Bathinda: Amid the controversy surrounding the removal of the film Satluj from an OTT platform, former Punjab finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal has recalled raising the issue of human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra’s disappearance in the Punjab Assembly in September 1995, barely 13 days after Khalra went missing.Manpreet, who had recently entered the Assembly after winning the Gidderbaha byelection, said the matter was among the first issues he raised as an MLA.“I raised the issue of abduction and mysterious disappearance of Khalra during zero hour in the Punjab Assembly on Sept 19, 1995. It was my first assembly session as the newly elected MLA from Gidderbaha. Today after the release of the film Satluj, this tragic chapter has once again become subject of public discussion in Punjab. Remember those who stood courageously for truth and justice remain as important as ever,” he said.Recalling his intervention in the House, Manpreet said he had said Jaswant Singh Khalra was allegedly abducted on Sept 6, 1995, between 9 am and 10 am in Amritsar and taken away in a car bearing registration number DNB 5969.“A police Gypsy was parked around 150-200 yards from which some watch was allegedly made on the disappearance. Thereafter a delegation of our party (Shiromani Akali Dal) had met the chief minister, governor and the DGP but no whereabouts could be known. I want to take assurance from the CM,” Manpreet had told the House.According to Manpreet, then Punjab assembly speaker Harnam Dass Johar intervened and remarked: “The matter is sub-judice, please sit down.”
