AAP Punjab Government U-Turns on Extremist Hawara's Parole Bid

In the Indian state of Punjab, the government recently changed its mind about letting a man named Jagtar Singh Hawara leave jail for a short time.

Hawara was found guilty of helping plan a bomb attack in 1995 that killed an important former leader, Beant Singh, along with 17 other people.

He was first sentenced to death in 2007, but a court later changed the punishment to life in prison.

Now, Punjab's leader, Bhagwant Singh Mann, has asked the Governor, Gulab Chand Kataria, to let Hawara out of jail for 10 days.

The stated reason is that Hawara's mother is very old and sick, and he wants to visit her.

Just a few months earlier, the same government had told jail officials not to let Hawara out, pointing to 25 other criminal cases against him.

The final decision does not rest with Mann — it belongs to the governments of Chandigarh and Delhi, which are run by a different political party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Some people think the government changed its mind to win support from Sikh voters before the upcoming assembly election in 2027.

Others think the government is simply being kind to a family going through difficult times.

Either way, the parole decision has turned into a big political argument.