Remove impression of India being a soft nation,says Badal

Badal also demanded a review of the negative lists relating to Punjabi immigrants and emigrants and to remove the names of those persons from the lists against whom there was no incriminating material. Noting that the names in these lists should be put on the official websites of Ministry of Indian Overseas Affairs,External Affairs and Home Ministry for information of NRIs,Badal asked the Centre to learn lessons from its poor policies in dealing with militancy and ensure such mistakes were not repeated.

Badal also demanded a “comprehensive economic package” for Punjab,especially for border areas,to curb the conditions that bred Naxalism and militancy. Asking the Centre to grant Rs 100 crore annually for modernisation of police force in Punjab,he said: “Punjab faces the greatest impact of any threat to security as it has a long and active international border with Pakistan and also borders J&K. We have to face cross-border terrorism, trans-border smuggling of weapons,drugs and fake Indian currency.”

In the meeting chaired by PM Dr Manmohan Singh,Badal said the main causes of militancy in Punjab were injustice and discrimination in religious,political and economic matters.

Noting that Punjab was the only state where the capital was denied to the parent state after reorganisation,he said Army action at the Golden Temple and massacre of thousands of Sikhs in 1984 took militancy to its peak.  Interference in religious affairs,attempts to capture,weaken and bifurcate the SGPC also caused militancy in Punjab,he added.