SGPC emergency meeting on missing saroops today

Four days after the police registered an FIR against 16 employees and office-bearers of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) in connection with the 328 missing saroops of Guru Granth Sahib, the SGPC has called an emergency meeting of the executive tomorrow. The last executive meeting was held here on November 27.

SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami has termed the case “blatant interference” by the government in religious affairs of the Sikhs. He said the visit of Kultar Singh Sandhwan, Speaker of the Punjab Assembly, Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains and AAP MLA Inderbir Singh Nijjar to the protest site to hand over a copy of the FIR to the protesters was a bid to foment trouble.

The Sikh Sadbhawna Dal, led by Baldev Singh Wadala, along with several Sikh and farmer organisations, has been spearheading a protest on Heritage Street, which leads to the Golden Temple, for the past five years, seeking a fair probe into the missing saroops.

The case was registered on a complaint filed by one Gurlal Singh who alleged that “sacrilege of saroops and violation of religious norms” have been taking place for years and the sacrilege activities occurred from May 19, 2016, onwards.

Dhami said the matter of the 328 saroops was investigated by the Akal Takht and departmental action was taken. He said the report had categorically stated that the matter was not about sacrilege but about the misappropriation of money by some employees.