Jalandhar: Thirty-five Sikh organisations under the banner of Alliance of Sikh Organisations issued a statement condemning the backtracking by Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) president Gobind Singh Longowal on the issue of 328 missing Sikh ‘saroops.’ They said his U-turn makes it clear that he wants to save the culprits.
The statement comes after the SGPC chief retracted the executive committee’s earlier decision to file criminal cases against six of its employees indicted for their role in misappropriation of records of 328 ‘saroops.’ The spokesman for the Sikh organisations, Sukhdev Singh Phagwara and Parampal Singh, in their statement, sought from the SGPC chief the details of where the ‘saroops’ went. They also appealed to Akal Takht to seek the resignation of the SGPC chief as well as SGPC spokesperson Rajinder Mehta on the issue.
They said: “According to the SGPC chief’s new statement - as per recommendations by the investigating committee, no case shall be filed against those responsible for the missing ‘saroops’ of the Guru Granth Sahib. It is evident that Longowal wants to hide the real culprits responsible for the issue due to fears that the subsequent action shall expose the embezzlement committed in the committee under him. Longowal wants to save himself and the interim committee. Isn’t his backtracking from his own declarations made some days ago, a violation of the rules of the Akal Takht Sahib?”
They said: “The SGPC shall be met with fierce opposition if it backtracks from its previous declarations on the 328 missing ‘saroops’. The entire list of details should be made public.” They said if the SGPC chief fails to share these details, then it’s clear that the ‘saroops’ have gone missing somewhere, where they shall not be preserved as per maryada (respect accorded to sacred scriptures).”
They appealed to Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh that Longowal and Rajinder Mehta and all culprits in the case be summoned at the Akal Takht and their resignations be sought, following which restrictions be placed on them, so that they do not hold a major office or contest elections in any Sikh organisation for the rest of their life.
Meanwhile, Sarbjit Singh Verka, member of Punjab Human Rights Organisation (PHRO), said the SGPC’s silence over the missing ‘saroops’ must be questioned and it must find out at whose behest, the officials were engaged in the illegal acts. “We were happy with the SGPC, in its executive meeting on September 27, announcing registration of an FIR for tampering with, fabrication, fraud and embezzlement of ‘saroops’, but the U-turn made later has annoyed us. The case involved criminal offences, so we will move the court,” he said.
Echoing similar views, Akal Purakh Ki Fauj head and former SGPC member Jaswinder Singh Advocate said the SGPC was supreme but those who ran its affairs weren’t so. “The SGPC bigwigs wanted to save their political bosses that prompted them to shun the move of initiating criminal proceedings against those indicted by the Akal Takht-appointed probe panel. The truth in the case can be dug out only by the police. The SGPC had got FIRs registered in earlier embezzlement cases,” he said. The All India Sikh Students Federation (AISSF) has announced to take out protest march against the SGPC’s action on September 13 after performing ‘ardas’ at the Akal Takht.
