AMRITSAR: Sikh radical leaders prevented Akal Takht officiating jathedar Giani Kuldeep Singh Gargaj from bestowing siropa (robe of honour) upon Gurmeet Kaur, wife of deputy chief of terror organisation Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) who died recently in Pakistan, during a bhog ceremony at Gurdwara Baba Gurbaksh Singh Shaheed on Friday.
Just as Giani Gargaj advanced to honour Gurmeet Kaur, Jarnail Singh Sakhira objected. Sakhira was chief organiser of a Sikh gathering held under the banner of Sarbat Khalsa that appointed jailed Jagtar Singh Hawara, the assassin of former Punjab CM Beant Singh, as a parallel jathedar of Akal Takht. Giani Gargaj halted and another Sikh priest stepped forward to bestow the siropa upon Gurmeet Kaur. “We don’t consider Giani Gargaj as quom’s (Sikh community’s) jathedar, so we can’t allow him to bestow siropa upon the wife of Mehal Singh Babbar,” said Sakhira.
Babbar, who had been in hiding in Pakistan since 2003, died at the Combined Military Hospital in Lahore due to kidney failure. Babbar was a key figure in BKI, a group banned under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. He was also wanted in connection with multiple militant incidents across Amritsar, Jalandhar, and Faridkot districts.
