CHANDIGARH: The general house of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee will meet, at Teja Singh Samundari Hall in the Golden Temple complex at Amritsar on November 18 for the annual election of its office bearers including the president.

This was announced here Tues day by the SGPC chief, Baldev Singh Sibia.

Asked if he would seek reelection, Sibia said he would do whatever the Panth desired.

He said the SGPC had convened a meeting of “well-wishers” of the Panth here on to resolve the issue of the resumption of “kar Seva” of Akal Takht.

The meeting would be held at the local sub office of the SGPC, announced Baldev Singh Sibia, president of the Sikh religious body, at a news conference here Tuesday. He said invitees to the meeting would include prominent Sikh personalities, Akali leaders and representatives of human rights organizations.

Earlier, Sibia presided over a meeting of the SGPC executive which was attended by 13 of the 15 members. It adopted a resolution reiterating its intention to resolve the controversy over the resumption of the Akal Takht “kar seva” by bringing about unanimity in the Sikh world.

Answering questions from newsmen, Sibia said he fully endorsed the demand being made in certain quarters that while under taking “kar Seva” of the holy shrine, care must be taken to

ensure that there was no repetition of the events of 1988 when bodies were discovered inside the shrine, leading to operation Black Thun. Der II,

He emphasized that the basic responsibility for the Akal Takht “kar seva lay with the SGPC. It could undertake the kar seva on its own or hand it over any other organization. In 1986, it had entrusted the “kar seva” to five Sikh sants including Baba Thak Singh Baba Udham Sing! Khadoor Sahib, Baba Jagtar Singh of Tam Taran, Baba Harbans Singh of Delhi and Baba Diwan Singh of Amritsar. It was therefore wrong to suggest that only the Damdami Taksal had carried out the “kar seva” in 1983.

He also said that he had not dissolved the anti-repression joint action committee.

Article extracted from this publication >> November 1, 1991