KP body demands clarification from AAP on Maan's meeting with UK MP
Darpan News Desk IANS, 18 Apr, 2022 09:51 AM
New Delhi, April 18 (IANS) 'Roots in Kashmir', a body of Kashmiri Pandits, on Monday demanded clarification from the Aam Admi Party over Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's recent meeting with UK Labour Party MP Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi.
The organisation said that Maan should express regret over the recent meeting. Dhesi had met Mann along with newly-elected Rajya Sabha member and AAP leader Raghav Chadha on Sunday.
"Tanmanjeet Dhesi's views on Khalistan are there in public domain. He also believes that Kashmir is a disputed territory and India had no right to abrogate Article 370," Amit Raina, spokesperson of 'Roots in Kashmir', said.
Speaking to IANS, Raina said that Dhesi has been quite vocal on conducting plebiscite in Jammu and Kashmir, a line very similar to the one taken by 'his benefactors' in Pakistan.
"His stand on Kashmir is a direct attack on the integrity and sovereignty of this nation and should not be acceptable to any Indian, irrespective political ideology," he said.
Raina added that is is very disturbing to see the Chief Minister of an Indian state entertaining a well-known supporter of Pakistan on the issues of Kashmir and Khalistan.
The Kashmiri Pandit's body alleged that Dhesi attended several anti-India conferences on Kashmir, including last year's 'Kashmir Solidarity Conference' organized by the Tehreek-e-Kashmir, United Kingdom.
The organisation also demanded that the government of India should revoke Dhesi's OCI card and deport him immediately.
Earlier, Dhesi sent a letter, signed by over 100 British MPs and Lords, to Prime Minister Boris Johnson on the ongoing farmers' protests, asking him to raise this matter with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi when they next liaise.
The Chief Minister told the media here that for more than a year since the Central government had brought three agriculture laws for the benefit of farmers, especially small and marginal ones, unfortunately, some farmer unions had been protesting on the Delhi borders.
While the Centre's announcement to repeal three farm laws is seen as a political decision with eye on forthcoming assembly polls in five states, the BJP claims that it has nothing to do with elections as the party has won many states after laws were passed by the Parliament.
On January 12 this year, the Supreme Court had stayed the implementation of the three farm laws after scores of farmers from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh pitched their tents on various Delhi borders in protest against the three laws.
A nine-member committee of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), the consortium of protesting farmers' bodies, will be meeting on Saturday, and it is likely to put forth four main demands. The meeting will also decide whether the SKM will go ahead with the originally announced 'March Towards Delhi' programme on November 26.
Congress legislator and Punjab unit party president Navjot Singh Sidhu on Friday said the minimum support price (MSP) is the bigger issue than farm laws as it is the lifeline of farmers.
