Akali Dal demands release of Sikhs languishing in jail across country

By Toshi Mamdola
New Delhi [India], December 9 : Hitting out at the Central government over Sikhs languishing in jails across the country, Shiromani Akali Dal (Delhi) president Paramjit Singh Sarna on Friday questioned why Sikh prisoners cannot be released while the convicts in former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's assassination were released.
Paramjit Singh Sarna said, "Why can't the Sikhs, who have been in jail for a long time, be released? Even the killers of Rajiv Gandhi and those convicted for rape have been released but the Central government has been treating the Sikhs differently. Are they not a part of the country?"
Sarna claimed that the members of the Shiromani Akali Dal discussed the same with the Aam Adami Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party, but none of them agreed on their demands.
"Before the elections, we had discussed this issue with BJP and the AAP as well, but no one accepted our demand. As a result of this, the AAP did not score a landslide victory and the BJP, too, faced defeat in the Sikh bastion," he said.
Sarna also said that they have written many letters to Union Home Minister Amit Shah regarding the same, but the ministry did not respond to any of the letters.
Sarna further said that the BJP committed a major mistake in putting its faith in the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) chief Harmeet Singh Kalka, as he has "Zero credibility" among the Sikh community.
Notably, DSGMC had extended support to the BJP in the Delhi Municipal Corporation (MCD) elections.
"In our assessment, the BJP made a colossal mistake by putting its trust in people like Harmeet Singh Kalka, who have zero credibility among the Sikh people in Delhi and elsewhere," Sarna said.
He also alleged that AAP tried to suppress the issue of the Sikhs languishing in jails.