July 9, 2017 by admin

Jatha row: SGPC seeks meet with PM

Amritsar, The SGPC has sought a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj over the continuing denial by the Centre to send Sikh jathas on pilgrimage to Sikh shrines in Pakistan.
SGPC president Kirpal Singh Badungar said the SGPC had applied for sending a jatha to observe the death anniversary of Maharaja Ranjit Singh which was to cross over to Pakistan in June. However, the Ministry of External Affairs advised against sending the jatha due to the precarious law and order situation in Pakistan. “When we insisted, MEA officials replied that the SGPC could send the jatha at its own risk.”
He said, “We replied that safety of citizens is the constitutional duty of their country. After that, we did not receive any reply.”
Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee president Manjit Singh GK, in a statement to the media, also flayed the government for preventing the Sikh jatha’s travel to Pakistan.