Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president Capt Amarinder Singh today asked the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to spell out whether India was at war with Pakistan. "Are we really at war with Pakistan?" Capt Amarinder asked Mr Modi while referring to the forcible eviction and displacement of villagers from the border areas.Addressing a series of meetings in villages Kals, Khalra, Chhinna Bidi Chand, Havellian and Naushera Dhalla in Khem Karan and Tarn Taran area along the international border here today, Capt Amarinder pointed out, on one hand the Prime Minister was emphasising the need for de-escalation, on the other hand the poor villagers were being forcibly evicted. "Please clarify your stand", he asked Mr Modi.He said, he and his party had strongly supported the surgical strikes and in case there was further need they will again support it. "But we will certainly not support any move that is obviously aimed at the attempts to reap political dividends at the cost of people's lives and well being", he clarified. Besides, he added, even during Congress regime surgical strikes were carried out across the LoC but nobody tried to take political mileage out of it.
In his interactions with the people, he was told by the border residents that they did not want to leave. They said, their crops had ripened and were ready for harvesting and it will be disastrous for them to leave their villages at this stage and that too when they did not feel any need to leave.Capt Amarinder appealed to the villagers to stay put in their homes and carry on with their harvesting. He said, he will also be camping along with them from October 10. He told them that the Prime Minister Modi and his BJP were deliberately trying to create war hysteria with an eye on the elections in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab. He said, unfortunately Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal was blindly following Modi's and BJP's diktats without bothering how much harassment and difficulties it has caused to the people, particularly the farmers whose crop was ready for harvesting.
The former Chief Minister pointed out there was no troop movement anywhere whether on this side or across the border. Besides, he added, the armies of both the countries were in respective peace zones. "The only reason for uprooting you is to create war hysteria so that the BJP gets some advantage in UP elections", he told the villagers at Chhinna Bidhi Chand near the international border.Capt Amarinder stopped at several places in between the villages to talk to people and several farmers who were working in their fields. Everywhere the villagers told him that they were being unnecessarily harassed by the government to move out. He assured them that there was no need to evacuate and they were right in staying back.Capt Amarinder was accompanied by senior leaders including Gurchet Singh Bhullar, Dr Dharamvir Agnihotri, Sukhpal Bhullar, Harminder Gill and others.