Badal calls upon people to maintain communal harmony

Chandigarh, Aug 30 (UNI) Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today called upon the people of the country to preserve peace, amity, and communal harmony at all costs.

Mr Badal said there had been alarming reports of attempts to disturb peace and communal harmony in various parts of the country and appealed to people, belonging to different communities, to strengthen the social fabric of country by displaying the age-old ethos of understanding and good-will as preached by ''our great gurus, saints and seers''.

In a statement here, Mr Badal underscored the need for religious tolerance, magnanimity and unity in the larger interest of society.

He said an all out social effort for safeguarding peace and amity in the country was all the more important and relevant at this critical juncture when the nation was already facing threats to its secular and sovereign character.

He urged the people to exercise maximum restraint in such testing circumstances and to give a befitting reply to anti-social elements.

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