Akal Takht rejects Dera Sacha Sauda's regret,calls Punjab bandh

Amritsar, May 20 (UNI) The Akal Takht, the highest spiritual and temporal seat of the Sikhs, today rejected the 'regret' offered by Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh for having hurt the religious sentiments of the Sikh community.

After a hectic three-hour meeting at the Akal Takht here, the Sikh clergy outrightly rejected the 'regret' offered by the Baba and gave a call for a Punjab bandh on May 22 to protest against the activities of the Dera that had hurt Sikh sentiments.

The clergy also asked the Dera Sacha Sauda to close down all its branches or 'deras' in Punjab by May 27.

The Dera chief had yesterday expressed 'regret' over the advertisement published in a newspaper depicting him in the attire of tenth Sikh Guru, Gobind Singh.

The meeting also decided that it would hold a peaceful protest march from Fatehgarh Sahib to Chandigarh on May 31 and present a memorandum to the state Governor, demanding the arrest of the Dera chief.

The clergy also demanded that the ongoing CBI inquiry against the Baba in the alleged murder of a Haryana-based journalist be expedited. In this context, the clergy decided that heads of various Sikh religious organisations would meet President A P J Abdul Kalam, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil before May 30.

Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Joginder Singh Vidanti presided over the meeting, which was attended by the Jathedars of various Sikh Takhts and representatives of social and religious Sikh groups.

UNI