Chandigarh:
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal is expected to make a statement in the state Assembly today on the clemency demand for Balwant Singh Rajoana, who is facing death sentence for the assassination of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh.
Beant Singh, who was largely credited with wiping out terrorism from Punjab, was assassinated by a human bomb, Dilawar Singh, at the high security Punjab civil secretariat in Chandigarh on August 31, 1995. The mastermind of the assassination was Jagtar Singh Hawara. Rajoana was meant to be used as the second human bomb in case the first assassin failed to kill Beant Singh. Both Rajoana and Hawara were awarded death sentence by a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) special court in Chandigarh in July 2007. In October 2010, the Punjab and Haryana High Court upheld the death sentence for Rajoana but changed the capital punishment given to Hawara to life imprisonment. Rajoana has refused to challenge the death sentence awarded to him. He is scheduled to be hanged in Patiala central jail on March 31.
On Sunday, the Chief Minister called for an emergency core committee meeting of his party, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), to discuss the issue. The meeting was called after the Akal Takht, the highest Sikh temporal body, directed the Chief Minister to "immediately" meet President Pratibha Patil and take appropriate steps to secure the "unconditional release" of Rajoana. "My government has been taking advice from legal experts. All possible legal steps will be initiated pertaining to Rajoana's case," Mr Badal told reporters in Chandigarh on Saturday.
At the emergency meeting chaired by party president and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, party members expressed satisfaction with the decision of the state government not to implement the March 31 execution order issued by a Chandigarh court recently.
"The core committee fully endorsed the steps taken by the Punjab government in this regard so far. The core committee took note of the fact that the warrants of execution against Bhai Rajoana had been returned since it was legally not possible to execute them," SAD spokesman said after the meeting.
"The party is prepared to go to any extent to secure clemency for Bhai Rajoana so that the hard earned atmosphere of peace and communal harmony in the state is not disturbed," he added.
Fearing law and order problems in the state over the controversy over the hanging of Rajoana, the Punjab government has sought six companies of paramilitary forces from the Centre as a precautionary measure.
Beant Singh's family members said on Sunday they favour clemency for Rajoana "to maintain peace and to end the vicious cycle of bitterness."
"It is my personal opinion that Rajoana should be pardoned on humanitarian grounds. It will be a very good thing," said Gurkanwal Kaur, a former minister and daughter of Beant Singh.
(With inputs from agencies)