Army Chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag along with his wife Namita Suhag at the Golden Temple in Amritsar on Sunday. Tribune photo
GS Paul
Tribune News Service,Amritsar, March 6
The Chief of Army Staff, General Dalbir Singh Suhag, has assured to intervene in the matter related to “missing” rare Sikh manuscripts, books and artifacts seized by the Indian Army from the Golden Temple complex during Operation Bluestar in June 1984.This was confirmed by SGPC chief secretary Harcharan Singh who interacted with the Army Chief during the latter’s visit to the Golden Temple with his family today.The rare documents, which even included some centuries-old manuscripts signed by some Sikh gurus and original texts of Sikh scholars of medieval periods, were kept in the Sikh reference library in the Golden Temple till June 7, 1984.On June 7, during the Operation Bluestar the Army allegedly took away all documents from the library and around 25,000 books, which were subsequently passed on to the Indian security agencies.While the government claimed that most of documents in the library were burnt after it caught fire during exchange of fire, the Sikh leadership since then has been claiming that manuscripts and books were taken away by the Indian security forces.Harcharan Singh said, “We discussed with the Army chief about the missing rare manuscripts and books. He in turn assured to examine it thoroughly and will communicate us back about his findings. We are also appealing to the state government to take up the matter with the Defence Minister.”The Army Chief is in Amritsar to present the Standard to 18 Cavalry, a frontline Armoured Regiment of the Indian Army, currently operating along the western borders on behalf of the President.
Rare documents
- The rare documents, which even included some centuries-old manuscripts signed by some Sikh gurus and original texts of Sikh scholars of medieval periods, were kept in the Sikh reference library in the Golden Temple till June 7, 1984.
SGPC seeks return of missing Golden Temple manuscripts
AMRITSAR: The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has again sought the retur n of rare manuscripts and historical documents that went missing from Sikh Reference Library of Golden Temple during Operation Bluestar that was launched in June 1984 to flush out armed militants from the shrine complex.
SAMEER SEHGAL/HTArmy chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag and his wife, Namita Suhag, after paying obeisance at the Golden Temple in Amritsar on Sunday.The SGPC believes that this rare literature was taken away by the army which had conducted the operation. SGPC chief secretary Harcharan Singh made a verbal demand on Sunday to chief of army staff General Dalbir Singh Suhag, who visited Golden Temple on Sunday.
The Sikh religious body has over the years written a number of letters to the Union government seeking the return of manuscripts and books, but to no avail.
The fate of several books and manuscripts seized from the Sikh Reference Library is still unknown. Initially, the SGPC had blamed the Intelligence Bureau (IB) of taking the possession of manuscripts. However, when the Union home ministry denied the charge, the SGPC turned to the defence ministry.
Former defence minister George Fernandes had once assure the SGPC of looking into the missing manuscripts after chief minister Parkash Singh Badal took up the matter with him. However, nothing has been done since then.
‘ARMY DOESN’T HAVE MANUSCRIPTS’
However, Gen Suhag clarified that no such religious literature or manuscripts were in the possession of the army. “I have checked on this and found that no such religious literature is with the army. May be, some other agency took the literature with it,” he said. Gen Suhag said the Punjab government should forward a letter on the fate of missing manuscripts to the defence ministry. “I will help the SGPC on this,” he added.
Earlier, Gen Suhag and his wife Namita Suhag paid obeisance at Golden Temple. This was his first visit to the shrine after taking over the army chief. He was presented a model of Golden Temple, a “siropa” and a set of religious books.
