Two Sikh leaders released; activist ups his ante, refuses to drink water

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, July 21

Radical Sikh leaders Gurdeep Singh Bathida and Mokham Singh supporting activist Surat Singh Khalsa were released on Tuesday, a day after the activist stopped drinking water in a bid to get leaders arrested for supporting his protest released.

The 80-year-old Sikh activist has been on a ‘fast unto death’ since January to demand the release of Sikh prisoners who have remained in jail even after serving their sentences.

Bathinda was arrested from Ludhiana on Monday while Singh was among the leaders who courted arrested on Sunday when police halted their march to Ludhiana’s Hasanpur village, where Khalsa is on his hunger strike.

Ravinderpal Singh Goggi, Khalsa's son, meanwhile, has declared that his father has refused to drink a “drop of water” until all those arrested while supporting his cause were released.

Goggi said Jagraon Superintendent of Police Ravcharan Brar had visited the civil hospital, where Khalsa was forcibly admitted when his health declined, on Monday evening and informed them that Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had ordered the release of Khalsa's supporters.
Goggi accused police of illegally booking 50 of the activist’s supporters for attacking cops.

Meanwhile, sources claimed that Khalsa’s supporters who have been released were planning to gherao Ludhiana civil hospital and were consulting Khalsa's son and other key members of Sangharsh committee to plan their future action.
The area around the civil hospital, meanwhile, remains tense, with policemen deployed in large numbers. Several radical Sikh leaders, including Baljit Singh Dadduwal, have so far visited the activist in the hospital.

Singh, meanwhile, has currently holding a meeting with ADGP (Intelligence) HS Dhillon at Police Lines, Ludhiana, to find a solution to the impasse.