Badal urges Rajnath to free Khalistani Prisoners

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal Thursday urged Home Minister Rajnath Singh to release some Khalistani prisoners who he said were aged and even blind. Badal told reporters after meeting the home minister that he sought their release on humanitarian grounds.

“There are many prisoners who have served their sentence… There are people who are 80-90 years old. Some of them are blind. They have been in jail for 25-30 years,” Badal said.

“On humanitarian grounds we are asking for their release,” he said. He emphasised that the demand did not make the Akali Dal “anti-national”. “Akali Dal has always fought for the nation, I am surprised how we are being branded anti-national,” he said.

Badal said Rajanth Singh had promised to go through the list of prisoners submitted by him. Badal refused to share the list with the media.

Meanwhile, BJP President Amit Shah has rejected Badal’s demand, saying “the BJP doesn’t agree with the demand of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) to release 13 Khalistani terrorists serving life sentence in five states”. (IANS)