Punjab: Guru Granth Sahib saroops brought back from Qatar to Amritsar

SGPC receives saroops at airport and brings them according to maryada (Sikh protocol) in a palanquin carriage vehicle to Gurdwara Baba Gurbakhsh Singh in Amritsar.

The two holy saroops (physical copies) of Guru Granth Sahib that were returned by the Doha police in Qatar following the intervention of the ministry of external affairs, were brought to Amritsar on Wednesday night and handed over to the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), an official said on Thursday.

The two holy saroops (physical copies) of Guru Granth Sahib being brought to Gurdwara Baba Gurbakhsh Singh in Amritsar after they were received at the airport on Wednesday night. (HT Photo)

SGPC secretary Partap Singh said that the committee was informed on Wednesday night that the saroops were being brought by a flight to Sri Guru Ramdas Jee International Airport, Amritsar.

The SGPC sent a special vehicle to the airport to receive the saroops and brought them with reverence according to the maryada (Sikh protocol) in a palanquin carriage vehicle to Gurdwara Baba Gurbakhsh Singh.

The SGPC had initiated steps to bring back the saroops from Doha on the directions of Akal Takht jathedar Giani Raghbir Singh after a charitable organisation, the Bhai Kanhaiya Humanitarian Aid, reported about an Indian national, who had been arrested in Doha in December last year in a case related to running a religious establishment without approvals. The Sikh man was later released, but the two saroops taken from him were kept at Al Wakara police station in Doha.

SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami wrote to external affairs minister S Jaishankar and the Indian envoy in Qatar. Following their intervention, the Qatar authorities on Wednesday handed over the two saroops to the Indian embassy in Doha after which they were brought back.