LAHORE, Nov 13 — After the formation of the Pakistan Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (PGPC), the first ‘kar sewa’ of Gurdwara “Singh Singhnian” was started by “Kar Sewa Committee, Sikh shrines in Pakistan” amid religious fervour, here today.

The Gurdwara “Singh Singhnian” was built in memory of about 2.5 lakh Sikhs who were butchered to death by a Muslim ruler of joint Punjab-Mir Mannu. Before their execution the victims were tortured in cells, which will be preserved during the “kar sewa”.

According to Bhai Avtar Singh Sanghera, president of UK-based “kar sewa committee” about seven crore rupees will be spent on the new building of the gurdwara.

Mr Balwinder Singh, treasurer of the kar sewa committee says Rs one crore has already been collected.

According to a booklet, published by Evacuee Trust Property Board, Pakistan, the newly formed PGPC has been giving special attention to maintenance of Sikhs shrines. It claimed that the PGPC would renovate and rebuild all the holy shrines at a cost of over 100 million rupees.

Prof Darshan Singh, a former jathedar, Sri Akal Takht, Manmohan Singh of Dal Khalsa International and a large number of militants mainly Babbar Khalsa, were present on the occasion.

NEW DELHI, Nov 13 — Even as the Congress Working Committee (CWC) today decided not to support any group in Jharkhand to form government, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (Soren) appealed to the party to review its stand on the issue.

Congress spokesperson Anil Shastri said that the CWC was of the view that no stable government can be constituted in the state as the number of MLAs on each side are equally divided. “The CWC is of the opinion that the party should not support any group to form the government in Jharkhand,” he said.

The two-hour CWC meeting, held today morning at Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s residence, was attended by 14 of 20 CWC members besides Mr Bhajan Lal, who is a special invitee to the CWC.

Mr Jitendra Prasada, who contested against Mrs Gandhi in yesterday’s presidential elections, was not present in the meeting as he was away to Lucknow.

The meeting discussed the report given by Ms Mohsina Kidwai, general secretary in charge of Bihar, and the feedback received from Congress leaders in Jharkhand.

Though the CWC decision indicates that the Congress has made up its mind to play role of Opposition in Jharkhand, Mr Shastri did not rule out the possibility of the Congress reviewing its stand if the situation in the new state changed.

Congress leaders said that Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav was exploring possibilities of an alternate government in Jharkhand and they were still open to the idea of forming an alternate government at an appropriate time.

Today’s decision of the Congress will make things easy for the BJP in Jharkhand which is facing problems over formation of a government in the state.

With a razor-thin majority in the 81-member house, the BJP also has to satisfy its veteran leader Mr Karia Munda, who is miffed over the way the choice of Chief Minister for the new state was made by the party high command.

RANCHI: In a significant political development the JMM today announced its decision to accept BJP MP Karia Munda as the Chief Minister of Jharkhand on the condition that he broke ties with the BJP and led a non-NDA government in the new state.

Talking to UNI, morcha president Shibu Soren said it would be in the larger interest of Jharkhand that Mr Munda led a non-BJP government in the state. The entire Munda community aspired to see their leader as the first Chief Minister on November 15, Birsa Munda’s birth anniversary, when Jharkhand would come into existence, he added.