The Tribune – ‘Sadda Haq’ team meets Takht chief; Matter to be discussed by five high priests, says Jathedar Gurbachan Singh

G S Paul, Tribune News Service

Amritsar, April 7. Led by its producer-actor Kuljinder Singh Sidhu, the crew of banned Punjabi movie ‘Sadda Haq’ today approached the Akal Takht Jathedar, Giani Gurbachan Singh, urging him to intervene in the matter.

The Jathedar said the issue would be deliberated upon at the next maating of the five high priests. “The opinion of the high priests will be conveyed to the SGPC for further action,” the Jathedar said. The film crew, along with members of several Sikh organisations, performed ardas at Akal Takht.

The Punjab Government has banned the film which focuses on the dark days of militancy in the state. The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), that had played a key role in getting clearance from the Censor Board of Film Certification (CBFC) last year, has now distanced itself from the matter. Dejected, filmmaker Sidhu said the ban on his film, that had been cleared by the censor board with a U/A certificate, was arbitrary.

The film’s promotional song, ‘Baghi’ , reportedly equates Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, Jagtar Singh Hawara and Balwant Singh Rajoana with freedom fighters. “Since there is no problem in letting the public watch films based on the Naxalite movement, the government appears biased in banning my film which is about a minority community,” he said.

He announced that he would move the Supreme Court against the government’s decision, if nothing else worked.

“We have requested the high priests to form a committee comprising Hindus, Sikhs, Christians and Muslims to view the film for an unbiased opinion,” he said.

“It is nothing but murder of freedom of expression. The film is a true portrayal of whatever happened during the period of militancy. It is ironical that a handful of bureaucrats have given their verdict against the screening of the film on the plea that it may disturb peace and harmony. Their apprehension is totally baseless,” Sidhu added.

Anandpur Sahib: Washing his hands of the controversy, SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar, during his visit here on Sunday, said it was the prerogative of the state government to take a decision on whether or not to ban a film.

Makkar, who was the chief guest at an inter-state turban tying competition, said the state government had to look after law and order too.

Of the 2,000 students who participated in the ‘dastarbandi’ contest, 245 were selected for special prizes. Prabhpreet Singh of Guru Nanak Senior Secondary School, Dhannupura, Amritsar, won the first prize. Gurnoor Singh of Dasmesh Model Senior Secondary School, Doraha, and Kaka Harpreet Singh of Sahibzada Fateh Singh Public School, Malerkotla, were declared first and second-runners up.

The three were awarded a cash prize of Rs 31,000, 21,000 and 11,000, respectively.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2013/20130408/punjab.htm#8

The Tribune – Sikh body backs removal of turban at airports; Akal Takht takes serious notice

Perneet Singh, Tribune News Service

Amritsar, March 7. The Akal Takht has taken serious note of an Italy-based Sikh organisation supporting the removal of turban at airports for carrying out security checks. It has directed the outfit to immediately withdraw a letter regarding the matter.

A complaint received at the Akal Takht secretariat says Italy Sikh Council has put up a letter (dated March 24, 2011) at Italy’s Brescia airport referring to an agreement reached with the Border Police Office and the SEA Staff under which turbaned Sikh passengers will have to undergo security check like other passengers.

It says the frisking of Sikh passengers will be done in a separate room where only security personnel will be present.

The letter says that it is for the passenger to decide whether he wants to have his turban checked by taking it off or through a machine installed for the purpose.

Akal Takht Jathedar Gurbachan Singh, has asked the Sikh organisation to withdraw this letter at once. His personal assistant, Jaswinder Singh, said the Sikhs had time and again opposed the removal of turban for security checks.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2013/20130308/punjab.htm#11

The Tribune – 2012 Panjab looking back – Sikh clergy; An eventful year for SGPC, Akal Takht

Perneet Singh, Tribune News Service

Amritsar, December 26. The Akal Takht and the SGPC hogged the limelight for a better part of the year for their decision to construct the Operation Bluestar Memorial, besides the move of rallying in the support of Delhi blast convict Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar and Beant Singh assassin Balwant Singh Rajoana.

The decision to construct the memorial sparked a huge debate with the Congress and other political parties, including the ruling SAD’s alliance partner BJP, condemning it, arguing that it may revive militancy in the state which has already paid a heavy price in terms of economy and loss of life during the dark days of terrorism. However, unfazed by the criticism, the SGPC went ahead with it while maintaining that the memorial will only house a gurdwara which will spread the message of peace. It justified the move, contending that the memorial had been a long pending demand of Sikhs and the Sikh leadership was well aware of the community’s sentiments. The SGPC handed over the “kar sewa” of the memorial to the Damdami Taksal headed by Baba Harnam Singh Khalsa.

