Dhankhar visits Golden Temple; SGPC seeks release of Sikh prisoners

In the visitors’ book, he paid rich tributes to the Gurus and underscored that “Sri Harmandir Sahib has been emanating the message of love, humanity, compassion and brotherhood through ages”. Dhankhar, who also partook in the ‘langar’ (community kitchen), was accorded a warm welcome by Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) chief Harjinder Singh Dhami. He also took part in Sewa along with his family members.

Thereafter, he visited the Jallianwalan Bagh and paid floral tributes to the martyrs. Calling it a memorial of national importance, he said that it “poignantly reminds of the sacrifice of martyrs to whom we are eternally indebted to”. Dhankhar also said that the best tribute to the martyrs would be to build “a prosperous, inclusive and self-reliant India they envisioned”. Then the V-P and his family visited Shri Durgiana Temple and Shri Ram Tirath, and performed puja there. The V-P was accompanied by Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Som Parkash, Punjab Minister of Transport Laljeet Singh Bhullar and other senior officials from the state.

SGPC demands release of Sikh prisoners

On the occasion, SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami handed over a memorandum to Dhankhar demanding release of Sikh political prisoners.

In his letter, Advocate Dhami said Sikh prisoners have been lodged in different Indian jails for nearly three decades despite completion of their sentences which is a big injustice to the Sikh community. He said, “Imprisoned Sikhs chose the path of struggle in 1984 in protest against the military attack on the Golden Temple named as ‘Operation Bluestar’ by the then Congress government.”

He said that the SGPC has been demanding the release of Sikh prisoners through democratic means for a long time.

Advocate Dhami said that the SGPC had also sent letters seeking appointments with the PM, Union home minister, chief ministers of Delhi and Karnataka, but the Sikh body did not receive any positive response. He said that by not releasing the Sikh prisoners, they are being discriminated against as they have already served more than their life imprisonment sentence. The SGPC president demanded that the V-P must take cognisance of this important issue of “release of Sikh prisoners” and issue necessary directions to the Centre and state governments concerned for their release. Later Dhami told the media that the V-P assured him that he would take up the issue in right earnest.