Akal Takht, SGPC reiterates demand for public apology by Dera

Amritsar, May 23 (UNI) The deadlock over the Sacha Sauda controversy continued with the Akal Takht and the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) asserting that they will settle for nothing short of a ''public apology'' from the Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Raheem Singh, who had hurt Sikh sentiments by imitating tenth Sikh Guru Gobind Singh.

''I have not received any communication from the 'Sarv Dharam delegation' about the stand of the Dera on the demand of the Akal Takht,'' Jathedar Giani Joginder Singh Vedanti, the head of the highest temporal seat of Sikhs said while talking to mediapersons after presiding over a meeting of Sikh intellectuals at his office here today.

''I will only be in a position to decide after knowing the stand of the Dera as conveyed to the Delegation,'' he said while pointing out that the delegation was to meet him today but had not yet arrived.

The delegation had met Ram Raheem at the headquarters of the Sacha Sauda at Sirsa yesterday in a bid to resolve the issue and restore peace in Punjab, which witnessed a total 'bandh' yesterday on a call given by the Akal Takht.

Social activist Swami Agnivesh who was part of the delegation had claimed a breakthrough in the Sacha Sauda imbroglio had been achieved by the all religion delegation during its talks with Dera Chief.

''A mutually acceptable solution to both sides would be worked out soon,'' Swami Agnivesh has said after the deliberations with the Dera chief last night. He had claimed that both the sides had softened their stand which had given a hope for a solution of the conflict between the Sikh clergy and the dera Sacha Sauda.

Though Swami Agnivesh did not disclose whether the Dera chief had agreed to apologise for his alleged blasphemous imitation of the tenth Sikh Guru, he said modalities of an agreement were being worked out.

The Takht had demanded an apology from the Sacha Sauda Chief for his ''blasphemous'' act. The Dera had earlier refused to apologise and maintained that it had already expressed regret over the issue.

The other members of the delegation are Jain Muni, Lokesh Parkash, Maulana Jamal Ahmed Ilyasi and Father Phillip.

Meanwhile the SGPC has made it clear that it would abide by the directives of the Akal Takht on the Sacha Sauda controversy.

''We will abide by the directive of the Akal Takht,'' SGPC chief Avtar Singh Makkar said when asked whether the Sikh religious body would move ahead and force the closure of all Sacha Sauda 'deras' in Punjab by May 27 as directed by the Akal Takht if Ram Raheem failed to tender an apology even though he had expressed regret for his actions.

''It is a religious issue and hence it is with the Akal Takht,'' he said in an informal chat with mediapersons after chairing a meeting of the SGPC executive, the first after the Sacha Sauda controversy broke out.

The SGPC at its meeting passed a resolution pledging to abide by the directives of the Akal Takht, the highest temporal seat of Sikhs. The resolution while refering to Ram Raheem as an ''arrogant'' condemned him for failing to tender an apology for his ''blasphemous'' act of imitating Guru Gobind Singh.

The resolution vowed that the SGPC would not allow anyone to denegrate Sikhism and would be ready ''to make all sacrifices to protect Sikh religion and its tenets''.

In another resolution the SGPC appealed to all Sacha Sauda followers to ''return to the mainstream of Sikhism''.

UNI