All-Sikh Pakistan Gurudwara Prabhandak Committee Now Manages Sikh Shrines In Pakistan
Sikh pilgrims thrash Indian diplomat in a lahore Gurudwara yesterday.
Washington, D.C., Wednesday, April 21, 1999 - For the first time in over fifty two years, since the subcontinent was divided in 1947, Baisakhi celebrations were organized last week in Gurudwara Nankana Sahib, Pakistan, This celebration was done by an entirely Sikh outfit – the PAKISTAN GURUDWARA PRABANDHAK COMMITTEE – the establishment of which autonomous body was announced by Pakistani President Rafiq Tarar during his historic visit, on April 11, 1999, to Gurudwara Dera Sahib in Lahore. The Pakistani President had come to see the Bhai Daya Singh Jatha leaving for Anandpur Sahib to attend the 300th birthday of the Khalsa Panth.Just like the SGPC (Shiromani Gurudwara Prabhandak Committee) in Indian Occupied Punjab, membership to which is restricted to Sikhs who hold Indian citizenship. Membership to the newly established Pakistan Gurudwara Prabhandak Committee, (headed by a respected Pakistani citizen, Bhai Mastan Singh, a Nankana Sahib councilor) is presently restricted to Pakistan domiciled Sikhs who hold Pakistani citizenship.
The New Sikh body wrests control of Sikh shrines located in Pakistan from the Paksitani WAKF board and eliminates any say in the matter by the SGPC (Shiromani Gurudwara Prabhandak Committee) currently being manipulated by Punjab Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal whose supporters have burlesques that body and made it a mockery and object of ridicule. Pakistani President Rafiq Tarar, who fondly remembers his days at the Guru Nanak Degree College Gujranwala, from where he graduated in 947, told the Sangat in Gurudwara Dera Sahib, Lahore on April 11, 199, after his alma mater, that a new body, Pakistan Gurudwara Prabhandak Committee (PGPC), comprising Sikhs from allover Pakistan, had been established and a Pakistan Government notification had already been issued.
The Pakistan Gurudwara Prabhandak Committee (according to News International, Islamabad, of April 12, 1999) would; "enable Sikhs to run their holy places in Pakistan according to their norms and customs". The Pakistan government was committed to protecting the sacred places of non-Muslims following the injunctions of Islam and to ensuring their rights as Pakistani citizens." The Pakistani President told the Gurudwara Dera Sahib bonhomous gathering, which significantly included representatives of the much maligned Islamic religious political parties of Pakistan, that; "both Islam and Sikhism taught tolerance and amity and brotherly relations between Sikh and Muslims were very old."
In another significant development the Pakistani Punjab Chief Minister, Mr. Shahbaz Sharif, (the powerful brother of Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif) who had been invited (according to the Tribune, Chandigarh of April 16, 1999) by Indian Occupied Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to participate in the ("sarkari") tercentenary celebrations at Anandpur Sahib, declined the invitation and; "preferred instead to be the chief guest of the Baisakhi celebrations at Nankana Sahib, which festivities were moved this year to the birth place of Guru Baba Nanak from the traditional site of Gurudwara Panja Sahib located at Hasanabdal, Pakistan."
In another related development a Washington based organization of Pakistani Muslims, Sikhs and Americans-COMMITTEE FOR VATICAN-LIKE STATUS FOR GURUDWARA NAKANA SAHIB- has, according to the Amritsar-born Pakistani Convenor, Mr. A. Sheikh, (a time – tested friend of the Sikhs and wholehearted supporter of Khalistan) decided to hold an international convention. This convention will discuss and then prepare a formal proposal, which would spell out the nitty-gritty’s of a Vatican-like status for Gurudwara Nankana Sahib) for submission to the Government of Pakistan, so that the Sikh/Muslim Diaspora, as well as other friends and sympathizers, can also get involved in the noble task of honoring the birth place and memory of Guru Nanak by making it a beacon of inter-faith understanding in this troubled world. This historical Washington DC meet, to be held during the last weekend of May 1999, happens to coincide with the long Memorial Day holidays thus making it very convenient for those who wish to attend.
In yet another amusing development in a Lahore Gurudwara, the bad intentions of the Brahmin dominated Indian Government, and the good intention and grit of the Sikhs, came to the surface when an agent provocateur; one Ravindra Nathan, was caught and thrashed yesterday by the Sikh pilgrims from India currently visiting Pakistan. Mr. Nathan was caught making a video for Indian Intelligence agencies for purposes of blackmail despite being politely told not to. According to a report of the AFP (Agence-France-Presse) today –April 21, 1999- Mr. Ravindra Nathan revealed his identity that he was an incognito Indian diplomat (posted in Islamabad as a "commercial" attaché in the Indian High Commission) after he "woke up" from his ‘sleep’ in the ambulance which rushed him to Lahore’s Mayo hospital for emergency ‘repairs’ to his head and face.