AMRITSAR: The — Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) warned the Center govern Mont against making any amendment in the Punjab Gurdwara Act of 1925. Without the permission of the general house of SGPC.

The general house of SGPC, which met here in Teja Singh Samundari Hall to approve the budget expenditure for the financial year 19961997, Ana unanimous resolution, took strong to Interference by the National Commission for Minorities in ‘the matter, The SGPC alleged that the Commission had not respected the Unanimity among Sikh organizations On the point of suggesting amend“ment in the act to prohibit the interference Of non-Sikhs in Gurdwara matters.

The SGPC said that Nehru Tara Singh pact of 1959 authorizes the.

“SGPC to approve any amendment in the Gurdwara Act and violation of this pact would not be tolerated. The SGPC felt that the words “Schajdhari” incorporated in the act in 1959 could lead to major disputes any time and it required to be scrapped.

The president of SGPC, Gurcharan, Singh Tohra, while talking on the issue, demanded from the state government to amend the definition to mean an “unshaven Sikh,” Tohra ‘asked the government to curtail its interference in SGPC affairs till the holding of elections and audit of accounts.

The SGPC general house through another important resolution condemned the violation of human rights and in particular, flayed the government for its inability to trace human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra ‘who was allegedly kidnapped by policemen. The resolution said that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was also not taking the issue seriously and no arrests had been made so far. The SGPC also alleged that the reported statement of certain SPOs that they were being harassed by the CBI was only a “gimmick” to fool people that CBI was rigorously inquiring into the matter.

The general house condemned the construction of another Harmandir Sahib and Akal Takht at Mastuana and urged the Jathedar of Akal Takht who was present in the meeting, to deal with the so-called sants according to Sikh traditions, The SGPC warned against consequences of further construction of Mastuana Gurdwara. ‘Through other resolutions, the SGPC asked the Center to direct its embassies in foreign countries to seek the guidance from SGPC in the matters of dispute over wearing turban and sword by Sikhs being raised by certain governments to relay kirtan of Gurbani from Harmandir Sahib from All India Radio, Delhi, to start more international flights from Amritsar airport, to immediately release of Akal Takht Jathedar Bhai Ranjit Singh from Tihar jail and to give punishment to the guilty of 1984 riots. The SGPC has appealed to the Center to take up the issue of giving control of remaining historical gurdwaras in Pakistan to committee for maintenance and no building should be constructed without the consent of SGPC. The SGPC passed the proposed budget of Rs. 84, 19, 92, 258 for the year 199697 which is Rs 15 crore higher than the last year, It was the last budget Session of present SGPC as the general elections of SGPC are scheduled to be held in November 1996 Darshan Singh Issapur general secretary of SGPC presented the budget.

Article extracted from this publication >>  March 27, 1996