Chandigarh, Apr 29 (PTI) All India Anti-Terrorist Front chief M S Bitta on Friday opposed any move to release Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar, serving a life term in a 1993 Delhi bomb blast case in which nine people were killed.

Bitta opposed the move saying it is unfortunate that some parties are favouring Bhuular's release.

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Referring to the militancy period in Punjab, Bitta said it is unfortunate that “some parties are standing in support of those who shed blood of innocents”.

“But no one is saying a word about those 36,000 innocents who were killed (during militancy in Punjab)," Bitta said in a press conference here.

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Bitta, however, did not name any party, seeking Bhullar's release.

Shiromani Akali Dal has been seeking Bhullar's release and earlier this month SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal had sought Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's intervention to ensure his release.

Bhullar was convicted in a 1993 case of bomb blast, targeting Bitta's convoy, opposite Indian Youth Congress headquarters on Raisina Road in New Delhi, and killing nine people, including two security personnel of Bitta, then a youth Congress leader. A total of 31 people, including Bitta, were injured in the blast.

Bhullar was awarded the death penalty by an anti-terror court in August 2001 with the Supreme Court confirming the sentence in a split verdict in 2002.

The apex court, however, had in 2014 commuted Bhullar's capital punishment to life term on the grounds of inordinate delay in deciding his mercy petition. Bitta, who survived the 1993 Delhi blast, said politics is being played daily in the name of those who killed innocents.

"But no one is speaking for those who were killed in the militancy,” said Bitta, adding “we have still not learnt lessons after 36,000 killings”.

Bitta also talked of an Ahmedabad anti-terror court's verdict in February this year, sentencing 38 members of a terror outfit to death for the July 26, 2008 bombings in the city in which 56 people were killed and 200 others injured.

"Thirty-eight people were sentenced to death by the Ahmedabad court ...," he said.

Bitta added that he has always raised his voice against terrorism but it “pains” him when “some parties seek justice for those who shed blood of innocents".

"Here in Punjab, 36,000 people were killed. I never felt scared of bullets and bombs and always raised my voice against terrorism but I feel I became a victim of political terrorism," he said, adding it is unfortunate that some parties "play politics in the name of terrorists".

Bitta also said he would launch a signature campaign for justice for the family of terror victims.

The AIATF's will endeavour to get at least 15,000 to 20,000 signatures of those families who lost their kin during terrorism in Punjab, he said.

"We will then move the Supreme Court and file a PIL. Our prayer will seek justice for the families of the 36,000 innocents who were killed,” he said.

In reply to a question, Bitta also informed reporters that a film is being made about him.

In the run-up to the Punjab assembly elections in February, the SAD had accused the Kejriwal government of obstructing Bhullar's release the Delhi chief minister had then charged the SAD with doing “dirty politics” over the issue.

On Bhullar, Badal had said the inordinate delay in Bhullar's release had hurt the sentiment of the Sikh community as well as Punjabis at large.

He had asserted that an early release of Bhullar would consolidate peace and communal harmony in Punjab.

There is a growing demand from the community as well as Punjabis in general that Prof Bhullar, who has been incarcerated for more than 26 years, be freed on humanitarian grounds keeping in view his worsening mental and physical health. This sentiment should be respected, he said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)