AMRITSAR Akal Takht Sahib jathedar Giani Raghbir Singh on Saturday directed the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) to install portraits of pro-freedom Sikh leaders Bhai Hardeep Singh Nijjar, Bhai Paramjit Singh Panjwar and Bhai Gajinder Singh at Central Sikh Museum in Sri Darbar Sahib complex. 

He issued this direction while addressing the function organised by the gurdwara body at Akal Takht to pay tribute to exiled pro-Khalistan leader Gajinder Singh who passed away on July 3 in Pakistan. 

The jathedar said, “The SGPC should take the decision of displaying portraits of the trio keeping in view of their sacrifices”. 

Panjwar was Chief of Khalistan Commando Force (KCF). He was assassinated by unknown assailants at Lahore in Pakistan on May 6, 2023. Next month, Nijjar who was also a pro-freedom Sikh leader working for the cause of Khalistan, was assassinated in Surrey, Canada. Conspiracy of both the assassinations was allegedly hatched by Indian agencies, though the Indian government refuted these charges. 

In the case of Nijjar, Canada has openly pointed fingers toward the Indian agencies and underlined their hands behind this assassination. 

Gajinder Singh along with other Sikh activists floated the organization Dal Khalsa and vowed to fight for the rights and freedom of the minority community. 

On September 29, 1981, he along with other colleagues, hijacked Indian Airline aircraft to Lahore in protest against the arrest of Sikh seminary Damdami Taksal chief Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, who was leading the Sikh struggle at that time. Their motive of hijacking the aircraft was to get Sant Bhindranwale released from the jail and raised the voice for Sikh freedom on a global level.

From 1981 to 1995, he served life imprisonment in Kot Lakhpat Rai Jail of Lahore. Since 1995, he was in exile.