Chandigarh, Feb 15 (IANS) Expressing solidarity with farmers, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Thursday demanded the lifting of the "social, economic and political blockade of Punjab" and the restoration of the fundamental rights and democratic freedom of the farmers and other Punjabis.
"The ongoing blockade is destroying the social and economic fabric of the already beleaguered state," said party’s senior Vice-President Daljit Singh Cheema while talking to media here.
The party demanded that all commitments made to the farmers by the Centre as well the Bhagwant Mann government in the past be fulfilled without any further delay.
"The Punjab CM had promised that he would implement the MSP within five minutes of forming the government. He had also promised full compensation for the losses suffered by farmers as well as for allied professions like poultry, dairy, etc," Cheema said. The SAD also held Punjab Chief Minister Mann of "colluding with the governments of Haryana and the Centre in a deep-rooted conspiracy to wreak vengeance and inflict repression against the innocent and peacefully protesting farmers".
He said the party condemned the repression on farmers, including the use of bullets of different varieties.
The Akali leader said: "Chief Minister Mann must explain why he has not booked the guilty Haryana officers so far for invading Punjab territory to attack the peaceful farmers demanding nothing more than the fulfillment of the promises made to them, and that too on Punjab soil?
"Why has he not so far dismissed the Punjab officers who collaborated with their Haryana counterparts against the farmers? This clearly showed that the orders for allowing the Haryana Police to attack farmers on Punjab soil came directly from the Punjab Chief Minister himself," he added.
