SGPC asks Sonia to halt Haryana gurdwara committee formation

Amritsar, Mar 29 (UNI) The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandik Committee (SGPC) today asked Congress president Sonia Gandhi to immediately intervene and halt the proposed move of the Haryana government to form a separate Gurdwara Committee for the Sikh shrines of that state.

Addressing a media conference after a meeting of the SGPc executive here, SGPC chief Avtar Singh Makkar said the formation of a separate committee for the Sikh shrines in Haryana was ''an illegal step, violative of the Sikh Gurdwara Act under which the SGPC was formed''.

The move to form a separate body for Haryana mounted to a direct interference in the religious affairs of the Sikhs by the Congress, and Ms Gandhi should stall this move, he said. The Congress in the past had interfered in the religious matters of the Sikhs, but this would not be tolerated any longer, he warned.

Earlier, the executive adopted a resolution condemning the Haryana government for ''having initiated the move to form a seprate gurdwara committee for the shrines in the state''.

UNI