M A I N   N E W S

Dhami ‘had tea’ with Badal in ’91-92
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 5
The Khalistan Commando Force chief, Wassan Singh Zaffarwal, should not surrender, asserts Bhai Kanwar Singh Dhami, chief of the Akal Sena, maintaining that such an action on the part of the KCF chief will amount to “betrayal of the Sikh Panth”.

Talking to newsmen here today, Bhai Kanwar Singh, who is also the patron chairman of the Guru Asra Trust, said that his “surrender” would be a major setback to his pronouncement of “Khalistan” from Akal Takht on April 29, 1986, as a member of the Panthic Committee.

“I am convinced that he will never surrender. I have known him and met him in the ‘battle field’. The last such occasion was in 1992”, the Akal Sena chief said urging Wassan Singh to make his “position clear” amidst speculation and newspaper reports on his possible “surrender”.

“My appeal to him is not to surrender. If he is considering doing it, it will be the worst thing for him to do,” Bhai Kanwar Singh said.

The Akal Sena chief also assailed the Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, and the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee chief, Capt Amarinder Singh, for their recent statement on Wassan Singh. These leaders must talk straight and be transparent in their conduct. They must also clarify their position on “dharam yudh”.

“My appeal to them is not to create a scare about underground militants. In 1991-92, as the Akal Federation chief, I visited Mr Parkash Singh Badal’s house and had tea with him. Almost at the same time I visited Capt Amarinder Singh at his Patiala palace and had coffee with him. Now they are trying to paint militants differently. They should be transparent in their approach”, Bhai Kanwar Singh said.

The KCF chief should continue to fight for his goal from outside India, he added.

Bhai Kanwar Singh claimed that he was invited to attend the reception of a son of Mr Gurpartap Singh Riar, president of the Chandigarh unit of the Shiromani Akali Dal. “I was present there. A Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Punjab, approached me to know about me and I told him that I was a Baba. The same DIG visited the Guru Asra Trust headquarters in Palsora Colony yesterday and questioned me for two hours. He also got my identity established”.

“I did not see Wasan Singh Zaffarwal there,” he said.

Bhai Kanwar Singh said the Guru Asra Trust was running four centres and providing pension to 250 widows besides looking after children born during the years of militancy in Punjab.