M A I N   N E W S

SGPC orders probe
Sending of hand-written ‘bir’ to Canada
Varinder Walia
Tribune News Service

Amritsar, May 22
The SGPC has ordered a high-level probe into the carrying of hand-written Guru Granth Sahib to Canada.

Dr Gurbachan Singh Bachan, secretary, SGPC, said senior officials of the SGPC had been deputed to conduct an inquiry into this.

Giani Balbir Singh Changiara, a Sikh missionary and general secretary, SAD, North America, had stated that the rare hand-written volume of Guru Granth Sahib (1,582 pages) was taken to Canada with the “blessings” of Giani Joginder Singh Vedanti, Jathedar, Akal Takht, last year. Jathedar Vedanti had himself approached Mr Ajaib Singh, the then manager, Golden Temple, for handing over the “bir”, which had led the nagar kirtan held in Canada, last year and this year, to mark Baisakhi celebrations.

Mr Ajaib Singh, who is in charge of the SGPC’s press these days, admitted that the “bir” was sent to Canada, last year. He, however, said the “bir” was brought to Gurdwara Ramsar for cremation at Goindwal Sahib as per the Sikh “rehat maryada”. He claimed that it was routine to receive old “birs” for cremation. He further said Mr Changiara himself had served the SGPC as a “parcharak” for more than a decade and hence he had not committed anything wrong by sending the same to Canada as the Sikh sangat living over there was able to have a “darshan” of the hand-written “bir”.

Dr Bachan said Mr Ajaib Singh, who was manager, Golden Temple, had already been reverted as additional secretary, following complaints of the “misuse” of the SGPC vehicle by his son, which had met an accident near Naushehra Majha Singh. Late Balbir Singh Naushehra Pannu, the then Senior Vice-President, SGPC, had demanded action against Mr Ajaib Singh.

Dr Bachan said the SGPC was able to collect some facts on ‘human cargo’ and he would reveal the entire story after thorough investigation.

100 names to be deleted
Blacklist of Sikhs
Tribune News Service

Sangrur, May 22
The Union Government has assured the SAD leadership that it would delete the names of about 100 Sikhs from the “blacklist”, which include the names of those Sikhs, who has shifted to various countries during militancy in Punjab.

Giving the information here today, Mr Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers and Secretary-General of SAD said there had been more than 1500 ‘blacklisted’ Sikhs when the BJP-led alliance came into power, but now this number had come down to 195.

Mr Dhindsa said SAD would not impress upon the Union Government to delete the names of hardcore militants, but it favoured the deletion of names of other Sikhs from the “blacklist”.

The Union Minister stated that none of the SAD MPs has received any invitation from any quarter so far to join the pressure group of the Sikh MPs in Parliament. He said Mr Tarlochan Singh, Vice-Chairman of the National Minorities Commission, who had mooted the proposal, could provide better information on the issue.

Mr Dhindsa also said SAD would oppose the disbanding of the FCI, in case any such proposal was mooted. He said there was no such proposal for the time being on the agenda of the Union Government. He said SAD wanted that the FCI and other government procurement agencies should work as per the existing pattern regarding the procurement of paddy and wheat crops.

He claimed that SAD would not suffer by having an alliance with the BJP in the ensuing assembly elections in the state. Regarding the demand of more seats by the BJP in the elections, he said it would be decided on merit in view of the winning prospects of the alliance partners. He also said regarding the formation of units by the BJP in villages there was no confrontation between both parties.

The SAD had also its units in the urban areas. With regard to the election to the Rajya Sabha seat, he said this seat had been vacated by the SAD candidate. A SAD candidate would contest for this seat and the BJP had no claim on it.

With regard to patch-up with the SHSAD, Mr Dhindsa said no talks were going on regarding the issue. Besides, Jathedar Gurcharan Singh Tohra had also rejected the unity move, he added. The doors of the SAD were open for all except the Congress to have an alliance in the coming assembly elections.