Kharar, October 28
Senior Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Harsimrat Kaur Badal today appealed to the Maavan Dheeyan Di Fauj formed by the party to organize ‘thikri pehra’ in all villages and mohallas to put a stop to the rampant drug trade in the State.
The Bathinda MP, who presided over a massive women gathering here, said “for the women of Punjab ending the scourge of drugs is their number one priority. This is why the SAD had started a movement against drugs which is being led by women, who have suffered the most at the hands of this menace”.
She expressed gratitude to the women gathered in large numbers at Maavan Dheeyan Di rally in Kharar and also appreciated the Halka incharge Ravinder Singh Khera for organising the event.
Appealing to the women to resist the drug mafia stoutly, Harsimrat said the SAD was also committed to wiping out this menace once and for all after forming the government in 2027. She said the party was committed to forming a special task force under a woman DGP to go against the drug mafia. “I appeal to you to record details of all those selling drugs as well as those shielding them from action”. She also disclosed that the next SAD government would also change the law to deny bail to drug traffickers for ten years besides seizing all their property to compensate the victims.
The MP said things had gone completely out of hand in Punjab with the police “kidnapping” the mortal remains of Daljit Singh who was being taken to the protest site where Parvinder Singh Jhota’s family is fighting to secure justice for their son. Asserting that such a thing had never happened in the history of the State, Harsimrat said Daljit’s family members were also beaten up when they tried to prevent the police from taking away his body. She said such incidents were on the rise because the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government had not only failed to rein in drug traffickers but had also provided shelter to them with the law enforcement agencies intimidating complainants and whistle blowers. “The State witnessed this yesterday with a CISF constable exposing drug use in Government Rajindra hospital in Patiala being picked up by the police”.
Harsimrat also said it was shameful that the chief minister had refused to meet the family of slain anti-drug crusader Parvinder Singh Jhota and had instead chosen to go to Paris to celebrate his wife’s birthday. She said earlier also the chief minister had shown where his sympathies lay by getting Mohanjit Singh, who had shown him a black flag to protest against the drug trade, tortured and electrocuted. She said the same was the case of Gulzar Singh of Dirba, who ended his life after being harassed for asking finance minister Harpal Cheema why no action was being taken to stop the sale of ‘chitta’. “All such cases have sent a clear message to the messengers of death that they are the real rulers and that is why the drug menace increases by the day”, she added.
