Chandigarh: A Sikh delegation comprising representatives of various organisations on Aug. 7 handed over a memorandum at Punjab Bhawan seeking Punjab Governor’s intervention to stop harassment of Sikh leaders and activists by the Punjab government and the Punjab Police.
Delegation comprising Sikh Historian Dr. Gurdarshan Singh Dhillon, Rozana Pehredar editor Jaspal Singh Heiran, Dr. Bhagwan Singh, Shiromani Akali Dal Amritsar (Mann) leaders Dhian Singh Mand, Jaswant Singh Mann, Gurjant Singh Kattu, Jaskaran Singh Kahan Singh Wala, RP Singh (Akhand Kirtani Jatha) and United Akali Dal leader Gurnam Singh Sidhu visited Punjab Bhagwan to meet the governor but Kaptan Singh Solanki, who is Governor of Haryana and has additional charge of Punjab, was not present there. The memorandum was handed over to governor house officials.
While addressing the media persons the members of the delegation said that the Punjab government has launched a massive crackdown on Sikh political activists to crush peaceful struggle seeking release of Sikh political prisoners who have completed their minimum mandatory jail terms. They said that the Punjab government has abandoned democratic values.
It is notable that many leaders of Bandi Singhs Rihai Sangharsh Committee were arrested on July 18-19. They were put under “preventive detention” and were sent to jail. Recently, on intervening night of Aug. 5 and 6, the Punjab police conducted massive raids and arrest campaign against Sikh activists. While some of the Sikh activists arrested in these raids were released by the police, some others were sent to jails under “preventive detention”.