BJP objects to Badal proposal for premature release of 13 convicts

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday objected to Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal's proposal for premature release of 13 convicts, saying no one should be given any leniency because of political suggestions or political interest

"The killers of Beant Singh and some Khalistani terrorists who are serving life imprisonment, I think, have gone through a due process of law and they have to complete their sentence that is awarded to them by the court of law and no one should really make appeals, no one should be given any leniency because of any political suggestions or political interest," BJP spokesperson G. V. L. Narasimha Rao.

However, Manjit Singh GK, the president of SAD's Delhi unit, backed Badal's proposal.

"(13 militants) who are languishing in jail for last more than 20 to 25 years. Not even a single-day of parole has been given to them. They have completed their stipulated time of life-imprisonment and I think it is a just demand," he said.

Badal has written letters to his counterparts in Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Karnataka, Rajasthan and Gujarat seeking premature release of 13 terrorists convicted in various cases, including former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh's assassin Jagtar Singh Tara.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Thai authorities, acting on a tip-off from the Punjab Police, arrested Tara from the house of a member of Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence (ISI).

Tara is accused of planning the suicide attack on Beant Singh in 1995 in Chandigarh, an act of terror that resulted in the death of 18 people.

According to reports, Tara was living in Thailand under a Pakistani passport.