Sacked ‘Panj Pyaras’ open office in Amritsar

AMRITSAR: The sacked ‘Panj Pyaras’ of the Akal Takht opened their office in Amritsar on Friday. While acknowledging the support offered by Sikh organisations, they clarified that their office should not be taken as a “parallel secretariat” to the Akal Takht.

The ‘Panj Pyaras’ read out a message after opening their office in Amritsar on Friday. Photo: Vishal Kumar

GS Paul

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, June 10

The sacked ‘Panj Pyaras’ (five beloved ones of the Guru) opened their office here today, while claiming that their move was not aimed at setting up a parallel secretariat of the Akal Takht.

Satnam Singh Khanda, one of them, said, “Challenging the Akal Takht’s sanctity was never on our agenda. Our motto is to revive the objective for which the Takht was established. The incumbent Jathedars have become ‘helpless’ before their political masters. We appeal to the Sikh community to unite to free the highest temporal seat from their clutches.”

He said the office would enable Sikhs across the globe to contact them. “We travelled around the country and overseas and performed 1,511 ceremonies. Now, we have a permanent address. Our duties will be to uphold the Sikh maryada by preaching Gurbani and ‘amrit sanchar’ among the community, and urge Sikhs not to fall into the drug trap,” he added. The ‘Panj Pyaras’ hailed the move of ‘ardasia’ Balbir Singh, who was present on the occasion, to deny the ‘siropa’ to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.

Khanda, Satnam Singh, Major Singh, Mangal Singh and Tirlok Singh were dismissed by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee in January after they ‘summoned’ the five Takht heads at the Akal Takht – following the latter’s decision to exonerate Dera Sacha Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh of blasphemy charges.

As the five Takht heads didn’t oblige them, they asked the SGPC to replace the heads of the Akal Takht, Takht Damdama Sahib and Takht Kesgarh Sahib. The SGPC initially shifted them to the Dharam Parchar panel and then dismissed them.

Representatives of the Dal Khalsa, Sikh Relief UK, Akhand Kirtani Jatha, Panthic Talmel Sangathan and Ek Noor Khalsa Fauj have extended support to the ‘Panj Pyaras’.