SGPC demands commuting death sentence of terrorist

Amritsar, Dec 20 (UNI) The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) today sought Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's intervention to commute the death sentence of Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) terrorist Davinderpal Singh Bhullar to life imprisonment.

Bhullar was sentenced to death by a Delhi court for his involvement in the attack on former All India Youth Congress AIYC chief Maninderjit Singh Bitta in the mid 1990's outside the AIYC headquarters in New Delhi which left a number of security personnel dead. His death sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court and his clemency petition is currently pending before President A P J Kalam.

A charter of demands, submitted to the Prime Minister by SGPC chief Avtar Singh Makkar outside the Golden Temple complex here, appealed to Dr Singh to use his influence to commute the death sentence to life imprisonment. The SGPC said that Bhullar was amongst the thousands of Sikhs whose religious sentiments were hurt after 'Operation Bluestar' which saw the destruction of the Akal Takht.

The charter of demands was submitted after Mr Singh paid obeisance at the Harmandir Sahib this morning.

The SGPC also demanded stern punishment for those who were involved in the anti-Sikh riots of 1984. The demands charter pointed out that those responsible for the carnage were yet to be brought to book.

Another demand listed in the charter was the return of valuable manuscripts and historical and rare documents which were taken away by the security forces during the army operation of June 1984 launched to flush out terrorists from the Golden Temple.

UNI XC-HS PA ND1058