New Delhi: Ahead of elections in Congress-ruled Punjab, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has sought support from all parties, including the BJP, to demands for clemency to a Sikh death-row convict.
"All parties, groupings should support the clemency calls for (Davinder Pal Singh) Bhullar," SGPC chief Avtar Singh Makkar said, referring to the man facing execution in connection with a 1993 bomb attack in Delhi.
Recommended to the post by Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief Parkash Singh Badal, whose party has an alliance with the BJP, Makkar, however, took a guarded approach on the ally's high-pitched campaign for the execution of Mohammad Afzal, sentenced to death for the 2001 Parliament attack.
"I have nothing to say about Afzal. We are concerned about Bhullar and a number of other Sikhs who have been languishing in jails for more than two decades now. All parties, be in power or outside power, should support this cause," he said on the sidelines of a religious event organised by Delhi Akali chief Avtar Singh Hit.
Last month, Makkar issued a quick denial of news reports suggesting he has ordered a ban on Vande Mataram in SGPC-run schools. Copies of his denial were simultaneously circulated by the BJP's office in Delhi.
Demands by the SAD and the SGPC to pardon Bhullar usually gain momentum before elections.
Ahead of the last Lok Sabha elections, both Badal and veteran Akali leader Gurcharan Singh Tohra requested the then BJP-led NDA government to grant clemency to the Sikh prisoner.
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