Sikhs take execution protest to Canberra
From:AAP
March 28, 2012 12:42PM
HUNDREDS of Sikhs have gathered in front of Parliament House in Canberra
to oppose the planned execution of Balwant Singh Rajoana.
Rajoana was sentenced to death for his involvement in a 1995 bombing in
the Indian state of Punjab, which killed chief Minister Beant Singh and several
others.
He is scheduled to be hanged at Patiala Central Jail on Saturday at 9am
local time. It will be the first execution in India in nearly eight years.
Wearing orange turbans, hundreds of mostly men rallied outside Parliament House this morning after presenting Prime Minister Julia Gillard's office with a letter opposing the execution.
The protesters came from other capital cities including Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne.
Ranjit Singh, president of the Brisbane Sikh Temple, said Mr Rajoana was revered among followers of Sikhism for his role in the murder of Beant Singh.
Wearing orange turbans, hundreds of mostly men rallied outside Parliament House this morning after presenting Prime Minister Julia Gillard's office with a letter opposing the execution.
The protesters came from other capital cities including Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne.
Ranjit Singh, president of the Brisbane Sikh Temple, said Mr Rajoana was revered among followers of Sikhism for his role in the murder of Beant Singh.
He said the chief minister had betrayed the Sikh
community in the early 1990s by givin police sweeping powers.
"There was systematic torture and killing of so many thousands of
male Sikhs," Ranjit Singh told AAP, adding that after
the assassination the killings stopped for some time.
The protesters also took their cause to the nearby Indian High Commission.
Other rallies have been held around the world.
The protesters also took their cause to the nearby Indian High Commission.
Other rallies have been held around the world.
