DW BUREAU / CHANDIGARH Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) President Sukhbir Singh Badal today cautioned chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh. Aagainst indiscriminate use of Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) by the State police under DGP Dinkar Gupta who is known for his anti-Sikh stances. He said clear cut directions should be given to the State police chief not to register cases against Sikh youth under UAPA for minor offences. In a statement here, the SAD President said there were increasing cases of Sikh youth being arrested and jailed for minor misdemeanours under UAPA. "It is clear that the State police is misusing UAPA which needs to be stopped immediately. It still seems the DGP is under the misapprehension that indoctrination turns youth into terrorists during a one day visit to Kartarpur Sahib as stated earlier by him. Capt Amarinder Singh needs to give clear cut directions to the State DGP that no Sikh youth should be picked up simply for seeing or forwarding some matter on the social media. He said draconian charges were being slapped on the youth and they were being dubbed as anti-nationalists. "Arresting such youth and putting them in jail amounts to human rights violations." Sukhbir Badal said targeting Sikh youth in this manner would not only scar them for life but would also have far reaching consequences including the propensity to spoil peace and harmony in the State. "We should be mindful of taking any step which can take Punjab back to the dark era." He announced that the SAD would fight all such cases of Sikh youth who were being implicated in false cases. The SAD president said Punjabis were a patriotic community and there was no support whatsoever for Referendum 2020 or any other divisive agenda in the State. He said Punjabis had a long history of laying down our lives to safeguard the nation and would do so again if needed. He said the Congress party should be well aware that it was behind the attack on Sri Harmandir Sahib, the destruction of Sri Akal Takth Sahib. (editor@dailyworld.in)