Committed a mistake by printing ‘saroops’ in Canada, will apologise to Takht: Malik

I met SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal and the SGPC president last year, but they refused to give permission, and we decided to print the saroops on our own. RIPUDAMAN SINGH MALIK , Satnam Parchar Religious Society, Canada

AMRITSAR: Following a controversy of printing of Guru Granth Sahib ‘saroops’ in Surrey, Canada, in defiance of Akal Takht edict, Ripudaman Singh Malik of the Satnam Parchar Religious Society admitted to have committed a mistake and said he was ready to apologise for it before the Takht.

Malik who runs Khalsa schools in Canada and was acquitted in the 1985 Air India Kanishka bombing by Canadian judiciary in 2005, said: “We have been requesting the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) to give us permission to print the holy saroops in Canada for last 12 years. During my visit to Punjab in December last year, I met the Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal in presence of the

SGPC president Gobind Singh Lonogwal and senior vice-president Rajinder Singh Mehta at Chandigarh in this regard. Sukhbir refused to give permission, and we decided to print the saroops on our own.”

“We are short of holy saroops in Canada. That’s why we are seeking the right to print. Saroops are required to celebrate the 400th birth anniversary of ninth Sikh master Guru Teg Bahadur in February next year,” he said.

“If we are summoned, we will appear before the Akal Takht and will have no hesitation in tendering an apology as we have committed a mistake, he said.

In a notice sent by British Columbia Gurdwaras’ Council, coordination panel of different gurdwara committees, to him and his aide Balwant Singh Pandher on Thursday, they were asked to bring all saroops printed by them and printing related items to a gurdwara in Surrey with due respect and maryada.

Malik also courted controversy in October 2014 after it was discovered that over 400 ‘saroops’ ordered by the society were being stored in a damaged bus at a Vancouver port pending customs clearance. The bus was shipped by the SGPC in the request of Malik and his society.