The Sikh high priests then laid the foundation stone of the memorial on June 6, the 28th anniversary of the Army operation. The issue returned to haunt the SGPC once again in October when Lt Gen KS Brar (retd) who led the Army in the Operation Bluestar was attacked by some unidentified assailants in London. While the SGPC remained tightlipped over the incident, Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde indirectly asked it to introspect on their move.

The Sikh clergy and the SGPC hit the headlines when they opposed the capital punishment being awarded to Bhullar and Rajoana. The SGPC had even moved clemency petitions before the President to save them from the death sentence. The then President Pratibha Patil had rejected the mercy plea of Bhullar on May 26, 2011, following which the SGPC had filed a clemency petition before the President on July 26, 2011.

Similarly, the Sikh high priests and the SGPC threw their weight behind Rajoana when a court ordered his execution in March this year. The state government had refused to hang him. Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal even met the then President Pratibha Patil to seek clemency for Rajoana whose death sentence was later stayed by the Centre.

The Sikh high priests even bestowed the title of Zinda Shaheed (living martyr) on Rajoana. The clergy led by Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh presented a plaque, a shawl, a “siropa” and a sword to Kamaldeep Kaur, Rajoana’s sister, who received the title on his behalf. Though Rajoana had declined the title, the Akal Takht had refused to withdraw it.

Meanwhile, the fate of the new SGPC House continued to hang in balance even after a year of the SGPC elections held on September 18 last year, as the hearing of the case over the Sehajdhari row is still pending in the Supreme Court.

At present, the SGPC neither has the old House nor the new one. Though the apex court has authorised the SGPC executive (elected in 2010) to manage the Sikh institution’s daily affairs, the legal tangle has hit its normal functioning. This is evident from the fact that perhaps for the first time in its history the SGPC could not pass its annual budget in March this year as there was no House. The SGPC executive passed the vote-on-account for managing the affairs.

The year gone by also saw the Sikh community coming face to face with Dera Radha Soami Satsang, Beas, over the alleged demolition of a gurdwara at Waraich village, although the matter was amicably resolved later on. The controversy also saw various Sikh outfits announcing their move to “boycott” the Akal Takht Jathedar for giving the clean chit to the dera over this issue. The Jathedar had attributed his move to an SGPC panel report which said no sacrilege was committed in “shifting” the gurdwara. Later, the dera head came forward and offered to reconstruct the gurdwara which led to the resolution of the issue.

The Akal Takht Jathedar got embroiled in another controversy when he supported a complete marriage Act for Sikhs instead of mere amendment to the Anand Marriage Act, 1909, though he quickly did a volte face and supported Anand Marriage Amendment Bill, 2012, which was later passed by both the houses of Parliament.

The Wisconsin gurdwara shootout in the US also brought to the fore the fact that the Sikhs abroad are still facing the issue of identity and the community needs to take urgent measures to deal with it.

Taking serious note of the rising instances of sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh clergy initiated stringent measures for facilitating a copy of the holy book. The Sikh high priests also issued guidelines for transportation of religious books.

The SGPC finally installed jammers inside the sanctum sanctorum at the Golden Temple while it also started the facility of “pinni parshad” for the devotees visiting the shrine from far-flung areas.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20121227/punjab.htm#2

The Tribune – Nanakshahi Calendar; Dissent persists over amended version

Perneet Singh, Tribune News Service

Amritsar, May 23. It has been well over two years since the SGPC introduced the amended Nanakshahi Calendar, but it is still grappling to get it implemented among all Sikh organisations in the world.

This became evident recently when Pakistan denied visas to 320 Sikh pilgrims wanting to visit the neighbouring country to observe the martyrdom day of Guru Arjan Dev while contending that the event is not being observed in Pakistan during the period when the SGPC intends to send its jatha.

The SGPC wanted to send a jatha to Pakistan from May 17 to 26 as it is observing the event here on May 25, but the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (PSGPC) is sticking to its date of June 16 as per the original Nanakshahi Calendar.

Last year too Pakistan had denied visas to 340 Sikh devotees for this occasion for the same reason.

Back home, the DSGMC also follows the original version of the calendar while observing “gurpurabs” in a year. The fact that the SGPC has to time and again publish advertisements, appealing Sikhs to celebrate/observe a “gurpurab” on a particular date shows that the community remains divided over the calendar.

Continuing with the trend, SGPC chief Avtar Singh Makkar appealed to the Sikh sangat on Tuesday to observe the martyrdom day of Guru Arjan Dev on May 25 as per the amended calendar. He said some Sikh organisations were not falling in line due to their “narrow political interests”. He said it was the duty of the SGPC to ensure implementation of directions of the Akal Takht, but these outfits were violating these, which was not appropriate.

