Fatehgarh Sahib/Madhopur (November 3, 2010): Many Sikhs leaders and activists are arrested by Punjab Police from Madhopur railway crossing, as they blocked the railways traffic in wake of Punjab shut down call, today.

More than hundred Sikh activists are reported to have been taken into custody. Those arrested include (Panch Pardhani) leaders Harpal Singh Cheema, Kulbeer Singh Barapind, Jasvir Singh Khandur, Santokh Singh Salana, Harpreet Singh Dadheri and Devinder Singh Sodhi (AISSF), Gurbachan Singh (Witness against Sajjan Kumar) and Pardeep Singh Poadhi (SSF). A jatha led by Bibi Sohanjeet Kaur, comprising more than fifty Sikh women, is also taken into custody.

It is learnt that the various Sikh organizations including Khalsa Action Committee, Dal Khalsa, SAD (Panch Pardhani), Guru Granth Sahib Satikar Sabha, Ek Noor Khalsa Fauj and Sikh Students Federation, had given a joint Punjab shut down call on 3rd November to protest against denial of justice to the victims of Sikh Genocide 1984. Emergency and health services were exempt from shut down call.

Just before their arrest Bhai Harpal Singh Cheema and Kulbir Singh Barapind, while addressing the gathering, said: “Sikhs are being discriminated against in independent India. Ten commissions and committees have been created by the Indian Government but all have failed to bring any justice. The number of investigations has confused the issues and therefore has resulted in minimizing the total effect of the atrocities incurred by the Sikh people”.

“Even after 26 years of Sikh genocide, the organizers and perpetrators roam free, enjoying powerful positions within political and public service sectors. For example, a charge sheet prepared against Sajjan Kumar, who led the mobs to massacre Sikhs in Delhi, was never brought to court to seek his prosecution for 17 years, despite their being evidence to the contrary” added HS Cheema. He also criticized the role of Badal Government in attempting to sabotage shut down call.