Remember all victims of violence in ardas: Union Minister Ravneet Singh Bittu to Akal Takht Jathedar

Ludhiana, Jul 14 (PTI) Union Minister Ravneet Singh Bittu appealed to Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Kuldeep Singh Gargajj to remember all the victims of the violence witnessed in Punjab during the 1990s in his 'ardas' (Sikh prayer) on Tuesday, ahead of his prayers for the youths who allegedly fell victim to extrajudicial killings. "The blood that was shed then did not belong to terrorists alone, nor to the police, nor only to innocent civilians. It was Punjab's blood. It was the blood of Punjabis," the minister wrote on X. The BJP leader had on Sunday questioned why the Diljit Dosanjh-starrer film Satluj had underplayed "the massacres of innocent Hindus" and the "immense sacrifice of Punjab Police personnel, security forces and countless brave citizens who fought terrorism ". Amid the row over the movie, the Akal Takht Jathedar had called a special religious gathering on the banks of the Satluj river at Harike Pattan on Tuesday evening to perform 'ardas' for Sikh youths whose alleged extrajudicial killings were brought to light by human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra. Gargajj had said that, to date, no collective 'ardas' was held "for the innocent youths, women, elderly people, and children who fell victim to government and police excesses in Punjab". Bittu, in his statement posted on X on Tuesday, said that entire Punjab and Punjabis across the world are looking towards the Jathedar and his prayer. "A humble request, Jathedar Sahib: Please remember the human massacre that Punjab witnessed during the 1990s in today's Ardas. He said that whether armed or unarmed, in uniform or as ordinary citizens, all those who died were Punjabis. "Even today, those thousands of souls look towards the walls of Sri Akal Takht Sahib and ask, 'Does anyone speak for us? Will there also be an Ardas for us?'" Bittu said the appeal was about "Punjab, Punjabis and Punjabiyat" and not about any single community. He urged that every brother, sister and household affected by the violence be remembered, so that the souls of those "whose blood turned this land red" may find peace. "The debt owed to this land cannot be repaid through hatred. It can only be repaid through Ardas, Jathedar Sahib," he said, adding that he hopes the sacred prayer will serve as a healing balm for those souls. Earlier on Monday, Paramjit Kaur Khalra, wife of slain human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra, had urged the Akal Takht to form a People's Commission' to determine the actual number of people who went missing, the number of unidentified bodies, and those killed in alleged fake police encounters in Punjab during the 80s and 90s. Kaur's remarks followed renewed public attention on the Khalra case after the release, and subsequent takedown, of the film Satluj from ZEE5. The film, earlier titled 'Punjab '95', is based on the activist's life. Union Minister Bittu had on Sunday said the makers of the film cannot hide behind the narrative of creative freedom while presenting disputed claims as established history. Bittu, the grandson of Beant Singh, the sitting Punjab chief minister who was assassinated at the high-security civil secretariat in Chandigarh on August 31, 1995, had also said that Punjab's painful past is not a script that can be edited selectively to suit a narrative. He said the people of Punjab deserve answers for selective portrayal of Punjab’s darkest chapter. “Why were the massacres of innocent Hindus, bus passengers, shopkeepers, government employees, labourers and ordinary citizens brutally killed by terrorists not depicted with the same intensity? “Why was the immense sacrifice of Punjab Police personnel, security forces and countless brave citizens who fought terrorism underplayed? Why were thousands of families devastated by terrorist violence virtually absent from the narrative?” the Ludhiana MP asked. Khalra was abducted in front of his house in Amritsar in September 1995. He was later found to have been murdered, though his body was never found. The film was pulled from the OTT platform ZEE5 for viewers in India two days following its release on July 3 after the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting cited security concerns. In November 2005, a CBI court had sentenced former DSP Jaspal Singh and ASI Amarjit Singh to life imprisonment for Khalra's abduction and murder, while four other policemen were handed seven-year jail terms each. In 2007, the Punjab and Haryana High Court acquitted Amarjit Singh while enhancing the sentences of the four other convicts to life imprisonment, a decision that the Supreme Court upheld in 2011. PTI CORR SUN RT RT RT