CHANDIGARH, Punjab—The apex Sikh body Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhik Committee has come under fire after publishing of a news story claiming that the Indian army had returned the treasure of Sikh Reference Library looted during the armed invasion into Sri Harmandir Sahib under code name ‘Operation Bluestar’ in June-1984. This story has been published in the Punjab vernacular ‘Rozana Spokesman’ in which the bureau has even claimed of possessing solid evidences supporting their claim.
It has been claimed that the Indian army had started returning the looted treasure trove of Sikh Reference Library in September-1984 and the first slot of this treasure trove was received by the then SGPC secretary Bhan Singh and another official Kulwant Singh.
Claiming of a receipt possession in this concern, it has been revealed that the army had returned 453 items in the first slot which included 185 saroops of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, one saroop of Dasam Granth, one Bhagatmala written by Bhai Mani Singh, real Janam Sakhi Bhai Baale Wali and 26 hand written Hukamnamas. “The receipt has the signatures of army officers P.N Sahni, R.P Nayar and S.S Dhillon,” reads the story while claiming that the SGPC had received around 4,000 items from Indian army till the tenure of Prof. Kirpal Singh Badungar.
In this story, the SGPC has been also accused of selling the holy saroop of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji which was signed by Guru Gobind Singh Ji and several other historic manuscripts and paintings to foreigners.
Reacting to the claims of Rozana Spokesman, the SGPC’s chief secretary Dr. Roop Singh has said that the SGPC has called upon a meeting of the former SGPC secretaries and incharges of Sikh Reference Library on June 13 so that the facts could be cleared. “We will clear the scene after a thorough discussion and probe on this matter,” he added while expressing innocence about the selling of Sikh scriptures.
Meanwhile, the Sikh historian Dr. Harjinder Singh Dilgeer, who served as a director of Sikh Reference Library, has termed the story as a fake one. He has dared the writer of this story Charanjit Singh to make public the name of SGPC officials who had sold the historic Sikh scriptures.
