Capt wants back historic materials removed from Golden Temple during Bluestar

Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, March 6

Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh has written to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh seeking the immediate restoration of the historic materials removed from the library of the Golden Temple, Amritsar, during Operation Bluestar in 1984.

Seeking the minister’s intervention, the Chief Minister said a delegation of some representatives of the Sikh Organisations Coordinate Committee from the United Kingdom met him recently to discuss some issues of concern to resident Indians and Sikh community diaspora of the UK. The subject of the material taken from the Golden Temple was among them.

The Punjab government was already considering these issues raised by the delegation at appropriate levels, but the matter of restoration of the historic material to Sri Darbar Sahib required urgent intervention of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Amarinder said in his letter.

The Chief Minister pointed out that most of the historic original valuable materials of Sikhism were taken away by the security forces in June 1984, and no account of that had been given so far.

The Sikh community had been raising this matter time and again. Even the Punjab government had been requesting the Centre to intervene to ensure that these historic materials, wherever available, should be restored to Sri Darbar Sahib, Amritsar, he wrote.

The Chief Minister sought Rajnath’s indulgence in the matter to sort out the issue at the earliest, saying it would go a long way in meeting the long-pending demand of the community. He also extended all assistance and cooperation that might be required by the Centre to resolve the matter.