Amritsar, May 15
The Government of Pakistan has passed a Bill to give legal sanctity to the five-year-old Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (PSGPC). This is for the first time that any Islamic country has accorded sanction to a religious body of a minority community.
Mr Izhar-ul-Hassan, Additional Secretary of the Pakistan Evacuee Property Trust Board, told TNS on telephone that the Government of Pakistan had given a nod to the PSGPC.
However, like the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbhandhak Committee (SGPC) which was formed as per an Act passed by the Indian Parliament, the PSGPC is unlikely to run on a similar pattern. The SGPC is a statutory body under the Parliament Act. It holds regular elections to elect its trustees.
Mr Harpal Singh Bhullar, president of the International Bhai Mardana Yadgari Kirtan Darbar Society, said he had received information from Mr Sham Singh, co-chairman of the PSGPC, that the Government of Pakistan had issued notification in this regard. Mr Bhullar said the PSGPC would now become an International Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee by giving due representation to the SGPC, American Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee and other Sikh religious bodies from all over the world.
Mr Parmjit Singh Sarna, president of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Delhi), said following legal sanctity, the base of the PSGPC would be expanded. Mr Sarna claimed that the PSGPC was no more a one-man show since many baptised Sikhs from Peshawar, Sindh and Nankana Sahib had been inducted into it.
