Punjab may not have forgiven its militants, but the State seems to have forgotten all about dark-side of militancy. One of the worst victims of terrorism in the country, it forgot all about observing the Anti-Terrorism Day on Tuesday.
For the same, the Punjab Government has come under fire from a Union Minister for allegedly failing to observe the Day on the occasion of the death anniversary of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
“The Centre and the Union Home Ministry had written to the chief secretaries of all States to observe May 21 as Anti-Terrorism Day….But, the Punjab Government did not bother to create awareness among the people against terrorism,” alleged Union Minister of State for External Affairs and Patiala MP Preneet Kaur.
She said that the objective behind the occasion was to wean away youth from terrorism and the cult of violence by highlighting the suffering which it had caused among common people.
Meanwhile, a Government source said that officials had been busy with the counting of votes following the Zila Parishad and Panchayat Samities elections, held on May 19.
Available information suggests that the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP coalition Government in the state had observed Anti-Terrorism Day the previous year.
Rajiv Gandhi was killed in a suicide bombing on May 21, 1991, at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu where he had gone for campaigning. And from the very next year, the Centre started observing his death anniversary as the Anti-Terrorism Day.