Jalandhar (Press Release): Dal Khalsa along with its alliance partners Sikh Federation UK and All India Sikh Students Federation (AISSF) will organize a Conference on Nov 1 at Pheruman (near Amritsar) to deliberate on how the Union of India has betrayed and ditched this border state since it came into being and to give new direction to their political struggle for independence of Punjab.
Notably, this year marks the 50th anniversary of Punjab Day. The Akali Govt of Punjab with its alliance partner is all set to hold golden jubilee celebrations. However the Dal Khalsa leaders strongly believe that there was nothing substantial to celebrate the day. Ridiculing the government’s move, they feel the celebrations tantamount to insult to martyrs of Punjabi Suba.
Blaming New Delhi for treating Punjab as its colony, party president Harpal Singh Cheema, and ex-president H S Dhami while addressing the press conference while Govt of Punjab is getting into a pomp and show to observe the Punjab Day, the Dal Khalsa on the contrary has decided to present the real picture of Punjab to shame the present day rulers of both centre and state.
Cheema said they would dedicate the day long public function on Nov 1 to Shaheed Darshan Singh Pheruman, who laid down his life for the rightful demands of Punjab in 1969.
On Punjab day, we would undertake a ‘freedom march’ from Pheruman to Akal Takhat to highlight the genuine concerns and real aspirations of its people, said Cheema. He released a poster depicting the weeping Punjab and how badly its natives have been maltreated by successive governments at Centre since 1966.
Party spokesperson Kanwar Pal Singh said they would bring out a booklet highlighting 50 points of discrimination and injustices that Punjab has faced in the last 50 years. He said the spirit behind the demand for Punjabi Suba was a desire to achieve a state where Sikhs could enjoy the glow of freedom. However, the Union of India founded militarily or police solution to Punjab’s political problem that resulted in the demand for Khalistan.
Dhami slammed New Delhi’s malicious attempt to change the demography of Punjab by engineering influx of immigrants in Punjab. The continued loot of Punjab’s river waters, depriving the state of its constitutional rights and threat to lives and livelihood of people of Punjab because of increased hostilities between India and Pakistan will come up for discussion at the conference, said he.
AISSF leader Advocate Parminder Singh Dhingra said theirs group would stage a protest rally on Nov 3 to observe the 32nd anniversary of Nov 1984 carnage. He said they would shortly announce the details of the programme.