Chandigarh: Strongly condemning the Vienna incident which claimed the life of a preacher of Dera Sachkhand Ballan, political parties in Punjab on Tuesday urged the Centre to expedite parleys with its Austrian counterparts so that the guilty could be given a stringent punishment.
The all-party meet, convened by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, passed an unanimous resolution, seeking stringent punishment for those responsible behind the crime.
Addressing the media after the two-hour meeting, attended by SAD-BJP, Congress, CPI, CPM, BSP and Shiv Sena, Badal said the Indian government must take up the matter with the Austrian government to bring back the body of Sant Rama Nand, an associate of Sant Niranjan Dass, head of Jalandhar-based Dera Sachkhand Ballan.
The meeting strongly condemned the incident and Badal appealed to the people of the state to maintain peace and communal harmony.
The meeting described the perpetrators of the crime in Vienna as "anti-country and anti-social elements".
Badal, who was flanked by his deputy Sukhbir Singh Badal and cabinet minister Manoranjan Kalia, said that the state government would compensate those who were killed in the violence in the state.
"The government will compensate those whose private properties have been damaged in the backlash and next of the kin of three killed in violent protests," he said.
The meeting also observed a two-minute silence as a mark of respect for Sant Rama Nand and those killed in violent protests in the state.
Badal informed that he would also take up the issue with the Foreign Affairs Minister SM Krishna again on Tuesday.