CHANDIGARH, Punjab—The Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh wrote a letter to the Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh on March 6 demanding return of the scriptures looted by the Indian army from the Sikh Reference Library during the June-1984’s holocaust. Notably, the Indian army had looted rare Sikh manuscripts from the Sikh Reference Library and had set afire the library during the June-1984’s holocaust.
Media reports reveal that the Punjab CM has sought the intervention of Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh after a delegation of some representatives of the Sikh Organizations Coordinate Committee from the United Kingdom met him recently to discuss some issues of concern to resident Indians and Sikh Diaspora of the UK. The subject of the material looted by the Indian army from the sanctum sanctorum Sri Harmandir Sahib was among them.
“The Punjab government was already considering these issues raised by the delegation at appropriate levels, but the matter of restoration of the historic material to Sri Darbar Sahib required urgent intervention of the Ministry of Home Affairs,” Captain wrote in his letter while adding that the Punjab government was ready to extend all assistance and cooperation that might be required by the Centre to resolve the matter.
It is pertinent to note here that the Sikh organizations, including the apex Sikh body Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhik Committee has raised this issue before the Indian government several times but the Indian army has always denied possession of this looted material.
