Akali Dal manifesto promises panel to probe Sikh massacre

The Akali Dal on Monday released its manifesto promising to set up a commission of inquiry for the first time to unearth the “political motives” behind the massacre of innocent Sikhs in 1984. SAD President and deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal said cases of the 1984 pogrom that have been closed will be reopened for trial.

The manifesto also promises to set up fast track courts to try cases to ensure justice for the victims of the 1984 massacre. SAD President and deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal announced to set up a commission of inquiry under a Supreme Court Judge to ‘inquire into the entire political conspiracy behind the massacre and expose and punish the real conspirators’.

“No one will be spared,” Badal said, adding that the ‘scope of the commission will also cover the entire sequence of events to bring to book those who shielded the guilty after the conspiracy of mass murders had been meticulously executed’.

Badal said there will be four-dimensional approach to ensure speedy justice in these cases. These fast track courts will try on-going cases. Cases that have been closed will be re-opened and challans presented. Complaints on which no action has been taken will be reactivated, he said.

The manifesto promises an economic package for Punjab with 100 per cent waiver of central excise and income tax for the expansion of the old industrial units in the state, besides agricultural loans at cheaper rates of interest and crop insurance.