LUDHIANA: The recent unity of the six Akali Dals under the aegis of the Akal Takht has come under fire especially for that the two high priests of two August Takhts situated Outside Punjab were not represented in the exercise.

President of the Guru Gobind Singh Foundation Jagdev Singh Jassowal said in a statement last week that the Sikh Takhts at Patna Sahib (Bihar) and Hazur Sahib (Maharashtra) were not involved in bringing about the unity which was deplorable This meant the unity process did not reflect the will of the entire Sikh panth and the interests of a vast section of Sikhs residing Outside Punjab were not kept in mind.

Jassowal in fact took the Sikh clergy and political leadership to task for Mating out step-motherly treatment to these two Takhts. He said during the troublesome period after Bluestar also these Takhts were ignored and the community had to pay a heavy price for its shortsighted actions.

Strongly criticizing the Amritsar declaration Jassowal observed that the Akalis had once again proved that they loved to indulge in wasteful excises.

He said the political goal announced there in had separatist over  ones and it showed the Akalis had neither moved an inch from the Anandpur Sahib resolution passed over two decades ago nor had they learned any lesson from the sorrowful happenings of the intervening period in which thousands of innocent lives were lost.

Jassowal who himself remained general secretary of Shiromani Akali Dal a long time ago urged the government to take immediate steps to oppose the sinister designs of separatist forces backed by foreign powers He said the government must mobilize public opinion against the demand for aspartate Sikh state. If the Akalis were so keen on this demand they should have contested the ensuring by-elections and sought a referendum on the vital issue

JALANDHAR ;Eminent columnist   S. Dosanjh has strongly criticized the Akal Takht jathedar Manjit Singh stating that he has a prejudiced mind and has no respect for the basic norms of natural justice. Ina press statement here last week Dosanjh who is also a professor in the Department of journalism Punjab Agriculture University Ludhiana has stated that the Akal Takht was established to liberate the panth from the fear of the temporal power

But the actions of jathedar Manjit Singh were designed to instill fear in the minds of Sikhs. It was never a scat for merely sentencing tankhaiya. Akal Takht is for delivering justice.

Article extracted from this publication >> May 13, 1994