SGPC stages protest against arrests of ‘innocent’ youths in Amritsar

Led by its SGPC chief Harjinder Singh Dhami, the Sikh body also decried the comments made by the Punjab chief minister on Akal Takht acting jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh, which they said have “hurt the dignity and grace of Akal Takht.”

The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) on Friday held a protest march in a bid to press for the release of the ‘innocent’ Sikh youths, who have been arrested during a crackdown on radical preacher Amritpal Singh and his outfit, Waris Punjab De.

SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami (C) leading the march of the gurdwara body from the Golden Temple to DC office in Amritsar on Friday. (Sameer Sehgal /HT)

The march started from the plaza outside the Golden Temple and culminated at Amritsar deputy commissioner’s (DC) office.

Led by its SGPC chief Harjinder Singh Dhami, the Sikh body also decried the comments made by the Punjab chief minister on Akal Takht acting jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh, which they said have “hurt the dignity and grace of Akal Takht.”

After the protest march, a memorandum addressed to Bhagwant Mann was handed over to Amritsar DC. The protest march saw participation from a large number of SGPC office-bearers, members, officers, employees, raagis, dhadi, kavishar jathas and preachers. After reaching Kachehri Chowk, the protesters staged a symbolic demonstration. From here, five SGPC members reached the DC office, where they handed over the memorandum to ADC Surinder Singh.

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Calling ‘Sarbat Khalsa’ is prerogative of Takht jathedar: SGPC

Reacting to the demand raised by the fugitive radical Sikh leader Amritpal Singh in purported audio and video clips to call ‘Sarbat Khalsa’, SGPC made it clear that it was the sole prerogative of Akal Takht jathedar.

“It is a personal wish of Amritpal Singh... To call or not to call ‘Sarbat Khalsa’ is the sole prerogative of Akal Takht jathedar and no one else,” SGPC general secretary Gurcharan Singh Grewal said.

“Since the jathedar is leading the Sikh community, he takes each decision with deep thought followed by the opinions of Sikh scholars and intellectuals, Grewal added.

In his two video messages that surfaced on social media on Wednesday and Thursday, Amritpal Singh asked the jathedar of the Akal Takht, the supreme temporal body of Sikhs, to call “Sarbat Khalsa” -- a Sikh congregation. Amritpal also appealed to the jathedar to take out “Khalsa Vahir” (religious procession) from the Akal Takht in Amritsar to the Damdama Sahib in Bathinda and hold the congregation there on Baisakhi.

“The jathedar would see what needs to be done in the light of prevailing circumstances... There is no doubt that many Sikhs, who are close to Amritpal Singh, were arrested under the NSA, which is a matter of grave concern,” he said.

Grewal said, recently, there was a gathering of 100 Sikh organisations at Akal Takht on the call of the jathedar on March 27.

“The sole agenda of the gathering was to discuss the situation after the police crackdown. After the marathon meeting, the jathedar reached a logical conclusion and gave a 24-hour ultimatum to the Punjab government to release Sikh youths who were arrested during the police crackdown, and the impact was significant.”