Jammu, Kashmir - Simranjeet Singh Mann, the veteran Sikh leader, member of parliament and president of the Shiromani Akali Dal on Saturday said that Muslims and Sikhs have lost faith in India and its judicial system.
“The death sentence of Afzal Guru is a clear proof that only the men of minority communities are awarded death sentences. Both Sikhs and Muslims have lost faith in India and its judicial system,” he said.
“The genocide of Sikhs by Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Narsimha Rao and that of Muslims by Vajpayee, Advani and Narinder Modi have gone unpunished,” he told reporters at a press conference. Mann said there was no concrete evidence against Muhammad Afzal Guru and that on mere circumstantial evidences he has been convicted.
“People like Vajpayee, Advani and Narinder Modi who were in the vanguard of the Babri Masjid demolition and have a hand in the genocide of Muslims in Gujarat are making merry while innocent Muslims like Afzal are being hanged,” Mann said.
The Sikh leader said, “I was inside the Indian Parliament when it was attacked. The five militants who carried out the attack were killed and they (Indian security agencies) had no clue about the persons involved in the attack. I must say that Afzal is being made a scapegoat.”
“The situation in Jammu and Kashmir will worsen if New Delhi hangs Afzal. They have to acquit Afzal Guru if they want peace in this region,” he said, adding, “Why are only Muslims and Sikhs are being hanged in India?” Mann said Manmohan Singh and A P J Abdul Kalam were made Prime Minister and President respectively “merely to show that India was a secular state. They are just rubber stamp authorities.”
Mann presented a memorandum to the Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad seeking action against the “troops responsible for the massacre of 43 Sikhs in Chittisinghpora in Kashmir Valley.”
“As a member of parliament I believe militants did not massacre 34 Sikhs. It was unfortunate on the part of India that militants were blamed for the act. Bill Clinton, the then US president, who was in India at the time of massacre, wrote in his book that Hindu militants killed the Sikhs.”
He said after the massacre of Sikhs, troops assisted by police murdered five innocent civilians and labeled them as foreign militants who massacred Sikhs. “I am not saying all this on my own, the CBI investigating the matter held Indian forces and state police responsible for the killing of civilians,” he added.
Mann said that whole the Sikh community wants to know who were the Hindu militants who executed Sikhs in cold-blooded murder. He further said, “We want to know when and how Vajpayee and Advani passed the orders for the execution. After these shameful murders by the Vajpayee government and Farooq Abdullah’s government in the state, can India still claim its hold over the state on the basis of its secular policy?”
Mann said former prime minister AB Vajpayee, the then deputy chief minister LK Advani, and former J&K chief minister Dr Farooq Abdullah should be interrogated “so that killers of innocent Sikhs are punished.” Mann added that the transfer of a sex abuse trial from Srinagar to Chandigarh has put a question mark on the functioning of the Supreme Court of India.
“With this very communal, thoughtless, and irresponsible order of the Supreme Court, how will the Jammu and Kashmir government convince the people of Kashmir and entire world that Muslims judges and lawyers are not capable of imparting justice like their Hindu counterparts,” Mann said adding, “I must say that the Supreme Court has no faith in Muslim Judges, in fact the Indian judiciary is divided into two parts and Judges backed by the BJP has a grip on the Indian judiciary.”
Mann advocated a plebiscite solution for both parts of Kashmir. “The people of Kashmir have every right to choose their future and a plebiscite solution is the only one for the Kashmir issue,” he added.
“The death sentence of Afzal Guru is a clear proof that only the men of minority communities are awarded death sentences. Both Sikhs and Muslims have lost faith in India and its judicial system,” he said.
“The genocide of Sikhs by Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Narsimha Rao and that of Muslims by Vajpayee, Advani and Narinder Modi have gone unpunished,” he told reporters at a press conference. Mann said there was no concrete evidence against Muhammad Afzal Guru and that on mere circumstantial evidences he has been convicted.
“People like Vajpayee, Advani and Narinder Modi who were in the vanguard of the Babri Masjid demolition and have a hand in the genocide of Muslims in Gujarat are making merry while innocent Muslims like Afzal are being hanged,” Mann said.
The Sikh leader said, “I was inside the Indian Parliament when it was attacked. The five militants who carried out the attack were killed and they (Indian security agencies) had no clue about the persons involved in the attack. I must say that Afzal is being made a scapegoat.”
“The situation in Jammu and Kashmir will worsen if New Delhi hangs Afzal. They have to acquit Afzal Guru if they want peace in this region,” he said, adding, “Why are only Muslims and Sikhs are being hanged in India?” Mann said Manmohan Singh and A P J Abdul Kalam were made Prime Minister and President respectively “merely to show that India was a secular state. They are just rubber stamp authorities.”
Mann presented a memorandum to the Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad seeking action against the “troops responsible for the massacre of 43 Sikhs in Chittisinghpora in Kashmir Valley.”
“As a member of parliament I believe militants did not massacre 34 Sikhs. It was unfortunate on the part of India that militants were blamed for the act. Bill Clinton, the then US president, who was in India at the time of massacre, wrote in his book that Hindu militants killed the Sikhs.”
He said after the massacre of Sikhs, troops assisted by police murdered five innocent civilians and labeled them as foreign militants who massacred Sikhs. “I am not saying all this on my own, the CBI investigating the matter held Indian forces and state police responsible for the killing of civilians,” he added.
Mann said that whole the Sikh community wants to know who were the Hindu militants who executed Sikhs in cold-blooded murder. He further said, “We want to know when and how Vajpayee and Advani passed the orders for the execution. After these shameful murders by the Vajpayee government and Farooq Abdullah’s government in the state, can India still claim its hold over the state on the basis of its secular policy?”
Mann said former prime minister AB Vajpayee, the then deputy chief minister LK Advani, and former J&K chief minister Dr Farooq Abdullah should be interrogated “so that killers of innocent Sikhs are punished.” Mann added that the transfer of a sex abuse trial from Srinagar to Chandigarh has put a question mark on the functioning of the Supreme Court of India.
“With this very communal, thoughtless, and irresponsible order of the Supreme Court, how will the Jammu and Kashmir government convince the people of Kashmir and entire world that Muslims judges and lawyers are not capable of imparting justice like their Hindu counterparts,” Mann said adding, “I must say that the Supreme Court has no faith in Muslim Judges, in fact the Indian judiciary is divided into two parts and Judges backed by the BJP has a grip on the Indian judiciary.”
Mann advocated a plebiscite solution for both parts of Kashmir. “The people of Kashmir have every right to choose their future and a plebiscite solution is the only one for the Kashmir issue,” he added.
