iraq crisis: fate of several punjabis hangs in balance - Govt has done little for those stuck: Capt
Thursday, 26/06/2014
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2014/20140626/punjab.htm#1
Amritsar : Former Chief Minister and Amritsar MP Capt Amarinder Singh today lashed out at the Union and state governments for “failing to do enough for the safe release and return” of scores of Punjabi youths stranded in strife-torn Iraq.
Talking to mediapersons during his three-day “thanksgiving tour” of the constituency after winning the Lok Sabha elections, Amarinder said: “While other countries swung into action to evacuate their citizens immediately, the Government of India failed to do anything. People have managed to return home because of their own efforts.”
He said the government did not seem to have any strategy to rescue abducted Punjabi youths in Iraq, adding that it was merely giving assurances to the affected families.
“They don’t even have the exact number and location of those stranded in Iraq.”
He criticised Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal for his “failure to rise to the occasion”. “The least the state government could have done was to bear the travel expenses of those stranded in Iraq. Instead what Badal did was to offer to reimburse the expenses incurred on telephone calls by relatives,” he pointed out while terming it as a “cruel joke”.
The former Chief Minister came down heavily on the state government for “treating drug addicts as criminals”. He said while the drive against drug addiction was welcome, the government was going soft on real culprits.
“While you are jailing and imprisoning addicts who are victims of misfortune, the main culprits — drug peddlers and suppliers — remain untouched,” he said. The war against drugs must reach its logical conclusion and real culprits must be brought to book, he asserted.
Amarinder said the Modi government had not lived up to the expectations it had raised among people. He pointed out that the government was just a month old and people had already got the taste of its bitter medicine in the form of rail fare hike, and increase in sugar and gas prices.
Addressing a series of public meetings at Attari, Ajnala, Amritsar Central and Amritsar North, Amarinder said the initial decisions of the Modi government only showed lack of sensitivity towards public.
He pointed out that the hike in the rail fares was not just exorbitant but unprecedented and unacceptable that will badly hit the common man.
Amarinder expressed his gratitude towards the people of the city for enabling him to reach to Parliament against all odds. “I understand how difficult it was for you to confront the government pressure and despite that you ensured that I won by a huge margin of over one lakh votes,” he told a crowd in Amritsar Central constituency.
He later inaugurated his MP office on the Court road. Prominent among those present included Rana Gurjeet Singh, Sukh Sarkaria, OP Soni, Dr Raj Kumar, Harpartap Ajnala, Jugal Kishore Sharma, Raja Malwinder Singh and TS Shergill.
Effort missing
While other countries swung into action to evacuate their citizens immediately, the Government of India failed to do anything. People have managed to return home because of their own efforts... The government does not even have the exact number and location of Punjabi youths stranded in Iraq.
