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No matter what, Udham Singh Nagar shouldn't be part of Uttarakhand: Akali Mann

Shiromani Akali Dal (Mann) president Simranjit Singh Mann has demanded that a commission headed by a Supreme Court judge be set up to demarcate the boundaries of the proposed Uttarakhand state.

Supporting the demand of the Sikh farmers of Udham Singh Nagar that their district should not be included in the hill state of Uttarakhand, Mann said the peasants were a very frightened lot today.

''The sense of insecurity among them is the same as during the Partition when the Radcliffe line went through Punjab,'' Mann said at a press conference in New Delhi.

The farmers's main fear is this: the land ceiling in the hill states was three acres, so what would happen to the rest of their holdings? They have turned forest land into lush farms through hard labour and were afraid of losing them once Udham Singh Nagar became part of Uttarakhand, Mann said.

He demanded that a judicial commission, similar to the one which demarcated the boundaries of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh in 1966, be set up. The totally different economy, culture and social habits of the people of Udham Singh Nagar should be kept in mind, and the area should not be included in Uttarakhand, he added.

Accusing Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal of failing to articulate the interests of Punjab and the Sikhs in the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government's agenda, Mann said Badal's promise of ''unconditional support'' to the BJP was not viable.

He said all the pending demands of Punjab, including Chandigarh, river water, waiving off of the Rs 85 billion loan, setting up of a 120 billion petroleum plant in Bhatinda and an international airport in Amritsar, had been publicly rejected by the BJP leadership.

In view of these, the Akali Dal (Badal) leadership should abstain from voting for the election of the Lok Sabha deputy speaker on August 4 till the central government give a public declaration on the status of Udham Singh Nagar, and about reconsidering the pending demands of Punjab, he said.

Expressing concern at the recent attacks on Christians in some parts of the country, Mann said the ''militancy of the RSS and BJP cadres is very distressing.''

He claimed he had ''definite information'' that some 600 RSS, BJP and Bajrang Dal cadres were given training in the use of explosives and fire arms at a camp in Rajpura in Punjab from June 23 to 28.

''We are very apprehensive about the BJP's intentions and urge President K R Narayanan to review the party's programmes,'' he added.

A memorandum had also been submitted to National Minorities Commission chairman Tahir Mahmood, who had assured them that he would take up the matter with the government, Mann said.

The displacement of Sikhs in Lakhimpur in Uttar Pradesh, and the hunger strike by Sikh undertrials in Tihar jail were also broached with the Minorities Commission, he said.

UNI

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