Support to Sadda Haq a mistake,will never push for any film release: SGPC

“Agge ton main taan kise nu nere nahi aun dena (I will not let anyone come near me in future),” a perturbed Makkar told The Indian Express,adding that the SGPC made a “mistake” by extending support to the makers of Sadda Haq for getting certification from the Censor Board.

“Maintaining law and order is the responsibility of the government. There are movies which are cleared by the Censor Board but banned later if there is something in them that is thought to be a threat to law and order. The SGPC had taken up the matter with the Censor Board,but it is the state government which has to finally take a call on the issue,taking into account the communal harmony of Punjab. Despite the SGPC taking up the issue with the Censor Board,the makers of Sadda Haq are now targeting us. We would never intervene in any such issue in future,” he added.

Sidhu countered,“When you backtrack from your stance,do you expect us to offer you sweets? Makkar should resign from the post of SGPC chief,if he is not capable of defending his decision.”

The SGPC has in the past intervened in such matters,mostly to get ‘objectionable’ scenes removed from any movie that may hurt the feelings of the Sikhs.

Producers claim effort to check creativity

Amritsar: Terming the ban on film Sadda Haq as “unjustified”,two Punjabi film producers Monday said it was an effort to check the creativity of film makers. After the Censor Board granted its approval,the state had no right to ban it,Paramjit Singh Kalkat and Jarnail Singh,partners in Kalkat Production House,said. The move of SGPC chief Avtar Singh Makkar to support the movie and write to censor board regarding it is the biggest proof that it does not have anything objectionable,they claimed.

Gill wants makers arrested for making heroes out of terrorists

Former Punjab DGP,KPS Gill,largely credited with ending the militancy in the state,Monday slammed the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) for supporting the controversial film Sadda Haq,saying there should be a law in the country to declare “appreciating” terrorism as illegal.

The SGPC has now withdrawn its support to the film which highlights police excesses during the militancy era and now stands banned in Punjab,Haryana,Jammu & Kashmir,Chandigarh and Delhi.

“It is a shame how SGPC supported the film get past the censor board. How one can compare (terrorists) Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and Balwant Singh Rajoana with Guru Gobind Singhji?,” asked Gill.

“Such films which eulogize terrorism should be declared anti-national. In fact,those people who made it,should be arrested immediately,” he said,while delivering a lecture on terrorism in Punjab during a programme organised by the history department of Panjab University at the ICCSR complex here.

“During the Second World War,60 lakh Jews were killed in what is today known as Holocaust. It was later declared illegal to appreciate the Holocaust in any way. It is an offence in Europe to wear symbol that represent Nazism,” he added.

Asked about the construction of the Blue Star Memorial on the Golden Temple premises,Gill said that no such things should be glorified,which were or are related to terrorism in the state. “I know people put up posters of Bhindranwale on their cars and wear T-shirts with his photograph. There is a section of people who feel proud of what the terrorists were doing in Punjab,” Gill said,while adding that Centre provided little help and it was the state government that helped eliminate terrorism.

Elaborating,he said that Pakistan had supplied AK-47 machine gun to terrorists in Punjab. “To fight against this deadly weapon,I went to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs asking them to provide the police with better weapons. But there was a huge reluctance on part of the MHA in dealing with the issue,” Gill said.

The former top cop said that initially Punjab Police gave its personnel the AK-47s recovered from the terrorists. “Finally,we got self loading weapons and later the AK-47. It is not the government of India,which ended terrorism in Punjab. It was the state government which did it,” he added.

Gill said that the Punjab police conducted two studies during the militancy era and found that “75 per cent of the terrorists came from less than 200 villages located in the border areas.”