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Sikh Reference Library issue raked again
WSN Network 

India’s Defence Minister A K Antony, normally known as a politician above board and with little luggage of history towards Sikhs, has unnecessarily charted into choppy waters by denying that the Indian Army was in possession of any artefacts and material from the Sikh Reference Library that was destroyed in 1984 by armed forces. Now, the SGPC has taken up the issue, its president Avtar Singh Makkar has slammed the Defence Minister, talk of Congress being the enemy of the Sikhs is again in the air and the resignation of the Defence Minister is being demanded. A Sikh member of Rajya Sabha, Tarlochan Singh, has asked for clarification from SGPC so that he can take up the matter, but a consolidated effort to pursue the matter has been missing. The SGPC’s efforts have been spasmodic in the past and generate more noise than results. Interestingly, a retired CBI inspector Ranjit Singh Nanda has come forward and said he himself took the rare manuscripts/books or articles to the local youth hostel in gunny bags and trunks after the Army operation.

The SGPC had been consistently demanding the return of more than 1,500 books of the Sikh Reference Library and other articles for the past 25 years. Visiting dignitaries like the Presidents, Prime Ministers and other Defence Ministers during their visits to Golden Temple are often presented with a memorandum on the issue but the sorry situation arose with the failure of the Akali Dal in prevailing upon the NDA government to resolve the issue. Former Home Minister Buta Singh also joined issue with the Army asking it to come clean on the issue of manuscripts seized during  Operation Bluestar. The documents were kept in Amritsar Cantonment at the time, he said.

25 February 2009
 

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