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Journalism of Courage
The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) is all set to build a memorial called Minar-e-Shaheedan Ghalughara 1984 for those who died in Operation Bluestar.
At an executive meeting held at Anandpur Sahib today, the SGPC decided to lay the foundation stone of the memorial on June 6, the 21st anniversary of the storming of the Golden Temple complex.
The memorial will be built inside the Darbar Sahib complex, but outside the parikrama.
Sources said it’s likely to be erected in the lawns in front of the langar hall from where Army tanks had entered the Darbar Sahib complex. A Chandigarh-based architect has already been contacted for its design.
The memorial decision comes days after the Damdami Taksal, which had all along maintained that Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale was still alive, finally accepted his death.
The issue of a memorial for those who died during Bluestar had been hanging fire. The SGPC had even invited criticism from a section of the Sikhs for ‘‘obliterating all marks and signs’’ of the armed operation.
Other decisions taken by the SGPC included creation of offset facilities for printing the Guru Granth Sahib in Ambala.
The SGPC had objected to private publishers printing the holy book. It was also decided to set up a similar facility in North America, either in Canada or in the US.
