Chandigarh, Nov 24 (ANI): Persistent efforts to disturb communal harmony in India has led the Sikh community to question the credentials of Pakistan Radio.

It is a known fact that its propagandist programmes do not enjoy much popularity among Sikhs living along the Indo-Pakistan border in Punjab.

Take for example one of its recent broadcasts, Pakistan Radio claimed that the Sikh leadership in India is not able to give the right direction to Sikhs, and instead, was joining hands with Hindus to promote their own personal interests after Operation Blue Star and the anti Sikh riots in 1984.

Pakistan Radios Punjabi Darbar exhortations, however, have had little or no impact on Sikhs.

Ignoring the fact that Punjab is known as the Granary of India, India has a Sikh Prime Minister in Dr. Manmohan Singh, and that many states have Sikh Governors, Pakistan Radios Punjabi Durbar continues to broadcast the view that Sikhs here receive a bad treatment from their leadership.

The broadcast that is aired from Lahore is primarily aimed at misleading people.

Coming down heavily on this hidden agenda, D S Cheema, Media Advisor to Punjab Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal, said, India is a sovereign and democratic country where politics is a part of a democratic system.

So such propaganda by Pakistan Radio makes no impact on the people of India as we have a Sikh as our Prime Minister. We all know our responsibilities. So, as the Sikh leadership and the people of Punjab, and it’s our internal matter, he added.

This sort of propaganda has been criticised by everyone.

Senior Congress leader of Punjab, Harchand Barsat, says: Pakistan never had sympathy with the Sikhs, and still they don’t have any consideration with Punjab and India.

He even challenged Pakistani Radio to disclose the name of those Sikh leaders who were not working for the welfare of their people.

Without identifying any issue, how they can blame anybody. What’s their purpose of blaming the Sikh leadership, Barsat questioned.

It seems that Pakistan keeps on propagating such malicious facts just to hide the turmoil in its own country.

This is not the first time that this programme has received such a harsh response from the Indian Sikh Community. In the past too it had tried to infuse hatred, but received hard-hitting replies.

Since Independence, Punjab has earned the epithet: “of Granary India” for its enterprising spirit, and the untiring toil of its people.

Its average growth rate of 10 per cent is amongst the highest in the country, clearly reflecting the progressive economy of the state. Punjab also boasts of a 58 per cent literacy rate and one of the highest per capita incomes in India.

Today, Punjab has become a land of boundless opportunities, offering distinct advantages for investment and industry.

Privileged by nature and having a dynamic people, Punjab is a land of rivers, fertile soils and steady achievement. With its inimitable style of transforming every potential opportunity into a success story, the state was the first to translate agricultural technology into the “Green Revolution”, recording the highest growth rate in food production.

From a minor producer, the state has emerged as a major rice surplus entity. Providing the impetus for the “White Revolution”, during Operation Flood, Punjab recorded the highest per capita availability of milk.

Keeping this in mind, we can very well conclude that since the State is enjoying robust development and inclusive growth it is hard to believe or imagine that Sikh community here faces grim menace.

In India, where modernity co-exists with ancient traditions and faiths, people are now aware of the propaganda that seeks to divide a people in the name of caste and religion. (ANI)

Manmohan Singh