Is Dera-sikh Row Taking Radical Turn?

[dasmesh_regiment]

SO THIS GUY IS A SELLOUT TOO????!!!

Dal Khalsa founder sets terms for return

Varinder Walia

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, September 28

Founder of the Dal Khalsa, Gajinder Singh, whose name has figured on the list of 20 most-wanted Indian terrorists following an attack on Parliament House in December, 2001, has said he is ready to come back to India on certain conditions.

He, along with four other Sikh activists, had hijacked an Indian Airlines plane en route Delhi-Srinagar-Lahore on September 29, 1981, nine days after the arrest of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, 27 years ago.

The Indian government has sought the extradition of all 20 most-wanted terrorists.

He said he had already undergone imprisonment for more than 13 years in jails in Pakistan on the charges of hijacking the Indian Airlines plane, hence he could not be tried in any country for the same crime.

Replying to a question, he said he still miss Amritsar, Chandigarh, Patiala, but he could not negotiate on the conditions for his return which were not honourable.

Revealing his proximity to leaders of some mainstream Akali leaders, he claimed in early ’90s, then SGPC president Gurcharan Singh Tohra had offered him to contest from Patiala’s parliamentary constituency after his release from a Pakistan jail.

He said his party believed in peaceful and democratic means. This is his first interview with any mediaperson after he was declared most-wanted by government.

Talking to The Tribune on the phone on the eve of 27th anniversary of the hijacking incident, from an undisclosed destination, Gajinder, however, said he could come back to India, if he was offered a respectable way.

It is believed that he is living in Pakistan. Gajinder said he had never used a weapon for the cause of the Sikh community.

He claimed that even during hijacking none of the hijackers had used any weapon.

He had no criminal background, hence figuring of his name on the list of most-wanted Indians had shocked him.

Condemning violence for achieving the set goals, he said he had never justified

innocent killings.

He, however, confessed that the movement for a separate state had weakened due to weaknesses of certain leaders.