Panel formed to pursue release of Sikh prisoners

THE SGPC FORMED COMMITTEE COMPRISES SUKHBIR BADAL, SIMRANJIT MANN, SARNA, GK, DADUWAL; FIRST MEETING AT SGPC OFFICE ON MAY 19

AMRITSAR: For carrying forward joint-panthic efforts for the release of Sikh prisoners lodged in different jails of the country, Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) president Harjinder Singh Dhami on Monday formed a nine-member committee comprising moderate and radical Akali leaders.

The move comes days after the SGPC had convened a “panthic gathering” on the directions of the Akal Takht, the highest temporal seat of the Sikhs, and authorised the formation of the committee to fight for the release of prisoners, including Jagtar Singh Hawara, Balwant Singh Rajoana and Davinderpal Singh Bhullar. While Rajoana and Hawara are convicts in former chief minister Beant Singh’s assassination case, Bhullar is serving life imprisonment in a Delhi blast case.

The committee includes SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal, Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) president Simranjit Singh Mann, head of Damdami Taksal Baba Harnam Singh Khalsa on behalf of Sant Samaj, head of Tarna Dal Harian Vela Baba Nihal Singh on behalf of Nihang organisations, Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) president Harmeet Singh Kalka, Shiromani Akali Dal-delhi president and former DSGMC chiefs Paramjit Singh Sarna, Manjit Singh GK and Sikh preacher Baljit Singh Daduwal.

The SGPC president said that suggestions received from Sikh organisations will be respected and the committee will be expanded if need be.

He added the first meeting of the committee has been called at the SGPC office in Amritsar on May 19.