Shiromani Akali Dal, Amarinder compete for militants' vote

NEW DELHI: The plea for saving Khalistan militant leader Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar from the gallows gained momentum on Sunday after former Punjab chief minister and Congress leader Amarinder Singh favoured commuting his sentence to life imprisonment and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) sought the Prime Minister's intervention in showing mercy.

"I feel killing a man is not going to solve the problem. By killing a man you can't solve the problem," Singh, who is also president of Punjab Congress, told reporters here. President Pratibha Patil had on May 26 rejected Bhullar's mercy petition, clearing the decks for his execution.

Singh said Bhullar could stay in jail forever. However, he refrained from commenting on other cases on death row as they were 'sub-judice'. Expressing his disapproval of capital punishment, Singh said he was not aware about SAD seeking the Prime Minister's intervention in Bhullar's case.

The SAD has asked the Prime Minister to intervene on humanitarian grounds, saying it was an emotive issue for the Sikh community. SAD sought "direct and immediate intervention of the prime minister to save the life of Bhullar on grounds of humanitarianism and civilized concern and above all national interest."

It said the prime minister should personally see that the highest norms of jurisprudence, legal precedents and issues of statesmanship are kept firmly in view and a sympathetic view taken. The party said it will ensure that the "atmosphere of acrimony, suspicion and estrangement between Sikhs and the Centre is not vitiated any further." Meanwhile, BJP which had raked up the demand for rejecting the mercy petition of Parliament attack accused Afzal Guru after the President's nod for Bhullar's execution, evaded a direct response on the demand of its ally, SAD, to save the Sikh militant from death sentence.