Endorsing the Kashmiris’ unequivocal right to self-determination, the Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) and Dal Khalsa said by scrapping article 370 of the constitution, the government of India has plunged the region into further turmoil. The move will further alienate the people of Kashmir and peace will be a casualty. Both parties give a call to observe 15 August as a black day throughout the state of Punjab.

Abrogation of Article 35-A and Article 370 of the Indian Constitution that granted special status to J&K is only a façade to continue the tirade of injustice and state-terror against the people of Kashmir, said Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) chief Simranjit Singh Mann, while recently addressing the media in Amritsar at the Dal Khalsa head office.

After caging the entire leadership -from moderates to pro-freedom leaders, seizing the state with military might and disconnecting Kashmir from the rest of the world, New Delhi has taken this retrograde step. This is a clear murder of democracy, said Mann.

Trashing Home Minister Amit Shah’s claim that article 370 was the biggest hurdle to normalcy, Mann said contrary to it, after this move of the centre, normalcy and peace in the region will become a distant dream. Kashmiris have been reeling under state repression since many decades. They won’t let their sacrifices go in vain. Commenting on bifurcating J&K into two UT’s, Mann said nothing on ground is going to make a difference as earlier, New Delhi was ruling the state through a proxy and now it will only rule directly.

Hitting out at the Badal-led Shiromani Akali Dal SAD for being a party to the BJP decision on the Kashmir issue, he said by not opposing the move, the Badals had dumped the Anandpur Sahib resolution that demanded greater autonomy to states.

Dal Khalsa head Harpal Singh Cheema said by revoking article 370, the disputed nature of Kashmir will not change. The struggle for freedom doesn’t rest on such legislations. Narien Singh of Akal Federation was also present to express solidarity with the cause of the Kashmiri people reeling under government’s repression.

Cheema further said the present situation in Kashmir is reminiscent of the Punjab situation before the army attack in Amritsar in June 1984. With Guru’s blessings, Sikhs fought against Indian aggression. It is evident that the Indian state hasn’t learned any lessons from its blunders and continues with its policy of trampling rights of peoples and political subjugation.

Slamming the Modi dispensation for turning down Donald Trump’s peace mediation offer, Dal Khalsa Spokesman Kanwar Pal Singh said we will be writing to the US president for mediation and intervention as we are geographical neighbours of Kashmir, we share political boundaries with Pakistan and India and we have experienced strain and stress over the last decades because of a climate of unrest and denial of human rights in the country.

Announcing their protests program to mark India’s Independence Day, both the organizations along with United Akali Dal, called upon the people of Punjab to observe August 15 as black day. Mann said the rank and file of their party will stage protests at 15 district headquarters on 15 August, carrying black flags and placards to lodge their protest.

Slamming the flip-flop stand of the Punjab government on the CBI closure report in the Bargarhi sacrilege case, the leaders said Amarinder and his Attorney General were issuing contradictory statements only to confuse and mislead the people and to hide their failures. Ironically and sadly, Amarinder Singh is on the same page as Sukhbir Badal in this case, with a shared interest to protect Dera Sirsa Head- who not only engineered sacrilege acts but was also involved in the Maur Bomb blast.

The worst irony is that DGP Prabodh Kumar is writing to CBI for reinvestigation making the findings of SIT led by Khatra as its basis, completely ignoring and downplaying the SIT he himself is heading. They said justice, not in Bargarhi but also in Behbal Kalan firing case eludes the people of Punjab as the top guilty copy SS Saini is still free to obstruct the course of justice.