Makkar said they were planning to send a jatha to Pakistan next month for observing the death anniversary of Maharaja Ranjeet Singh. “We will ask our representatives in the jatha to hold talks with the PSGPC to convince them to follow the amended calendar as per directions of the Akal Takht”.

Former PSGPC president Bishen Singh said they would organise an “akhand path” on June 14-16 at Gurdwara Dehra Sahib in Lahore and would observe the event on June 16. However, at the same time, PSGPC vice-president Sahab Singh said they would hold a meeting of the Sikh sangat on May 26 to discuss the issue denial of visas to Sikh pilgrims from India.

Conflicting point

Pakistan has denied visas to 320 Sikh pilgrims since the Pakistan gurdwara body is observing the martyrdom day of Guru Arjan Dev on a different date

The DSGMC also follows the original version of the calendar

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120524/punjab.htm#8

The Asian Age – Badal: Govt will take legal steps

Chandigarh. 25 March 2012. Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal on Saturday said his government would take all possible legal steps pertaining to death row convict Balwant Singh Rajoana even as the SAD’s core committee would meet here on Sunday to discuss the issue threadbare.

“My government has been taking advice from legal experts. All possible legal steps will be initiated pertaining to Rajoana’s case,” he told reporters here and in Patiala.

On Friday, the Sikh clergy directed him and SGPC head Avtar Singh Makkar to make efforts to save Rajoana, a convict in the assassination of former chief minister Beant Singh, from the gallows.

The highest Sikh temporal body, the Akal Takht, had also directed the SGPC chief to meet the President and the Prime Minister to save Rajoana, who is scheduled to be hanged in Patiala central jail on March 31.

On seeking clemency for Rajoana, the chief minister said he had great faith and respect for the Akal Takht and his government would initiate all possible legal steps regarding Rajoana’s case. (PTI)

http://www.asianage.com/india/badal-govt-will-take-legal-steps-915

The Tribune – PIL in court to save Rajoana

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 21. A human rights organisation wants to save Balwant Singh from the gallows. For, the purpose, its relying on a legal proposition that Balwant Singh should not be led to the gibbet till the appeal in the Punjab’s former Chief Minister Beant Singh’s assassination case is pending before the Supreme Court.

Lawyers For Human Rights International, through counsel Navkiran Singh, today filed a petition in public interest in the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking a stay on the hanging.

In the PIL, Lawyers For Human Rights International president Tejinder Singh Sudan has argued that the judgment, vide which death sentence of Balwant Singh was confirmed, has been challenged and the appeal is pending before the Supreme Court.

The petitioner also stated it would be great injustice; and the judicial system would not be able to justify the hurried action in executing Balwant Singh. The action would result in loss that could not be reversed, he said.

The case was listed for hearing before the Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Mahesh Grover today. The Bench ordered the case to be listed for hearing before another bench on Thursday.

Panthic outfits want government to intervene

Amritsar. Various Panthic organisations have urged the Akal Takht to issue directions to the state government to pass a resolution in the Punjab Assembly to save Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar and Balwant Singh Rajoana the same way as the Tamil Nadu Assembly did to save the conspirators of former PM Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination.

The representatives of these outfits assembled at Bhai Gurdas Hall and handed over a memorandum to the Akal Takht Jathedar after holding parleys on the Rajoana case. They passed a resolution in the meeting in which they vowed to “wage a decisive battle led by the Akal Takht” to get the death sentence to Rajoana reversed. (TNS)

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120322/punjab.htm#9

The Tribune – Sedition case; Challan filed against Dal Khalsa activists

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, February 4. After a period of more than six years, the local police finally filed a challan against 22 Dal Khalsa activists in a sedition case registered against them on June 8, 2005. Six of the accused, including Dal Khalsa’s secretary general Kanwar Pal Singh, appeared before the trail court of CJM Kuldeep Singh today. The court has fixed March 13 as the next date of hearing and has ordered all the accused to appear before it.

The local police had on June 8, 2005 registered a case under various offences, including sedition, at Civil Lines Police Station against Dal Khalsa activists for organising a Genocide Remembrance March on the eve of 21st anniversary of “Operation Bluestar”. The FIR was registered under sections 153-B, 153-A, 124-A, 188 of the IPC.

In February, 2010, the accused had approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court and filed a petition praying for the quashing of the FIR. The case is still pending in the High Court and the next date of hearing is February 9, said Kanwar Pal Singh.

He said the police today filed a challan under section 188 of the IPC whereas sanction to prosecute the accused under sedition charges from the Department of Home Affairs and Justice was still awaited.

He further commented, “What had the government and the police been doing for all these years.” He added that the march passed through the streets of Amritsar peacefully and culminated at Sri Akal Takhat Sahib.

