SGPC uses force to disperse Sikh protesters outside Golden Temple
AMRITSAR: A nihang was injured when the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee used force to disperse Sikh activists from outside the Golden Temple complex as they were demanding criminal cases against SGPC functionaries responsible for the missing Guru Granth Granth Sahib saroops.
The Sikh activists started an indefinite protest on Monday at the main gate of the Teja Singh Samundri Hall, the headquarters of the apex gurdwara body that is facing flak from the community over the missing saroops. Besides criminal cases against the negligent SGPC functionaries, the activists want the saroops located.
As the sit-in continued on Tuesday, the SGPC staff overnight raised iron barricades at three points to isolate the activists on protest and blocked the entry to the Golden Temple from Gurdwara Baba Atal Rai Sahib and Manji Sahib Diwan Hall.
Due to the blockade, the activists, including the injured nihang, could not join the agitating activists and they sat outside Sri Guru Ram Das Serai along the barricade. “They were sitting peacefully when the SGPC task force planned to disperse them. They snatched their lathis and started hitting the protesters with them to disperse them. The turbans of two activists fell down and a nihang was injured,” an eyewitness said.
Also, as many as four mediapersons were also attacked by the members of SGPC task force. A camera of a TV journalist was damaged by them.
In a statement, the SGPC spokesperson Kulwinder Singh
Ramdas termed the persons who were dispersed by the task force, as “miscreants” and justified action against them. “They provoked us to raise a banner reading objectionable language against the SGPC functionaries”, he said.
Visitors to the shrine were facing inconvenience due to the blockades put up by the SGPC. There was no entry for devotees who were staying in two serais which were isolated along with the main place of the agitation with barricading.