The demand by AAP MLA Manvinder Singh Giaspura to confer the title of ‘Fakhr-e-Qaum’ (pride of the community) on Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann for writing to Governor Gulab Chand Kataria and seeking 10-day parole for jailed militant Jagtar Singh Hawara has rattled the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). The Fakhr-e-Qaum title has remained a pain point for SAD.Former five-time Punjab chief minister late Parkash Singh Badal was posthumously stripped of the honorary title of ‘Panth Rattan Fakhr-e-Qaum’ by the Akal Takht on December 2, 2024.While showing a letter, SAD spokesperson Arshdeep Singh Kaler claimed that in February this year, the Home Department had denied parole to Hawara.The letter, a copy of which is with The Tribune, was written to the authorities of Tihar Jail in Delhi. It reads: “There are 25 criminal cases registered against the prisoner Jagtar Singh Hawara. Due to which the SSP Fatehgarh Sahib and the Director, Bureau of Investigation have not recommended granting parole to the prisoner.”Kaler said ‘Fakhr-e-Qaum’ was being sought for a man who has been declared Guru Dokhi and Panth Virodhi. “People understand the politics behind such issues. The letter is available on social media for everyone to judge. Five months ago, when the letter was written denying parole, Hawara’s mother was unwell and Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Kuldeep Singh Gargaj had visited the ailing mother. The Jathedar had then demanded parole for Hawara,” Kaler said.Kaler added that seeking ‘Fakhr-e-Qaum’ merely for seeking 10 days’ parole for Hawara, who has long completed his jail term, was being projected as an act of kindness. “Hawara has an aging mother to attend to. Instead of writing a letter, he should have been given parole on humanitarian grounds,” he said.Jagtar Singh Hawara is regarded as one of the main conspirators and planners of the assassination of Punjab chief minister Beant Singh and 16 others outside the Punjab Civil Secretariat on August 31, 1995. He had directed Dilawar Singh to act as a human bomb. Hawara was sentenced to death in 2007, which was commuted to life imprisonment in 2010. He is currently lodged in Tihar Jail, New Delhi. In 2015, he was declared Jathedar of the Akal Takht by a Sarbat Khalsa, which put his supporters in direct conflict with SGPC.Politics behind ‘Fakhr-e-Qaum’The title is pronounced from the podium (faseel) of the Akal Takht within the Golden Temple complex in Amritsar. The orders are given by the Sikh clergy — the five high Sikh priests (Singh Sahibans) — headed by the Akal Takht Jathedar.The revocation of Badal’s title was announced during the verdict session on the tankhaiya (religious misconduct) case against SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal.The clergy held the top SAD leadership guilty of political and religious decisions made during their government tenure between 2007 and 2017 — including the handling of the 2015 sacrilege incidents and the controversial pardon of the Dera Sacha Sauda chief.As part of the religious atonement and disciplinary strictures delivered that day, the decision was also taken to strip the late Parkash Singh Badal of the ‘Fakhr-e-Qaum’ title, which had been bestowed upon him in December 2011.