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Akal Takht jathedar asks SGPC to put up portraits of Sikh separatists
Jathedar Giani Raghbir Singh wants portraits of Hardeep Nijjar, Paramjit Singh Panjwar and Gajinder Singh displayed at Golden Temple museum in recognition of “their sacrifices”.
Akal Takht jathedar Giani Raghbir Singh on Saturday asked the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) to put up portraits of Khalistani militants Hardeep Singh Nijjar, Paramjit Singh Panjwar and Gajinder Singh at the Central Sikh Museum in the Golden Temple complex. All of them were wanted in India.
The jathedar was addressing a function organised by the SGPC and the Dal Khalsa at Gurdwara Shaheed Ganj Baba Gurbaksh Singh behind the Akal Takht near the Golden Temple to pay tributes to Gajinder Singh, who led the group that hijacked an Indian Airlines aircraft to Lahore in 1981 for the release of militant Sikh preacher Jarnail Singh Bhindrawale and passed away in Lahore on July 3.
He said the SGPC should display the portraits of the trio in view of their “sacrifices”.
Khalistan Commando Force (KCF) chief Panjwar, one of India’s most wanted criminals, was shot dead in Lahore on May 6, 2023, while Nijjar, a designated terrorist by the Government of India, was gunned down in Surrey, British Columbia, a month later on June 18, 2023.
Relations between India and Canada came under severe strain following Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s allegations in September last year of a “potential” involvement of Indian agents in Nijjar’s killing. India has refuted the charges.
Giani Raghbir Singh termed Nijjar and Panjwar as martyrs. Paying tribute to Dal Khalsa founder Gajinder Singh, the jathedar said, “He neither compromised on Sikh principles nor bowed before the governments. In 2020, Akal Takht Sahib announced the title of ‘Sikh Warrior in Exile’ for him. In the coming days, a ceremony will be organised to deliver the title from the Takht to him.”
Gajinder Singh spent 14 years in a Pakistani prison for the hijacking on September 29, 1981, and for the release of slain militant leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, who was arrested for assassinating Lala Jagat Narain, the founder editor of Hind Samachar Group.
Since his release from Pakistani prison in 1995, Gajinder was living in exile. After the terror attack on Parliament in 2001, the MHA released a list of 20 people to Pakistan for extradition. Gajinder was one of them.
Notably, militant organisation Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) chief Wadhawa Singh Babbar who is in Pakistan, former CM Beant Singh’s jailed assassins Jagtar Singh Hawara, Paramjit Singh Bheora, Jagtar Singh Tara, American Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, Sikh Federation UK and Sikh Federation America sent written messages, paying tributes to Singh.
SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami, Shiromani Akali Dal’s Delhi chief Paramjit Singh Sarna, former SAD (Amritsar) MP Simranjit Singh Mann and leaders of radical Sikh organisations were present on the occasion. The Akal Takht jathedar honoured the kin of Gajinder Singh on the occasion.
‘Govt accused of lodging fake cases’
A day after Harpreet Singh, brother of radical Sikh leader and Khadoor Sahib MP Amritpal Singh, was arrested with drugs in Jalandhar, the Akal Takht jathedar, without naming anyone, said filing “false cases of drugs against the Sikhs” is unfair. “False cases are being registered against Sikhs. Some are booked for drugs, others for carrying weapons or talking about Khalistan,” he added.
