
IANS
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Chandigarh: Be it
Punjab's ruling Shiromani Akali Dal, its alliance partner
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak
Committee (SGPC) or the Punjab Police - their doublespeak on
terrorism or those involved in it is quite evident.
Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and his son, Deputy Chief
Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, who is also the Akali Dal president,
rushed to New Delhi this week to meet President Pranab Mukherjee
and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to appeal for commuting 1993 New
Delhi bomb blast convict Devender Pal Singh Bhullar's death
sentence to life imprisonment.
The Supreme Court had last week rejected Bhullar's clemency
petition.
The Badals' current stand is in sharp contrast to their
government's earlier stance on Bhullar and terrorism.
In an affidavit filed before the apex court in 2009, the Punjab
government had termed Bhullar a "hardcore and experienced
criminal".
But when the Badals met the prime minister April 15, they were
speaking in a different tone. They sought his intervention to save
Bhullar from the gallows. They even requested a "statesman-like
intervention" from the president on Thursday.
The SGPC, which never opposed the Punjab government when the
affidavit against Bhullar was filed in the Supreme Court, is also
demanding that he be spared the death penalty.
The Badals have cautioned the central government that Bhullar's
hanging could lead to a law and order problem in Punjab.
The Badals, who enjoy one of the tightest security covers among
VIPs in the country, are themselves high on the terrorists' hit
list.
The Punjab government had also sought the intervention of the
central government while seeking clemency for Balwant Singh
Rajoana, a Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) terrorist who faces
the death penalty after being convicted in the 1995 assassination
of then Punjab chief minister Beant Singh.
Badal had written to the then president Pratibha Devisingh Patil,
seeking clemency for Rajoana.
The BJP has taken a different stand on the issue of terrorism and
how to deal with terrorists - welcoming the death sentences
awarded to Bhullar and Rajoana.
The BJP's stand at the national level is no leniency towards
terrorists, whereas in Punjab, its leaders avoid saying too much
on the issue as it is contrary to the Akali Dal's stand.
Punjab's Director General of Police Sumedh Singh Saini, who has a
record of dealing firmly with terrorists, has also maintained a
studied silence. When his political bosses have taken one stand,
the DGP has chosen not to say anything for the moment.
(Jaideep Sarin can be contacted at jaideep.s@ians.in)
|
|
|
|
Home |
Top of the Page
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
More Headlines |
|
Bihar village orders boycott of rapist's
family |
|
National Museum to start free guided tours |
|
Whither annihilation of caste? |
|
Child rape: Protests across the city against police laxity |
|
Media trial influencing court judgments |
|
Nawazuddin's Marathi dialogues in 'Bombay Talkies' subtitled |
|
Nitish Kumar readies for seminal role |
|
Magnitude-7 quake hits China; five dead |
|
London exhibition to showcase Muslims who saved Jews during
Holocaust |
|
No breakthrough in Bangalore blast yet |
|
With $69 bn, India tops in global remittances |
|
No luxury hotel in place of Lilavati Hospital:
Chavan |
|
|
|
Top Stories |
|
 Delhi's Shame
Child rape victim needs reconstructive surgery: Doctors
The five-year-old girl undergoing treatment here after she was
brutally raped for two days has suffered severe injuries in her
private »
Delhi rape accused held in Bihar
Candle, bottle poked into rape victim's genitals: Doctors
|
|
|
|
Most Read |
|
Media trial influencing court judgments
Mainstream behaving as if there is no judicial system left in the
country, top journalists
observe at a seminar in Malegaon
Stamping his valedictory seal on the claims by the journalists
»
|
|
China in shock
China Earthquake: Death toll 113, over 2,500 injured
At least
113 people were killed and more than 2,500 others injured Saturday
when a massive earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale
struck southwest China's Sichuan province, officials said. The
earthquake hit Lushan county of Ya'an city
»
|
|
|
|
News Pick |
|
Minorities in South Asia
Reading the writings on the wall in the emerging situation where
British has consolidated their rule, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan branded
Indian National Congress as party of Hindus and called upon the
Muslim community to keep away from it. Muslims did
»
|
|
Court confirms $700k settlement suit against McDonald’s
A judge has finalized a $700,000 settlement between McDonald’s and
members of Michigan’s Muslim community over claims a Detroit-area
restaurant falsely advertised food as prepared according to
Islamic law.
»
|
|
Acknowledgement
London exhibition to showcase Muslims who saved Jews during
Holocaust
A new exhibition to be held in central London will showcase
pictures of Muslims who saved Jews during the Holocaust, the BBC
has reported. The Righteous Muslim Exhibition, to be launched at
the Board of Deputies of British Jews in Bloomsbury, “hopes
»
|
|
Boston Bombings
Bomber captured after 23-hour manhunt
A 23-hour
massive search for the second suspect in the Boston Marathon
bombings ended Friday night with the capture of Dzhokar Tsarnaev,
19, a Russian American, after a massive manhunt that
»
|
|
|
|
Picture of the Day |
|
 |
|
A
view of the newly Commissioned Indian Coast Guard Ship H-191,
in Mumbai Harbour on April 09, 2013. |
|
|
|
Recommend the story to
your friends |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Comments
|
Quick links