Jodhpur detainees will get their due, says Rajnath

CHANDIGARH: Union home minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday assured a Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) delegation that Sikhs detained in Jodhpur after Operation Bluestar would get their due.

The SAD delegation, led by Union food processing minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal included MPS Balwinder Singh Bhundur, Naresh Gujral, Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Managing Committee (DSGMC) president Manjit Singh GK and SGPC executive committee member Bhagwant Singh Sialka.

Harsimrat said the delegation briefed the home minister that an Amritsar court had passed an order in 2017 awarding compensation to 40 Sikhs who were taken into “illegal” custody from the Darbar Sahib complex during Operation Bluestar.

They were awarded compensation of ₹4 lakh each after being jailed in Jodhpur for four to five years.

“But the CBI has moved an application in the Punjab and Haryana high court appealing against the judgment of the session’s court. This move had hurt the sentiments of the Sikh community worldwide because the CBI had followed the Congress government stand on this issue,” the delegation said. TORONTO: The families of those killed in the June 1985 terrorist bombing of Air India flight 182, the Kanishka, are troubled by plans of a leading pro-khalistan group in Canada to organise an event at a Toronto memorial for the victims on the eve of the anniversary of the tragedy.

The “March to mourn the victims of Air India 182” is being organised by the Shiromani Akali Dal Amritsar’s Canada East unit, a group that has openly espoused Khalistan.

Leading the effort is pro-khalistan figure Sukhminder Singh Hansra, who said that “even though solidarity and statements have been issued many times before”, this year, for the first time, the organisation is holding a “formal” candlelight vigil at the memorial at Humber Bay in Toronto. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had visited this memorial during his 2015 trip.

Bal Gupta, chairman of the Air India 182 Victims Families Association, voiced disquiet at the development. He said, “It will be upsetting to the families, there’s no doubt about it.” He added it could possibly be a case of guilty conscience.

Hansra added this “collective effort” on behalf of the community has a different objective. “We believe that misinformation about the bombing is haunting Sikhs. We need to be on record that we mourn the loss of lives.”

He was a leading figure in the move in December to ban Indian officials from gurdwaras across Canada. He is considered among the main grassroots organisers of the pro-khalistan movement in Canada. Hansra said the Sikh community is “facing stigma for the past 33 years” over the bombing that took 329 lives. He sought a new commission of inquiry.

Hardliners, including Hansra, have supported a conspiracy theory claiming the bombing was meant to malign Khalistan movement.

Retired Supreme Court judge John Major, who headed a commission of inquiry that submitted its report in 2010, has been categorical that the “mastermind” was Babbar Khalsa International leader Talwinder Singh Parmar, a contention that wasn’t disputed during the trial.

Five doctors, including two specialists, a senior medical officer and two medical officers have been posted in the hospital and three of them have joined SAKSHI SAWHNEY , ADC