|
|
| World Home » Life Style » | Thu. Aug 7, 2008 |
 |
|
|
||||||
|
Dera Chief repeats regret, appeals the govt to do its right duty - updated MIL/Agencies, May 21, 2007. Sirsa, May 21, 2007 - Dera Sacha Sauda (DSS) while addressing a press conference at DSS headquarters in Sirsa, Dera spokesperson Aditya Insaan said: “We have the highest regard for all religions and all guruships from all religions.” He again impressed upon the fact that the Dera regretted the turn of events in Punjab adding that the standoff shouldn’t be turned into “a battle of semantics”. “It is sad that our feelings on the matter are not being understood and people are resorting to sheer word play.” When asked about the demand for vacating the Deras, Aditya said: “The Deras belong to all humanity and not to any individual and as far as the demand of vacating them is concerned you ask the government.” Taking on the government for its shoddy handling of the situation he said that government should have made the first move to mediate in the matter. Blaming the govt for its failure to bring both parties to the negotiating table he said that the situation shouldn’t have taken the present shape at all. “We expect the government to discharge its rajdharma,” he added. The Akal Takht, the highest temporal seat of the Sikh religion located in the Golden Temple complex in Amritsar, on Sunday, demanded the closure of all Dera Sacha Sauda campuses in Punjab. The closure demand was made in a hukumnama, or religious edict, read out in Punjabi by Akal Takht chief Jathedar Joginder Singh Vedanti after a stormy meeting of Sikh clergy and leaders of various Sikh organisations. Reacting to the hukumnama, Dera spokesman Pankaj Insaan said that `vacating the deras (sect campuses) was out of question`. To counter the hardline stand taken by the Sikh leadership, the sect announced that it will hold blood donation camps by followers starting Monday. Insaan said sect followers will donate blood and pledge organs and their bodies. `We will not react with violence. We will seek legal recourse to developments of the day,` he added. Security has been tightened around all sect campuses in Punjab and its headquarters in Sirsa of neighbouring Haryana. The Border Security Force (BSF) and the Punjab police have virtually fortified all sect campuses, particularly the Salabatpura campus, 30 km from Bathinda in south Punjab`s Malwa belt. The Salabatpura campus, the biggest of its kind in Punjab, is spread over 150 acres and more than 40,000 sect followers live there. There are dozens of other campuses of the influential sect all over Punjab. Avtar Singh Makkar, president of the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) - the mini-parliament of Sikhs, announced that the state government has been given time till May 27 to order closure of all deras throughout Punjab, failing which the Sikh leadership will decide further course of action May 31. The Sikh organisations also called for a Punjab shutdown Tuesday to protest against Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmit Ram Rahim`s portrayal of himself in the manner of 10th Sikh Guru Gobind Singh - an issue over which Sikhs and sect followers clashed for five days from Monday, killing one and injuring more than 100.
|
 |
|
Applelounge Network (Website Design India, Web Design India) Sites |