J&K sikhs join stir, clamour for clemency
The protests by Sikhs against impending execution of Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) militant Balwant Singh Rajoana spread to Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday, with groups of Sikh holding protest demonstrations in the twin capitals of Jammu and Srinagar.
Hundreds of Sikhs chanting slogans and holding banners and placards with Rajoana’s photographs on them staged a sit-in along the Jammu-Pathankote highway blocking the vital road link between Jammu and Kashmir and the rest of the country for several hours.
Joining the demand that the former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh murder convict not be hanged, the community leaders leading the protest said he deserved to be pardoned given the public sentiment.
In Srinagar, a large number of Sikhs assembled at the Amira Kadal Gurdwara in the heart of the city to hold a protest against the impending hanging.
A community leader told reporters that the protest was in solidarity with Sikhs in Punjab who have joined the cause of saving the life of Rajoana.
The protesters were chanting slogans against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, asserting that the perpetrators of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots “are roaming free while the hanging of Rajoana is being hastened”.
Another protest by Sikhs was held in the city’s Raj Bagh area. Prominent separatist leaders Syed Shabir Ahmed Shah and Naeem Khan who had planned to join the protesters were placed under house arrest earlier during the day.
The police arrived at the scene and broke off the protest and detained over a dozen participants, witnesses said.
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