Akali Dal to take up issue of release of Sikh prisoners with Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley

SRI ANANDPUR SAHIB: Senior Akali leaders will soon meet Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to take up the issue of release of Sikh prisoners languishing in various jails across the country, even after completing their prison term.

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a function here today, said that a delegation of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leaders would vehemently plead the case of these Sikh prisoners before the Union government for securing their release.

"I have already taken up this matter with the respective state governments and the Centre for release of these prisoners," he said, adding that the final call on this issue was to come from the Union government.

When asked about the reports of rejection of these cases by the Centre, he said the state government has not yet received any communication on this matter from the Centre.

A fortnight ago, Badal had sought "premature release" of 13 life convicts, five of them are jailed in the assassination case of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh and one in bomb blast in New Delhi in September 1993, in which nine persons were killed and 25 others, including the then Youth Congress President M S Bitta, were injured.

Badal wrote separate letters to his counterparts in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Karnataka, Gujarat and administrators of Delhi and Chandigarh Union Territory seeking premature release of 13 life convicts hailing from Punjab, presently lodged under TADA Act in the jails of various states across the country for the past several years.

Badal has sought "their prompt release on humanitarian grounds."