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Monday, Dec 24, 2007
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Mann demands separate courts for minorities

Special Correspondent

Shiromani Akali Dal chief Simranjit Singh Mann

CHANDIGARH: The President of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar), Simranjit Singh Mann has demanded the setting up of separate courts for the minorities, amendment in the Article 25 that denies the Sikhs their identity and the notification of the Anand Marriage Act of 1909. He has appealed to Sikhs raise thier voice against injustice being meted to them, for which he took the community’s leadership to task.

Mann was addressing a press conference here on Saturday where he expressed concerns about the far reaching implications of the recent judgment by the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which set aside a previous notification of the Punjab Government to decree that Sikhs were not a minority in Punjab.

He said that the court’s order, which disposed off a case regarding a reservation to Sikhs in educational institutions run by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), was against the provisions of the Constitution that guarantee freedom of religion.

Arguing that the decision had unnerved the Sikh community, which according to him would lose its status in the National Minorities Commission, Mr. Mann said that certain ground realities seemed to have been ignored. He said that minority status for a community was based on national population and not computed state wise.

He pointed out that Sikhs were just two percent in India’s 100 crore population.

He demanded an immediate termination of another “humiliation” of the Sikhs, who were forced to declare themselves as Hindus, while getting their marriages registered. He said that the Anand Marriage Act of 1909 be made operational without any delay to allow the Sikhs to be liberated from the provisions of the Hindu Code Bill.

However, he vent his ire on the Punjab Chief Minister, Parkash Singh Badal, President of the SGPC, Avtar Singh Makkar and the Punjab’s Advocate General, H.S. Mattewal, for what he described as their failure to defend the interests of the community on such a vital legal matter.

He said that Mr. Badal and Mr. Makkar, who had not spoken on the issue, owed an explanation to the entire Sikh Panth, about the achievements so far, of associating with the BJP, which through its well thought out plan was implementing its Hindutava agenda.

Demanding that his license to practice be revoked, Mr. Mann said that as Advocate General of the State, Mr. Mattewal had not won a single case for the State.

He said that Mr. Mattewal was a disaster while handling the river waters dispute before the Supreme Court.

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