Soon after the death of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani in July 2016, the so called liberals came up with a very ‘interesting’ response.
We reported how politicians and media persons started to spin his death by questioning whether he was ‘hyped up’ as a terrorist. Even journalist Barkha Dutt joined in by coming up with her now infamous, “Son of school headmaster” tweet while referring to Wani.
Now it seems that, apart from the eminent liberals, he seems to have found ‘acceptance’ with radical Sikh groups who have made him a part of their magazine cover.
As reported, Burhan Wani has been adopted by Sikh radical groups, with a pro-Khalistan magazine named “Vangaar” hailing him as a Hero of Freedom of Kashmir on its cover. This issue came to light on Monday when the magazine was being sold at the Shaheedi Jor Mela in Fatehgarh Sahib.
This is the cover picture in question:
As seen above, the cover contains a picture of Burhan Wani and posters containing separatist slogans like, “India out of Khalistan”, “Kashmir is not a part of India” and also contained an image of youths pelting stones.
The magazine issue came out back in August, 2016 soon after Wani’s death but it was seen getting sold at the Jor Mela, even 1.5 years after its release.
This Mela is an annual affair held to commemorate the martyrdom of Guru Gobind Singh’s young sons named Sahibzada Baba Zorawar Singh and Sahibzada Baba Fateh Singh.
The magazine was specifically being sold at the stall manned by supporters of SAD (Amritsar), which also contained other radical material like books, car stickers, badges of Khalistani militants like Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale.
The issue contains two articles on Burhan Wani written by Baljeet Singh Khalsa, a pro Khalistani writer and Gajinder Singh who is part of Dal Khalsa and is based out of Pakistan.
Apart from focusing on Burhan Wani the magazine also contained a ‘message of freedom’ by Jagtar Singh Hawara who was convicted for the assassination of former Punjab CM Beant Singh.
The seller of such radical material, when questioned, decided to brazen it out by asking what is wrong with magazines, books and even claimed that the police didn’t object to it.
We had recently reported how radical elements have started to make a bit of noise in Punjab.
These radical voices prominently found mention during AAP’s campaign leading up to the Punjab assembly elections. Back then we had carried a report about pro-Khalistani outfits infiltrating the party. There was also speculation about Gurmehar Kaur receiving support from certain fringe Sikh elements during her free speech episode.