MHA denies permission to Sikh jatha to go to Pak
700-member group had sought permission to go to the neighbouring country for an event to mark 100th anniv of the Nankana Sahib massacre
Recent inputs indicate threat to the safety and security of Indian citizens visiting Pakistan. AVI PRAKASH, MHA joint director in letter to SGPC
AMRITSAR: The ministry of home affairs on Wednesday denied permission to a 700member group of Sikh pilgrims to travel to Pakistan for an event to mark the 100th anniversary of the Nankana Sahib massacre on February 21 (the centenary falls on February 20, but the main event is on February 21).
The event is being held in Pakistan’s Nankana Sahib, birth place of the founder of Sikhism, by the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (PSGPC) and Evacuee Trust Property board.
“Recent inputs indicate threat to the safety and security of Indian citizens visiting Pakistan. As the Jatha which may have nearly 600 members, is scheduled to visit five gurdwaras across Pakistan over a period of week, we apprehend considerable threat to the safety of a large number of our citizens during this visit,” a letter from the MHA joint director, Avi Prakash, to president of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) Jagir Kaur stated.
The SGPC put together the travel arrangements for the group who were to leave on Thursday and return on February 25. The massacre that is called as ‘Saka Nankana Sahib’ in Sikh parlance, took place in Gurdwara Janam Asthan at Nankana Sahib on 20 February 1921. More than 260 Sikhs were killed. “You may also be aware that traffic on the India-Pakistan international border remains suspended since March, 2020 due to Covid-19 pandemic. While the pandemic continues to persist, it is pertinent to note that Pakistan has so far recorded over half a million cases with over 10,000 plus deaths, due to Covid. Considering the capacity of health infrastructure in Pakistan, it is not advisable for a large group of our citizens to visit Pakistan for a week during pandemic,” the letter, which was also sent to the Punjab government, stated. HT has a copy of the letter.
It added, “In view of the factors mentioned above, MHA has not accorded permission to the jatha for crossing over to Pakistan, which was mandatory, in view of the ongoing suspension of cross-border traffic due to Covid-19 pandemic.”
The SGPC president said the Union government had hurt the sentiments of Sikhs. “The Indian government has given proof of anti-Sikh mentality by imposing a ban at the last moment on the jatha from going to Pakistan when arrangements for the same had been made,” Kaur said at a press conference.
“Debarring Sikhs from observing the historic centenary of the massacre that has an important place in the Sikh history is anti-Sikh decision and has hurt our sentiments,” she said.
ROHTAK: The accused coach, who had on February 12 shot dead six people, including a three-year-old boy, on Wednesday said he had called the victims one by one to two rooms on the first floor of the gymnasium at Jat Collage.
The accused, Sukhvinder, a National Institute of Sports (NIS)-certified coach, told the special investigation team (SIT) that he had been acting alone.
An SIT member, on condition of anonymity, said, “Sukhvinder first killed coach Pradeep Malik. He then proceeded to kill coaches Manoj Kumar and Satish Dalal, Manoj’s wife Sakshi and national-level wrestler Pooja.He killed the three coaches in one room and the two women in another and locked the gates.”
“After shooting five people dead, Sukhvinder brought Manoj and Sakshi’s three-yearold son, who had been playing with his cousin on the ground floor, to the room where his mother and Pooja were lying dead and shot at his head,” the official said. “He then called coach Amarjeet Singh outside Maharani Kishori Jat Kanya Mahavidyalaya (MKJK) College, nearly 800 metres away from the wrestling arena, and shot at him, the official said.
Amarjeet, who was injured in the firing, is still undergoing treatment at Medanta Hospital in Gurugram. The murdered couple’s three-year-old son, who was grievously injured succumbed to his injuries at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences on February 16, five days after he was shot.
Revenge primary motive
He killed the three coaches in one room, two women in another and locked the gates SIT MEMBER
“Sukhvinder said he plotted the killings after Manoj and the other coaches asked him to leave the wrestling arena on February 14 after two women players filed complaints against him. We are probing the case from every angle,” the senior official said.
Manoj’s younger brother, Pramoj Malik, said his nephew was playing with his five-yearold daughter when Sukhvinder picked him up and told him that his mother was calling him. “He also asked my daughter to come upstairs but she refused. Our cousin, Vishal, was also there and when he called Sukhvinder to ask about Manoj’s whereabouts, he told him that Manoj was ‘lying on the first floor’. We will meet Rohtak superintendent of police Rahul Sharma to demand a thorough probe of the case. We want to know how the accused managed to flee to Delhi after committing the crime,” he said.