Two days after ‘Satluj’, the Diljit Dosanjh-starrer based on the life of human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra, was removed from ZEE5, Congress MP from Patiala Dharamvira Gandhi described the move as “unfortunate”, saying the issue transcended day-to-day politics and concerned human rights.

Gandhi said Punjab witnessed one of its darkest periods from the late 1970s to the early 1990s.

“The state's mandate was to protect human rights, but it did the opposite. Thousands of youngsters were picked up from their homes and other places. They were tortured, killed in fake encounters and later cremated as unidentified persons,” he said.

He added that Khalra sought to document such deaths by visiting cremation grounds, particularly in the Majha region, where militancy was at its peak.

“Khalra maintained records and exposed the Punjab Police's brutality and widespread human rights violations in thousands of cases involving unidentified bodies,” Gandhi claimed.

He said the state had no right to kill its own citizens.

“Staging fake police encounters and then secretly cremating the victims as unidentified persons was a gross violation of human rights,” he said.

Referring to Khalra's demise, Gandhi said: “What happened to Khalra, who was himself abducted and killed in a similar manner, remains another dark chapter in Punjab's history and a blot on the record of the then state government and the Punjab Police.”

Gandhi said: “Let us not cover the wound. Let it remain open so everyone can see the roles played by the state, terrorists, the police and various agencies. Let people understand who pushed the state into such a situation, why it happened and how much Punjab suffered. Khalra had a story to tell, but unfortunately that story is not being allowed to reach people.”