Punjabi Durbar unaware of festival at Nankana Saheb

Amritsar, Nov.18 : Radio Pakistan's latest installment of Punjabi Durbar programme was oblivious of the festival being celebrated at Nankana Saheb where pilgrims in their thousands visited the birthplace of Guru Nanak.

The programme producer was also not aware that both Sikhs and Hindus visited the Golden temple to pray there.

Like a broken gramophone record, the station continued its old theme and played a programme which said Hindus and Sikhs of Punjab were living in conflict with each other and the Central and State Governments were not interested in promoting amity among the Sikhs and Hindus.

The producer of the programme was even unaware of the fact that India had a Sikh as its Prime Minister and in Punjab itself there was a coalition government headed by Akalis and supported by the Hindu dominated Bharatiya Janata Party.

Reacting to the programme, Maninder Jeet Singh Bitta, the President of All India Anti Terrorist Front (AIATF), said: "I don't trust Pakistan Radio, ISI and politicians. Pakistan is a long time liar. Pakistan government, its media and politicians are liars. One cannot trust them." "We are always ready to face any threat from Pakistan. We don't believe in violence. Our words are enough to teach a good lesson to enemies. All political parties should unite and help in disclosing the identity of those who are funding ISI," Bitta added.

Pakistan must remember the Akali-Dal led government of Punjab has been a perfect example of unity among Sikhs and Hindus. It would be foolish to imagine that in any crisis or over any conflict, Hindu or Sikh leaders will not get together to solve matters.

As a policy, Pakistan Radio may be committed to carry on its anti-India propaganda, but to have credibility, it should avoid saying that Hindus and Sikhs are not living in peace in India. In fact there are millions of Sikhs and Hindus living in perfect harmony and brotherhood not just in Punjab but also in rest of the India.

And the propaganda fell flat when India was celebrating the tercentenary of the Guru Granth Sahib and the main celebration was at Nanded in Maharashtra, which was attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Punjab Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal.

ANI