Chandigarh, August 25, 2023: As per media reports Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Saturday reacted strongly against the raids being conducted by NIA on various individuals and organisations associated with Sikhism.
According to the news published in Times of India, the party claimed that these raids were “solely based on suspicion” and urged Union home took exception to the manner in which raids were conducted on individuals and offices belonging to the Khalsa Aid.
He also condemned the manner in which a highly respected NRI Sikh,
– A sitting member of the British parliament, was stopped and harassed before being allowed to board his flight at Amritsar international airport.
“Deplorable incidents like these remind the Sikh masses of the era of the Congress rule, especially under Indira Gandhi, when even the most highly respected Sikhs like the country’s only Marshall of the Air Force Arjan Singh and eminent journalist Khushwant Singh were targeted by anti-Sikh mobs in Delhi or when the Akali workers and leaders like Sardar Parkash Singh Badal and jathedar Gurcharan Singh Tohra were stopped from entering the national capital during the Asian Games,” said Prof Chandumajra.
“Raid and other modes of harassment, including false cases against innocent Sikhs, on suspicion intensify the already deep sense of hurt and emotional alienation of the Sikh masses from the national mainstream. It is natural for us to feel targeted and discriminated against when even highly respected Sikhs like Tanmanjit Singh Dhesi are targeted merely because of their religious identity. This is highly deplorable and it is not even in the national interest,” he said, Times of India added.
Referring to the raid on a Khalsa Aid branch, the senior leader said: “If there was any specific complaint against any individual, he should be questioned and treated under due process of law, instead of being harassed and humiliated by the government agencies… the Khalsa Aid workers were being subjected to such treatment.”
“Why should an entire organisation, engaged in humanitarian work, be defamed and harassed for the wrongdoings of any single individual connected with it, even if the said individual may have violated some clauses of the law of the land,” Prof Chandumajra asked.
The Akali leader further said: “We”the Sikhs are famous all over the world for rushing to the aid of the victims of natural and other calamities, regardless of religious, racial or national identity.”
He said in recent days, Sikh organisations and institutions, spearheaded by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) and the SAD leaders and workers, remained at the forefront of helping victims of the unprecedented flood disaster in Punjab.
This spirit, which is the guiding light and inspiration for all the Sikh-ideology driven institutions, especially the SGPC and the SAD, has made the Sikh community famous all over the world as saviours of humanity, said Prof Chandumajra. “Khalsa Aid is one of the organisations which has remained in the news for the same kind of humanitarian work. The government needs to come clean on the reasons to target the Sikh institutions, organisations and individuals,” he added.
