SAD to hold dharnas at border on drug menace, Cong pooh poohs

BJP ally SAD today announced that it will organise protests on the international border on January 5 to "pressurise the BSF" to stop entry of drugs from "Pakistan side," even as the state Congress alleged that the Akalis were trying to shift the blame to the Centre.
Shiromani Akali Dal will hold dharnas at four places, and it will precede an anti-drug campign, which the BJP President Amit Shah is set to begin on January 12 next year.
Punjab's Deputy Chief Minister and SAD President Sukhbir Singh Badal today said through the dharnas they will "pressurise the Border Security Force (BSF) to stop drugs from entering Punjab territory from Pakistan."

Badal said the dharnas would be held at Attari international border, Sadki Check Post at Fazilka, Hussainiwala international border and the Gurdaspur international border.
"Punjab and the nation are suffering from the ill effects of narco terrorism due to continuous smuggling of narcotics from Pakistan into Punjab through the international border.
The border is guarded by the BSF which is a central agency over which we do not have any control. This smuggling must stop and the border with Pakistan must be completely sealed. Then only can we fight a national war against drugs", the SAD President said in a statement here.

With both SAD and BJP deciding to hold dharnas and launch campaign on drug issue, which has emerged as a hot political issue in Punjab in recent times, the Congress took a dig at both the parties, with former chief minister and party's deputy leader in Lok Sabha Amarinder Singh saying "people who are in power and in a position to act do not look good holding dharnas and if they can't act, they should better quit".

He said that all dharnas would be held in a peaceful manner.
"The Punjabis felt it was necessary to congregate at the border as they were being branded as drug addicts despite waging the nation's fight against drugs," he said, adding, the state had been taking steps to curb the drug menace that included arresting more than 25,000 persons on various charges.

The SAD president claimed that the drug issue was in the limelight today "because the Punjab government decided to wage a war against drugs".
"It is because of us that the fight against drugs is entering a decisive phase in India", he added.
The SAD president said that he will address the protest dharna at Attari. Dharnas at all four places will be held from 12 to 2 pm.