Akali leadership seeks release of ‘innocent’ youths, hands over memorandum to DC

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, March 22

Senior leadership of the Shiromani Akali Dal today met the Deputy Commissioner in Jalandhar and handed a memorandum to him demanding the release of ‘innocent’ Sikh youths detained by the government. The Akali leadership including former MLAs Gurpartap Singh Wadala, Pawan Tinu and other senior leaders, issued the memorandum in the wake of arrests of his aides following the police’s operation against Waris Punjab De chief Amritpal Singh since March 18.

Expressing concern over the use of National Security Act (NSA) in some of the arrests, the Akali leaders termed it a ‘deep conspiracy’ against the image of the Sikhs in the state and failure of the AAP government.

The memorandum to the DC said, “Through this demand letter of our party, we want to bring to your attention that there has been an atmosphere of fear and insecurity in the state for the past some days. The action against Amritpal Singh and youths of Waris Punjab De by the Punjab government had raised questions in people’s minds. The way in which Punjab police arrested Amritpal Singh and his aides has caused confusion. The state government has proved unsuccessful in tackling law and order situation in the state in the past one year.”

It said, “Sikh youths are being targeted by the AAP government and their arrests after levelling false allegations on them in a planned manner is condemnable. Arrest of Amritdhari (turbaned and baptised) Sikhs and sending them to jails outside the state is a deep conspiracy to malign the image of Sikhs. The AAP government has also caused an atmosphere of fear by placing restrictions on basic rights of the people like freedom of expression. The slapping of very strict laws like the NSA on Sikh youths has reminded people of the previous Congress regimes in the state.”

The memorandum further stated that such measures were used by the Congress previously and the present state government by adopting the same measures was pushing the state toward social instability.

The entire Akali leadership of Jalandhar has demanded the release of ‘innocent’ youths and restoration of peace.

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