SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami has requested the Akal Takht to take strict action against Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains and Language Department Director Jaswant Singh in whose presence a dance and music sequence was performed during a programme held in Srinagar to commemorate the 350th martyrdom day of Guru Teg Bahadur.Earlier, the Akal Takht had summoned Bains and Jaswant Singh for an explanation before five high Sikh priests on August 1.After chairing a meeting of the executive at the SGPC office here on Monday, Dhami said such events had become “Sikh Panth Di Mahan Peeda” (the biggest pain of the Sikh religion) and there was a need to stop their recurrence by awarding exemplary punishment.The executive passed a resolution condemning the breach of Sikh tenets during the event organised by the Language Department of the state government.Release Bandi SinghsThe SGPC executive passed a resolution, demanding from the Centre to immediately release Bandi Singhs (Sikh political prisoners), including Balwant Singh RajoanaSGPC chief Harjinder Singh Dhami said the Centre had announced on the 550th Parkash Purb of Guru Nanak Dev in 2019 that their capital punishment would be commutedCommenting on the recent incident in Rajasthan where an Amritdhari girl was barred from taking an exam as she was wearing religious articles (Kakaars), Dhami termed the act as unconstitutional and said it was an attack on the Sikh identity and appropriate action would also be taken in this case.The SGPC executive passed another resolution, demanding from the Union government to immediately release Bandi Singhs (Sikh political prisoners), including Balwant Singh Rajoana, a convict on death row for the assassination of former Punjab CM Beant Singh, on the 350th martyrdom anniversary of Guru Teg Bahadur.Dhami reminded the Centre that it had announced while commemorating the 550th Parkash Purb of Guru Nanak Dev in 2019 that the capital punishment of Bandi Singhs would be commuted into life imprisonment and some of them would be let off. It had even passed a notification later, which was yet to be implemented fully, he said.The executive also approved the establishment of ‘Sri Guru Teg Bahadur Chair’ at Sri Guru Granth Sahib World University in Fatehgarh Sahib district.Dhami requested the Centre to resume the Kartarpur corridor by doing away with the provision of passport-based clearance. Instead, he said, an Aadhaar card could be sought for a day-long approval to visit the Sikh shrine situated inside Pakistan, a few meters from the International Border in Gurdaspur’s Dera Baba Nanak.
Take strict action against Bains, SGPC urges Takht
