Will ensure security of Sikhs: Meghalaya CM

Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, June 16

A delegation of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) and Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) met Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma in New Delhi on Sunday.

Sangma assured the delegation that the Meghalaya government would take all necessary steps to ensure the safety and security of the Sikhs living in the Punjabi Lane locality of Shillong.

Meanwhile, the delegation, headed by Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal, assured that the government would come out with an amicable solution for the crisis being faced by the Sikhs.

Sangma told the delegation that he had established a committee headed by the Deputy CM, which would look into the claims and counter-claims of the Sikhs as well as Khasis and come out with an amicable solution acceptable to both the parties. He said in the meantime, he had issued strict directions to ensure the safety and security of the Sikhs living in Punjabi Lane.

Briefing the CM, Harsimrat said an attempt was being made to forcibly relocate the inhabitants of the Punjabi Lane despite a court order staying the proposed relocation. She said they were given land in the area by the Shillong Municipal Board in 1954 after the Syiem of Mylliem, the traditional Khasi unit called Hima, agreed to the same. She said following this, four additional land ‘pattas’ were given to construct a gurdwara and two temples.

SGPC chief Gobind Singh Longowal and DSGMC president Manjinder Singh Sirsa said the Sikhs were living in a state of fear in Meghalaya after the Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council issued threats to Punjabi Lane residents to vacate the area or face violence.