Author Hardeep Singh

AMRITSAR The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) on Saturday termed the statement of the Indian government on the confiscation of two holy saroops of Guru Granth Sahib by the Police in Doha, Qatar, as full of misinformation. 

The gurdwara body has once again asked the Indian Union External Affairs Minister (EAM) Dr. S. Jaishankar and India’s Ambassador to Qatar Mr. Vipul, to clarify the actual situation to the Sikh world after obtaining complete information about the holy saroops (scriptures).

The SGPC President Advocate Harjinder Singh Dhami said that Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) of India said in a statement on Friday that one of the holy saroops was returned by Qatari authorities and the efforts are being made regarding the other with the hope of early resolution. 

“But the SGPC has sufficient information that both the holy saroops about which the matter was raised are still under the confiscation of Doha Police”, he said. 

The SGPC President said that the Government of India should not make unclear statements in this matter, which is deeply connected with Sikh sentiments, but should make serious efforts to bring back the holy saroops. 

Dhami clearly said that according to the information received, the Doha Police had taken three holy saroops of Guru Granth Sahib from the two involved parties, two of which are still with them. He said that the government spokesperson is talking about the return of one holy saroop, which was received there by the concerned Sikhs several months ago. While two other holy saroops are still with the Doha Police, none have been returned.

The SGPC President asked EAM India to get complete information about this matter and share it with the community with full transparency. He said that it is the responsibility of the MEA to conduct an in-depth investigation into this serious matter and clarify the actual situation to the Sikh world.