TAKHT APPEALS AGAINST DRUG ABUSE
AMRITSAR:A day after chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh urged the Akal Takht to issue an appeal against the drug abuse, the highest temporal seat of the Sikhs on Friday asked the Sikh community to unite to save Punjab from drug menace.
“As per Sikh tenets, Sikhs were asked for divine intoxication to experience the spiritual world but unfortunately these teachings of the gurus were distorted and some people were indulging in drug addiction, which was a highly condemnable act,” Akal Takht jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh said in the appeal.
In a letter on Thursday, the CM had urged the Akal Takht jathedar to appeal to the Sikh community not to resort to drug abuse and strictly follow the path shown by the great gurus citing that the Takht has always played a proactive role whenever the state is faced with any crisis.
Around two weeks ago, the jathedar blamed the state government for failing to tackle the drug menace. The jathedar said unscrupulous elements were spreading the menace in the state and it was a matter of deep concern for the Sikh community as well as Punjab. “Like the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee, Shiromani Akali Dal and other institutions, the Punjab government is also making persistent efforts to uproot the menace but still the problem persists,” the jathedar said. “Some people started the business of drug peddling for personal benefits. Their practice has pushed the youth of the once prosperous state into the furnace of drugs and ruined it,” said the jathedar.
He appealed the Sikh community and other people to make every possible effort to make their families, neighbourhood, streets, colonies, villages and cities free from the drugs. They should consider it as their primary duty, he added.
“The state government must also impose strictness in this direction. Anyone found involved in the drug peddling should be detained by the government irrespective his status or designation. Besides, the government should also make arrangements for free medical treatment of addicts,” said the jathedar.
He also asked the staff of educational institutes to make the students conscious about the drugs and convince them to stay from it. “Particularly, the doctors, electronic media and print media should also make their contribution in the fight against drugs,” said the jathedar.