Jagtar Singh

  Akal Takht and SGPC provide legitimacy to 1981 hijacking that globalised Khalistan narrative Ground Zero Jagtar Singh   Khalistan men hijack Boeing to Lahore- The Indian Express “Khalistan” men hijack I. A.   plane – The Tribune Both these banner headlines in these two newspapers published from Chandigarh were datelined September 30, 1981. This was the hijacking by the members of the Dal Khalsa that brought under focus the demand for Khalistan that otherwise had not been raised by any of the main Sikh organisations till then, except by National Council of Khalistan headed by Dr. Jagjit Singh Chohan. This hijacking was staged mainly to demand release of Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale in the case relating to the assassination of Jalandhar-based owner-editor of Hind Samachar group of newspapers Lala Jagat Narain. It was also with this action that the Dal Khalsa constituted in 1978 in reaction to the killing of 13 Sikhs in Sikh-Nirankari clash at Amritsar on the Baisakhi

  Basic issue of federalism is missing in Bhagwant Mann Vs Governor heated debate in Punjab Ground Zero Jagtar Singh Punjab having turned into the platform for Aam Aadmi Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party for their confrontation in the forthcoming Assembly elections in prestigious Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh is too obvious. Defection by even twenty AAP MLAs can’t pose any threat to the Bhagwant Mann government in Punjab but can definitely hit the ruling party in the state hard whose tremors can be felt in neighbouring Himachal Pradesh and coastal Gujarat. It is Gujarat that has the potential to set discourse for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections that is going to be the most crucial one for not only the BJP but also its parent organisation the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh in the context of transforming India into Hindu Rashtra. The conversation is already converging on AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal emerging as the main challenger to Narendra Modi. What is happening in Punjab is crucial in t

  Haryana Sikhs has the right to manage gurdwaras in absence of all-India gurdwara act Ground Zero Jagtar Singh   “The Sikh Gurdwara Act should be made applicable, besides Punjab, to other historical gurdwaras in rest of Hindustan and the princely states”. This was the last of the six resolutions adopted by the general house of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee constituted under the Sikh Gurdwara Act at its first meeting on 4 November 1926 at townhall, Amritsar. It was this resolution that set the ball rolling subsequently for the demand for the enactment of the All India Gurdwara Act. This resolution mentioned in ‘Shiromani Committee Da Panjaah Saala Itihaas’ published by the SGPC has been recalled here in the context of strong reaction at one level at the long awaited verdict by the Supreme Court yesterday upholding the validity of the Haryana Sikh Gurdwara (Management) Act, 2014. Jathedar Akal Takht Giani Harpreet Singh, SGPC chief Harjinder Singh Dhami and S

  Punjab is ground to construct Kejriwal as challenger to Modi at national level Ground Zero Jagtar Singh   Aam Aadmi Party that had had been given historic mandate by the people of Punjab essentially rooted in anger against degenerated and stinking Congress and the Shiromani Akali Dal, seems to hit strong turbulence within months for the reasons that are both extraneous as well as internal. At the same time, the design now seems to be to construct Arvind Kejriwal as the man who can block Modi at the national level as the Congress continues to shrink and AAP is the only party that is expanding. As some ministers in Punjab face corruption allegations and some of the AAP MLAs have landed in unsavoury controversies, the latest to be confronted by this party is what has come to be known as Operation Lotus, the name that has been given to the design of the Bharatiya Janata Party to poach MLAs from other parties and the latest case is that of Goa. It has not happened suddenly in Go

  Basic facts relating to SYL Political Canal that Supreme Court needs to be told   Ground Zero Jagtar Singh   The Supreme Court recently made a strong comment in the context of the resumption of the construction of the Satluj Yamuna Link Canal that Punjab should share its natural resource that the river water is. Punjab is one state whose   more than 99 per cent of the cultivable area is under irrigation and 70 percent of this irrigation is dependent upon tube wells. Only 30 per cent of the area of this state through which three rivers flow is under canal irrigation. About 70 per cent of the water from these three Punjab rivers flows down to Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi and this is part of the record. Going by the newspaper report, there seems to be some information and communication gap resulting in this comment. At the same time, it is stated here that although the Riparian principle is supposed to be criteria for the sharing of river waters, there is no reason to di

Dal Khalsa co-founder Gajinder Singh Hijacker finally makes his Pakistan presence public   Ground Zero Jagtar Singh   Pakistan has been denying his presence all these years. His name was part of the list of 20 terrorists India had submitted to Pakistan in January 2002. Pakistan had denied their presence. His existence was never acknowledged till now. Gajinder Singh is   one of the five co-founders of the radical Dal Khalsa in 1978 who was part of the group that staged the first hijacking on September 29, 1981 associated with the Sikh militant struggle to demand release of Damdami Taksal chief Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale arrested on September 20 earlier in the case of killing of Hind Samachar group editor Lala Jagat Narain. All the five hijackers were tried and sentenced in Pakistan and released after they served their full jail term. Gajinder Singh, in a sudden move, today made public his presence in Pakistan on his Facebook page by posing his picture in front of th

  Memorial function for Jatana in Golden Temple complex adds new dimension to radical discourse   Ground Zero Jagtar Singh   The song 'SYL' of now slain Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala was banned in India within days of its release probably because it had hailed Balwinder Singh Jatana as the hero. Organised by the hardline organisation  Dal Khalsa that continues to stick to the demand for Khalistan though now through democratic means, the death anniversary of this Malwa area commander, for the first time, was today observed in the Golden Temple (Darbar Sahib) complex along with Charanjit Singh Channa. The presence of Golden Temple Head Granthi Giani Jagtar Singh and Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee president Harjinder Singh Dhami at the function organised at Gurdwara Thara Sahib next to Jhanda Bunga yet again provided legitimacy to the radical politics from which the Shiromani Akali Dal has otherwise tried to distance from time to time. It is not for the f

  Restoration of credibility must along with organisational changes in Akali Dal announced by Sukhbir Singh Badal   Ground Zero Jagtar Singh   Under intense pressure to introduce drastic overhaul following total rejection by the people in February Assembly polls followed by Sangrur Lok Sabha by-election, Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal today took the first step to rejuvenate the organisational structure that includes limiting tenure of the party president to two terms and one ticket per family. This positive move must be taken to the logical conclusion. The basic issue that is confronting the party is the restoration of credibility that has been eroded over the years.   The leadership must look inwards to understand it. The politics and priorities came to be decided by the House of Badals. The gap between promises and practice started widening till this gap turned into gulf. The Bargari tragedy relating to sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib that the party