AMRITSAR: Damdami Taksal, a prominent sikh seminary once headed by Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale who was killed in Operation Bluestar to flush out terrorists from Golden Temple in 1984, has warned of “disastrous consequences” if Devenderpal Singh Bhullar is hanged after Supreme Court on Friday rejected his plea for commutation of the sentence to life imprisonment.
Talking to TOI on Saturday, Baba Harnam Singh Khalsa, 16th chief of Damdami Taksal, said, “Hanging of an innocent person could lead to disastrous events.” “I don’t mean that hanging of Bhullar will revive terrorism in Punjab but it will certainly create circumstances which could jeopardize peace,” he said, urging the government not to let this situation arise.
He called for a joint platform to fight for Bhullar and save him from gallows. “I have appealed to all political parties, peaceniks, all religious bodies, including Hindus, Muslims and Christians, to join hand against the injustice meted out to Bhullar,” said Khalsa. Taksal’s gurdwaras in America and Canada are also set to start a movement to save Bhullar, who was sentenced to death for triggering a bomb attack in 1993 in New Delhi in which 9 people including two security guards of then Indian Youth Congress chief M S Bitta were killed and scores injured.
Khalsa also referred to the standoff between Sikh bodies and administration when 18-year-old Jaspal Singh, a student of Beant College of Engineering, died in police firing on March 29, 2012 while protesting against the scheduled hanging of Balwant Singh Rajoana, convicted for assassination of former chief minister Beant Singh.
News Source: Times of India
