Akal Takht lauds Captain’s move to compensate Jodhpur detainees

‘ACT ON DRUGS TOO’ Jathedar says those responsible for stopping drug peddling are acting as peddlers

AMRITSAR: The highest temporal seat of the Sikhs, Akal Takht, on Friday lauded the move of Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh to disburse the state’s half of compensation to 40 persons who were illegally detained at the Jodhpur jail after being arrested from the Golden Temple premises during Operation Bluestar, carried out by the army against separatist militants.

The CM on Thursday disbursed cheques of the relief amount, half of the approximately Rs 4.5 crore as per a court order, to 40 persons who had won the case. An Amritsar court had made the central and state governments liable to pay compensation of Rs 4 lakh each (plus interest) to these persons.

Terming the CM’s move praiseworthy, Takht jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh said, “Like he has come forward to help the Jodhpur detainees, Captain Sahib should also deliver his promise made with the people of Punjab to eradicate the drug menace.” In a press release issued here, he further said deaths caused by the drug overdose have jolted Punjab, “but the state government has failed to eradicate the menace so far”. He further remarked, “This is happening because persons who are responsible for stopping the drug peddling are acting as drug peddlers. Government should take stringent action against these persons.”

Giving a suggestion, he added, “Apart from this, it is a responsibility of village panchayats as well (to fight drug menace). Panchayats should take measures to stop trade of narcotics in villages. Only joint efforts will be able to uproot drug addiction.”

It is worth a mention here that the Sikh religio-political sphere is dominated by state’s current opposition party Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), which has repeatedly accused the Congress of being anti-Sikh.

Though Amarinder is a Congress leader, he had quit the party in protest against the army operation ordered by the Centre’s then Congress regime led by Indira Gandhi.

EXCOMMUNICATE CAPT, SIKKI FOR FALSE OATH, DEMANDS BRAHMPURA

CHANDIGARH: Former SAD MLA Ravinder Singh Brahmpura on Friday demanded excommunication of chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh from Sikhism over “taking false oath of the Gutka Sahib”. He said Amarinder had sworn by the holy book at a prepoll rally in December 2016 “that he would finish the drug problem in four weeks after becoming CM”, but he has “failed”.

He demanded similar action against Khadoor Sahib MLA Ramanjeet Singh Sikki, who resigned as MLA in SAD-BJP regime on the issue of sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib. “The situation in the state has become worse than the situation in the past. The recent incidents of sacrilege have not impacted Sikki now,” remarked Brahmpura.