New Delhi, October 1
Pakistan High Commissioner Aziz Ahmed Khan today told Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee president Bibi Jagir Kaur that the SGPC was free to send its delegation to Nankana Sahib “anytime” for on the spot assessment of the extent of damage to the historic gurdwara and visas would be given to as many delegates as the SGPC desired.
Following this blanket assurance from Mr Khan, The Tribune understands that the SGPC delegation would leave for Nankana Sahib on Tuesday.
Bibi Jagir Kaur met Mr Khan in Pakistan High Commission this afternoon and during the 35-minute meeting the 10-member SGPC delegation expressed concern at the recent mob attack on Nankana Sahib Gurdwara, the birth place of Guru Nanak.
She told The Tribune that a five-member fact-finding delegation would leave for Lahore on October 5 and would be led by SGPC
general-secretary Sukhdev Singh Bhour. They would also assess the extent to which ‘kar seva’ could be performed at Nankana Sahib.
“We told the SGPC delegation that the Government of Pakistan was equally concerned about the reported attack. We are concerned because the attack is unprecedented. We told the SGPC delegation that it is a stray incident and not a communal matter,” Pakistan’s Deputy High Commissioner Munnawar Bhatti, who was also present at the meeting, told The Tribune.
In fact, Mr Bhatti ruffled the delegates’ feathers when he told them that similar incidents had recently taken place in Ludhiana and Amritsar. The SGPC delegates did not take kindly to this remark and sought to clarify the position from their perspective.
Mr Bhatti said: “We told them that our doors are open for you because there is nothing to hide. The Government of Pakistan is committed to ensuring safety and security of Sikh religious places in Pakistan.”
The SGPC delegation submitted a memorandum to the Pakistan High Commissioner, expressing shock at the Nankana Sahib incident. Mr Khan informed the delegation that no damage had been done to the historic gurdwara and assured that all steps will be taken to protect the sanctity of all the gurdwaras in Pakistan.
Mr Khan told the delegation that the incident was not a case of riots but only the work of a handful of college boys and action had been taken against them. The High Commissioner said the incident had been blown out of proportion.
The SGPC memorandum said: “It is unfortunate that such an incident had happened at a time when top leaders of the two countries were involved in bilateral talks for improving mutual relationship and people to people to contact. It can cast its shadow over the process of normalisation of relations between the two
countries.”
