Condemning the killing of a Dera leader in Vienna, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today appealed for calm and asked people not to be provoked by elements spreading unrest.
Describing the killing of Dera leader Sant Rama Nand as most painful and unfortunate, Badal told reporters that the incident was the handiwork of those who were always on the look out for one excuse or another to create unrest and disturbance in Punjab.
He appealed to all Punjabis to maintain peace and harmony which had been achieved through great efforts and called for total restraint.
Asking Punjabis not to be provoked by the activities of certain elements bent upon setting the state on fire, he urged all political parties to join hands to maintain peace and order in the state and not try to gain any political mileage out of this unsavoury incident.
Meanwhile, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has called an all party meeting in Chandigarh tomorrow in view of the violence sparked by the killing of a Dera leader and appealed to the people to help maintain peace and communal harmony in the state.
"The Chief Minister has called for an all party meeting for peace at 11 am tomorrow and has appealed to the people to help maintain peace and communal harmony...The Punjab government is in regular touch with the Ministry of External Affairs and we are awaiting formal update on the Vienna incident from them," Badal's media advisor Harcharan Bains told a press conference here.
He also said that ruling Shiromani Akali Dal has today called for a one-day peaceful bandh in commercial establishments in Punjab "to express sympathy and solidarity with the victims of Vienna incident".
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"Punjab's Deputy Chief Minister and SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal has proceeded to Delhi and is in regular touch with the MEA," Bains said, adding the Union Government had taken up the Vienna incident matter with their Austrian counterparts.
"The Punjab government condemns the Vienna incident in the strongest possible terms...As a mark of sympathy and solidarity," he said.