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Saturday, Dec 10, 2005

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Patil: Punjab not a disturbed area

Special Correspondent

Home Minister urges members to verify facts before raising issues

NEW DELHI: Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil on Friday clarified in the Lok Sabha that no area in Punjab was currently declared a "Disturbed Area."

He was responding to a calling attention motion on the situation arising out of the continued treatment of Punjab as a "Disturbed Area" despite peace prevailing in the State.

He said the last notification declaring the whole of Punjab a "Disturbed Area" under the Punjab Disturbed Areas Act, 1983, expired on May 17, 1997. "Thereafter, no notification has been issued by the Government of Punjab declaring either the whole of the State or certain areas a Disturbed Area." The Act, he explained, had been enacted to deal with militancy.

Sidhu contests claim

However, the Minister's statement was contested by Bharatiya Janata Party member Navjot Singh Sidhu, who had moved the motion.

In characteristic style, he began by saying "skimmed milk was masquerading as cream" to underline that things were not what the Minister made them out to be. And, to buttress his point, Mr. Sidhu quoted a statement of Chief Minister expressing dismay at the continued treatment of the State as a "Disturbed Area." "If what you are saying is true, then why does a tourist have to get special permission from the External Affairs Ministry to visit Punjab?"

In response, Mr. Patil reiterated what he had read out from his written statement and said there was no restriction on foreigners travelling to Punjab.

Since at the outset Speaker Somnath Chatterjee said that the matter should not have been admitted in the first place, the Minister urged members to verify facts before raising issues in the House; as otherwise it could create misunderstandings among the people.

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