A number of policemen and intelligence operatives were in attendance to monitor the event although no incidents of incitement or violence occurred and no attempt was made to stop the march or make any arrests during the event, he claimed.

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The Tribune – Attack on employees: SGPC to approach Akal Takht

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, February 3. Three days after armed activists of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Satkar Committee, a private outfit, attacked SGPC employees with sharp-edged weapons, the SGPC today talked tough and warned the committee to mend its ways, besides announcing to approach the Akal Takht over the issue.

Addressing mediapersons here, SGPC Secretary Dalmegh Singh alleged that the committee was unnecessarily intervening in the SGPC’s work. He accused the committee members of carrying out searches in different gurdwaras on their own without having any authority to do so. “Who has given them the right to act in such a manner?” he wondered. He further charged the panel members of attempting to conduct a search at an SGPC-run gurdwara in Kartarpur, besides taking away some literature from the house of writer Anoop Singh.

He claimed the SGPC was receiving complaints against the committee from different quarters. He said if at all the committee members fond something wrong at a religious place, they could sort out the matter in a peaceful manner by initiating a dialogue. “Assaulting individuals and taking law in hand is not a solution,” he added.

Dalmegh also showed a video footage of the committee members brutally thrashing some individuals for allegedly committing sacrilege at a Ludhiana village. He said by resorting to such a move, the panel members not only took law in their hand but also exhibited disrespect to turban as during their action turbans of the aggrieved individuals fell off. He also lashed out against a committee supporter, Gurjinder Singh, who targeted the SGPC in an interview to a foreign TV channel, alleging that he himself had been booked for smuggling of drugs in the Chabbal area of Tarn Taran in 2006. He also produced a copy of the

FIR lodged against Gurjinder in this regard. He cautioned Sikhs to be aware of such elements and “don’t allow themselves to get misled by them”.

Earlier, a group of armed activists belonging to the committee had attacked employees of the SGPC’s publication wing in the city on January 31, accusing them of perpetrating sacrilege of religious scripture. Subsequently, the police had registered a case and arrested some of the activists of the committee involved in the violence in which some SGPC employees suffered injuries.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120204/punjab.htm#12

415.The Man in Blue – Akal Thakat, Panj Piaré, Hukamnamé

In the recent discussions about the ‘banning’ of Darshan Singh Ragi from the ‘Panth’ by the ‘Sikh Authorities’ in Amritsar, many participants showed that they did not fully understand where the authority in the Khalsa Panth rests.

Many talk about the authority of the Akal Takhat. When you think about it you must admit that thinking that ‘authority’ is vested in a building or a geographical location makes no sense whatsoever.

Guru Gobind Singh vested the Guruship in the Guru Granth and Guru Panth, not in a building, not in a geographical location, not in the Panj Piaré. Having institutionalised Panj Piaré made up of ‘Jathedars’ and ‘Mukh Granthis’ is nowhere near to what happened in 1699 in Anandpur Sahib. Panj Piaré should be independent minded model Sikhs.

The only period in which we had a more or less functioning Guru Granth / Guru Panth was the misl period after Banda Singh Bahadur and until Maharaja Ranjit (not so) Singh.

The authority was with the Sarbat Khalsa, which was flawed because it was a meeting of the Misl Jathedars and their adjutants and not a true ‘All the Khalsa’ meeting, but it was better than what we have now.

This meeting in case of conflicts would select Panj Piaré as mediators. Each party in the conflict would select two, which had to be approved by the other side, and the four would select the fifth. Obviously the ideal was to find five serious Sikhs who would have moral authority rather than power.

Any decision achieved was promulgated from Akal Takhat by the Jathedar of the Misl of the ‘veterans’. If the Sarbat Khalsa could not meet in Amritsar life got on. When I was with the IOSS in Chandigarh a member once said that Guru Hargobind took the Akal Takhat with him when he went to Kartarpur (Jalandhar) and later to Kiratpur (Anandpur Sahib).

The present set up does not fit in with anything that was practised in Guru’s time or during the Misl period. Even the Dhirmal followers who took over Darbar Sahib after the departure of Guru Hargobind, and who refused entry to Guru Teg Bahadur, did not think that they could issue hukamnamé on behalf of the Panth because they were in charge of Akal Takhat.

Darshan Singh Ragi has not been banned from the Panth and there is no hukamnama about not discussing the Dasam Granth, as these decisions were taken by people who have no authority to do so.

Being the leader of the Akali Dal and/or the Mukh Mantri of Panjab does not give you any authority over the Sikhs.

Appeal to stop the use of violence

All Sikhs, Sikh organisations and Gurdwaré should undertake never again to use violence as a means to settle differences of opinion. There is no precedent from Guru’s days for this bad practice, the Guru taught us to stand up against injustice, not against opinions that we do not agree with.