Sarna stopped from crossing over to Pak with nagar kirtan
Dal Khalsa leader also stopped, passport impounded
Indian authorities on Thursday stopped Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD- Delhi) leader Parmjit Singh Sarna at the Attari-Wagah border from crossing over to Pakistan with Nankana Sahib-bound nagar kirtan that started from Gurdwara Nanak Piao Sahib in Delhi to commemorate the 550th birth anniversary of the Sikh faith’s founder.
Sarna is the main organiser of the procession. “They stopped me citing a seven-year-old case registered in Delhi on a false complaint by a SAD leader. This despite the fact that four intelligence and security agencies had given me clearance. I was disallowed to go with nagar kirtan for which I made around 20 visits to Pakistan to get permission for it,” said Sarna.
Also, Dal Khalsa leader Baba Hardeep Singh Mehraj was stopped by the immigration and customs officials at the joint check-post at the Attari-Wagah border.
It was only the Sarna-led group which was granted permission by the Pakistan government to carry out the procession, while Akali Dal-controlled Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) and a 31-member delegation of Punjab government were denied nod to visit the birthplace of Guru Nanak.
Nearly 1,200 devotees, including Sarna’s brother Harwinder Singh Sarna, were allowed to cross the border.
Blaming the SAD-BJP leaders for being behind denial of permission, Sarna said, “This is frustration of the SAD leaders who were denied permission and they were desperate to torpedoe the nagar kirtan. My biggest success is that I was able to facilitate thousands of devotees to pay obeisance at tNankana Sahib”.
