Badal’S Clemency Plea To The Prez

[Azaad]

Punjab Chief Minister and patron of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) Parkash Singh Badal today met President Pratibha Devisingh Patil and submitted a petition seeking clemency for Balwant Singh Rajoana, against whom death warrants have been issued by a Chandigarh court. The Chief Minister wrote:

“I approach Your Excellency on an issue of great sensitivity and immense public importance, requiring your immediate kind attention.

You are well aware that Punjab and the country have come through a period of great social and political turmoil in which thousands of innocent lives were lost. With great efforts and with the cooperation of the people of Punjab, an atmosphere of peace and complete communal harmony has been achieved. But there is still a tragic residue which has to be handled by all of us with great care, sagacity and farsightedness.

“A Chandigarh court has issued the death warrants for the execution of Bhai Balwant Singh Rajoana in the case of the assassination of the former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh. The warrants of death in the case have been ordered to be executed on March 31.

“This has set off a chain of events because of which the atmosphere in the state has become highly surcharged. Several organisations have given a call for a bandh in Punjab. Some of them have also announced a march to the Central Jail, Patiala, where Bhai Rajoana is lodged. Some internal and external forces are waiting to exploit this situation to disturb the hard-earned atmosphere of peace and communal harmony in the state and to destabilise the country by fomenting trouble in this sensitive border state.

“In the light of all this, it has become imperative for all of us tasked with safeguarding the interests and the destiny of the country to prevent the situation from sliding in that tragic direction. This is all the more important considering Punjab’s strategic geographical location, sharing a long active international border with Pakistan and contiguous to Jammu and Kashmir, where forces hostile to the country have been active to destabilise conditions in the country.

“I am here to seek your kind intervention to secure clemency for Bhai Rajoana. A petition filed by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee is already pending with your office. There is a complete political unanimity in favour of clemency being granted to Bhai Rajoana. The Congress as well as the family of the late Beant Singh has also strongly pleaded for clemency in the case.

“The whole nation looks up to Your Excellency, as custodian of peace, tranquility and stability of the country, to save the situation from taking a turn dangerous for the interests of the country at large

“In the light of the above, I approach Your Excellency with a request that the clemency petition filed by the SGPC may be considered favourably and clemency be granted to Bhai Balwant Singh Rajoana at the earliest in the larger interest of peace, communal harmony and in the national interest.”