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SGPC urges Pakistan to trace missing ‘bir’
The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has appealed to the Pakistani government to locate a ‘bir’ (copy) of the Guru Granth Sahib missing from a gurdwara at Haji village in Baluchistan’s Kachi district since earlier this week.
The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has appealed to the Pakistani government to locate a ‘bir’ (copy) of the Guru Granth Sahib missing from a gurdwara at Haji village in Baluchistan’s Kachi district since earlier this week.
In a statement issued on Sunday, SGPC chief Avtar Singh Makkar said he was concerned over the missing copy of the Sikh holy book and added Islamabad must ensure incidents that hurt religious sentiments do not reoccur.
“The Sikh scripture is a glowing example of secularism and religious tolerance. It contains not just the ‘gurbani’ (hymns) of Sikh gurus, but also teachings of saints like Kabir, Baba Namdev and others,” Makkar said.
The SGPC also sent a letter to external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, asking her to take up the matter with Pakistan. In the latter, Makkar said the issue needed efforts on the diplomatic side too because it concerned a minority in Pakistan.
“The external affairs ministry should take up all such incidents, which hurt religious sentiments of a particular community, with countries where they occur . There have been incidents of hate crime against Sikhs (particularly in the US), which also need to be addressed by India at the diplomatic level,” Makkar added.
