Badal cautions people against disruptive forces

CHANDIGARH, Jan 26 (PTI) Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today cautioned people against internal and external forces posing a serious threat to the national unity and integrity and said they would not be allowed to raise their heads again.

Addressing the 50th Republic Day function at Ropar after unfurling the national flag, Mr Badal said people of the state had already rejected the anti-national forces by making great sacrifices to bring back peace and harmony.

"We will not allow any force dividing peace-loving Punjabis in the name of petty considerations of caste, creed and religion for meeting its political ends," he said.

State Governor B. K. N. Chhibber, who hoisted the Tricolour at a state-level function in Ludhiana, praised the people for collectively rising as one force against terrorism and restoring democracy in the state.

He exhorted the masses to inculcate the ideals and teachings preached by the Gurus, particularly when they were once again rededicating themselves to mark the tercentenary of the birth of the Khalsa.

Pleading for more autonomy for states, Mr Badal said decentralisation of power was "very essential" as panchayats, municipal committees, zila parishads and other such institutions had to be more involved in development activities.

"SGPC members acted in individual capacity"

AMRITSAR, Jan 26 (UNI) Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) general secretary Balbir Singh Pannu today said that all 131 members of the committee who had issued an appeal to Akal Takht Jathedar Bhai Ranjit Singh to review the December 31 'hukamnama' would obey the directive issued by the Sikh clergy yesterday asking them to individually clarify their stand on the appeal.

"We have the utmost respect for Akal Takht and would clarify the questions raised by Bhai Ranjit Singh in his directive issued yesterday," Mr Pannu, a Badal loyalist, who was heading the revolt in the SGPC against president Gurcharan Singh Tohra, told UNI here.

The Sikh clergy through a directive had asked the 131 SGPC members to clarify by February 11 whether they had been asked by Mr Parkash Singh Badal to issue the appeal for reviewing of the "hukamnama" which had called for a halt to the infighting in the SAD between the Badal and Tohra camps till April 15 in view of the Khalsa tercentenary celebrations.

The directive had also sought the authenticity of the signatures on the appeal letter from the SGPC members.

Claiming that each of the 131 members of the SGPC had acted in their own individual capacity, Mr Pannu maintained that Mr Badal had not directed them to issue the appeal. Mr Badal had no role to play in the issuance of the appeal, he added.

Regarding the motive behind the appeal, he said it had been done to halt the infighting in the Badal Dal at this crucial juncture.

It was only an appeal and not a threat to the Jathedar, he said while referring to Bhai Ranjit Singh's statement that the appeal amounted to a threat to Akal Takht.

Mr Pannu denied that some of the SGPC members were pressurised into signing the appeal letter to the Jathedar. The only role that Mr Badal played was that he was handed over the signed appeal letter with a request to forward it to Bhai Ranjit Singh, Mr Pannu said while referring to the letter being faxed to the Jathedar from the Chief Minister's residence at Chandigarh.