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Shiromani Akali Dal bid to return to roots has to be accompanied by restoration of credibility

  Shiromani Akali Dal bid to return to roots has to be accompanied by restoration of credibility Ground Zero Jagtar Singh Chandigarh: Shiromani Akali Dal on March 22 last undertook a bold exercise after more than two and a half decades to shift to what at one time   was the traditional Panthic track, an ideological position with which it had emerged as the main voice of the Sikhs, not just in Punjab but even at the global level. This second oldest party in the country after the Congress and the first regional party in India that included present day Pakistan and Bangladesh has virtually been forced by the alienation from its very roots to change the gear after having been reduced to the lowest ever three seats in the state Assembly with little signal of revival in near future. Would this shift be easily accepted by the Sikhs at large and facilitate its early revival, not by the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections at least? Not necessarily. With the ideological shift of March 22,
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Lok Sabha polls 2024 to be test for unprecedented apology by Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal in the Golden Temple complex

  Lok Sabha polls 2024 to be test for unprecedented apology by Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal Ground Zero Jagtar Singh Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal on December 14 sought apology with folded hands in the Golden Temple (Darbar Sahib) complex on 103 rd anniversary of the now marginalized party with glorious history for the mistakes committed in the past “advertently or inadvertently” with particular reference   to the shocking narrative associated with sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib at Bargari village in 2015. Going by the precedence, the apology has to be sought by presenting oneself without any ‘Ifs and Buts’ at Akal Takht, the supreme Sikh temporal seat representing Sikh sovereignty in front of the Golden Temple. The person seeking pardon either writes to Akal Takht Jathedar listing the misdeed or is summoned to appear and awarded religion punishment (Tankhah). The leaders who have been thus awarded religious punishment include Sant Fateh Singh, Maste
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Bundala fake encounter case finality in high court calls for probe in all fake encounters

Bundala fake encounter case finality in high court calls for probe in all fake encounte rs Ground Zero Jagtar Singh   More than 41 years after Akhand Kirtani Jatha activist Bhai Kulwant Singh Nagoke from Nagoke group in Amritsar district was shown to have been killed, it has now been proved with finality that the police had been resorting to killings in fake encounter. This calls for broader probe headed by a retired high court judge into what can be termed as strategy of fake encounters to counter militancy in Punjab that was triggered as revenge killings but got transformed as instrument of political struggle for Khalistan. Not that it is for the first time that such a revelation has come out. The main point here is that this is an admission that has come on the record in the Punjab and Haryana Court exposing the dark underbelly of the methods used by the security forces to what is claimed to be the restoration of peace. Of course, police officials have earlier been convict
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Supreme Court must be told that 70 per cent of water from Punjab rivers is already flowing to Rajasthan and Haryana, demand for SYL Canal is extra

  Supreme Court must know SYL Canal is politics for Haryana, survival for Punjab Ground Zero Jagtar Singh “We are concerned over the execution of a decree for the construction of the canal in the Punjab portion…The decree stands…Something would have to be done”. This is the stand of the Supreme Court relating to construction of   portion of Satluj Yamuna Link Canal that is to carry water to Haryana from rivers in Punjab. The apex court issued the direction while hearing this decades old case on October 4 last. The Supreme Court symbolizes sovereignty of the state and hence every decree is supposed to be implemented and rightly so. The state functions under a system. However, the approach to certain issues that directly concern the survival issues just can’t be mechanical. The Supreme Court must take into account certain basic issues. At the same time, it is the responsibility of the states concerned to apprise the apex court of the grassroots reality rather than creating
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Dal Khalsa hijacking headline that globalized Khalistan narrative 42 ago as narrative bounces back

  Dal Khalsa hijacking headline that globalized Khalistan narrative 42 ago as narrative bounces back Ground Zero Jagtar Singh   “Khalistan men hijack Boeing to Lahore” screamed the headlines on the morning of September 30, 1981. The hitherto little-known Khalistan demand stood globalized at one level. The action was carried out by young Sikh activists of 1978-born Dal Khalsa advocating creation of independent Sikh state of Khalistan in Indian part of Sikh dominated border state of Punjab. The media had earlier virtually ignored the setting up of National Council of Khalistan headed by Dr. Jagjit Singh Chohan announced on  June 16, 1980 from Darbar Sahib (Golden Temple) complex. This proclamation was signed by its general secretary Balbir Singh Sandhu who used to stay in the complex. These were the only two main activists of the National Council of Khalistan then. This proclamation stated, “ After going into the political character of the Hindu majority government of India and scrutiniz
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Air India Kanishka Bombing 1985: Action that went horribly wrong, design was not to kill but hit India’s economy

  Air India Kanishka Bombing 1985: Action that went horribly wrong, design was not to kill but hit India’s economy Ground Zero Jagtar Singh At the time when Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has triggered tremors in the geopolitics by unleashing “credible allegations” of   hand of Indian agencies in the killing of Khalistani Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjer in Surrey in British Columbia in June last outside a gurdwara, the bombing of Air India Kanishka in 1985 in which 329 people were killed as Flight 182 originating from Toronto exploded mid-air near Irish coast has returned to the news columns. This dark chapter is part of the Sikh radical narrative. Bombs were placed in two flights to avenge Operation Bluestar, the army attack on Darbar Sahib (Golden Temple) complex in Amritsar in June 1984. USA has backed Canada in this narrative associated with alleged Indian hand despite strategic importance of India as counterweight to China. It has now come out that not only
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