Don’t interfere with religion, Akali Govt told

CHANDIGARH, Jan 27: Punjab's human right organisations have asked the Akali Government to refrain from "assuming the sole managing r...

CHANDIGARH, Jan 27: Punjab’s human right organisations have asked the Akali Government to refrain from "assuming the sole managing role" in the tri-centenary celebrations of the Khalsa. Asking the Government not to meddle with religion, two human rights organisations have stated that in a multi-ethnic and multi-religious country, the State should maintain a strict distance from all religious functions.

The organisations, Movement Against State Repression (MASR) and Punjab Human Rights Organisation (PHRO) have stated that the Punjab government should not have requested the Union Government for Rs 100 crore to celebrate the occasion.

In a joint statement released here on Monday, Ajit Singh Bains, President, PHRO, Inderjit Singh Jaijee and Baljit Kaur, convenor and co-convenor of MASR respectively have stated that it is an issue of adopting the same policy for all religious groups. Raising questions on whether similar amounts of money would be sanctioned to all religious groups for events central to theirfaith, they have asked the government to restrict official government participation in the event. They have also stated that the Khalsa Panth Tri-centenary celebrations should be under the auspices of the Akal Takht with the participation of all Sikh institutions and the sangat (Community).