SGPC approaches Pak High Commission on atrocities on Sikhs, gurudwaras - India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

A delegation of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) met the officials of the Pakistan High Commission here on Monday. The delegation apprised the officials about the cases of a Sikh advocate, whose hair was cut off, and confiscation of land that had been a part of a gurudwara. The SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar, said some miscreants in Pakistan had forcefully cut off the hair of a Sikh lawyer, which has hurt the religious sentiments of community. "Forcefully cutting off the hair of Anup Singh a Sikh advocate in Pakistan has hurt the religious sentiments of the Sikh community. Hair are our religious symbol and the act is an assault on our religious sentiments. We demand is that the people who have done this must be brought to book," said Avtar Singh. It also came to the notice of the Sikh body related to control of Gurdwaras that the Pakistan government had confiscated land attached to a Gurdwara. "According to Nehru-Liaquat Ali pact, the property attached to religious places (both in Pakistan and India) will not be confiscated, disturbed or sold out. But it has come to our notice that the government in Pakistan has allocated 850 kernel (about 106 acres) of land (attached to a religious site) to the defence forces to build a colony," said Avtar Singh. On November 21, Anup Singh, an advocate, was attacked in broad daylight by a group of about eight to ten people, and was brutally beaten up. He sustained grave injuries. Fearing for his life, Anup Singh and his family took shelter in Gurudwara Panja Sahib near Islamabad, Pakistan capital. SGPC has also requested Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to approach Pakistan's government to take a serious cognizance of the incident. The SGPC manages Gurdwaras in India. India's first Prime minister Jawahar Lal Nehru and his Pakistani counterpart, Liaquat Ali Khan had signed a pact in 1950 for the protection of the rights of minorities.