Bhullar's hanging: SAD delegation to meet PM

Chandigarh: A delegation of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) will soon meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to get the hanging of Khalistani terrorist Devinderpal Singh Bhullar stalled. A resolution to this effect was passed at the SAD’s core committee meeting in Bathinda today, Harcharan Bains, advisor on national affairs to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, said. A SAD delegation, led by the chief minister and his deputy Sukhbir Badal, will meet Manmohan Singh and Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde to get Bhullar’s hanging stalled, Bains said.[caption id=“attachment_698093” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Devinderpal Singh Bhullar. PTI[/caption] The delegation will urge them “to operationalise the post-judicial mechanism of statesmanship in order to avoid even at this stage any steps that may pose a threat to peace and communal harmony in the country in general and Punjab in particular,” he said. They would also request the President Pranab Mukherjee in this regard, Bains said. The SAD’s core committee said the rejection by the apex court of Bhullar’s petition for commuting his death sentence was “deeply painful, unfortunate and worrying”. The Supreme Court had on Friday dismissed Khalistan Liberation Force terrorist’s plea for commutation of his death sentence to life imprisonment on ground of delay in deciding his mercy petition. PTI