Jalalabad, May 2
India has lodged a strong protest with Pakistan over alleged harassment of Sikhs and Hindus and forcible extortion of jazia from them by the Taliban. Houses of some of the Sikhs had been razed also.
“We have taken up the matter with the Pakistan government,” says Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh. It is the duty of the Government of Pakistan to ensure safety and security of its people. Both Hindus and Sikhs, who are citizens of Pakistan, have equal rights and cannot be subjected to jazia. The government of Pakistan should compensate those who have suffered at the hands of the Taliban.
The Prime Minister said that it was a serious matter and India was taking it up at the highest level. In a select media interaction at Jalalabad where Dr Manmohan Singh had come to address an election rally of Congress candidate Jagmeet Singh Brar, he said that India wants Pakistan to ensure that its territory is not used for any terrorist strikes in India.
Dr Manmohan Singh, who became the first Prime Minister from a minority community, said that political future of Sikhs lies with Congress. “What else a minority community can demand or hope for. A Sikh Prime Minister and a Chief of Staff of the Indian Army in the last five years.”
Talking about clean chit to Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar, he reiterated that CBI was an autonomous body and there was no government pressure on it to give clean chit to Tytler and Sajjan Kumar. The case is before the court.
Referring to some senior Sikh leaders, including Buta Singh, Tara Singh (Haryana), G.S. Galib and Bir Devinder Singh leaving Congress after elections to 15th Lok Sabha had been announced, Dr Manmohan Singh said it had nothing to do with giving of party tickets to Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar. “I think they left Congress for personal reasons.”
Dr Manmohan Singh said that Ottavio Quattrocchi could not be harassed forever. “We wanted him to be extradited, first from Malaysia and then from Argentina. But there is something wrong with our judicial system. We got a letter from Interpol asking us whether we wanted red notice tag continued with his name. The letter was referred to the Law Ministry that sent it to the Attorney-General of India for his opinion. It was suggested against continuing red notice tag on his name. The entire episode relating to Quattrocchi was an embarrassment to the government as nothing had come out of it in 20 years.
“Any good suggestion that brings in transparency and efficiency to governance is welcome,” he said in reference to the demand made by the Akalis that appointment of the Director of the CBI as well as members of the Election Commission of India should be made by a panel comprising the Prime Minister, the Leader of Opposition and the Speaker of Lok Sabha.
“”Why BJP could not do it when it was in power for a full term of five years. Still we welcome all good suggestions from all sides,” he added.
Taking SAD-BJP alliance to task, he said that there was no iota of truth in their criticism that the Congress-led UPA government was anti-Punjabi and anti-farmer.
“See the MSP of wheat and rice. The UPA government has almost doubled the procurement prices of these food grains in last five years besides announcing a huge package to relieve farmers of the country of their debts. More than 4.21 lakh farmers’ families in Punjab have befitted from it. Neither BJP nor Akalis can match what Congress has done for Punjab farmers,” he said. Singh said accelerated economic growth, including in industry, agriculture and rural development, besides launching of National Rural Employment programme, signing of 123 treaty with the US and implementation of the Right to Information Act were some of the major achievements of the UPA government.
