Amritsar, Punjab (August 13, 2011): The Dal Khalsa hits out at the Government of India (GoI) for advising the President to reject the clemency petitions of Khalistani activist Prof Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar, Kashmiri activist Afzal Guru and Tamil activists namely Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan one after the other.
In a hard hitting statement, party’s general secretary Dr Manjinder Singh and spokesperson Kanwar Pal Singh described the simultaneous decisions of the government as anti-minority centric. The rejection of clemency pleas of Sikh, Muslim and Tamils in a row reflects anti-minority mindset of the Government. “It does not seem to be a mere coincidence rather it’s well thought planned of GoI, they alleged.
Accusing the government for adopting double standards, they said on one hand it had taken up the matter of Sarbjit Singh, an Indian spy on death row with Pakistan to seek his release on “humitarian grounds” as claimed by country’s Foreign Minister while ironically back at home it was expediting the hanging of Bhullar, Guru and Tamils.
Taking a dig at the GoI, they said the death sentence to all was more a political decision than a judicial one. If the government moves on to hang any of them, it would have serious consequences as all of them commands respect and sympathy amongst their respective communities. They appealed to CM’s of Punjab, Kashmir and Tamil Nadu to take up the matter with the Home Ministry to seek justice for their respective (state’s) citizens.
“In principle, we reiterate our opposition to death penalty, they said and added that although India has not carried out any execution for many years, yet this unwritten moratorium should be converted into complete abolishment from the Indian statute”.