In a repeat of last year, Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) Chairman Asif Hashmi boycotted a seminar held in connection with Besakhi celebrations on Monday because of its controversial content, The Express Tribune has learnt.
Hashmi and the party leader of the Shiromani Gurdwara Perbandhak Committee (SGPC) also boycotted a seminar arranged by the Dyal Singh Research Cultural Forum (DSRCF), an attached department of the ETPB, at last year’s Besakhi celebrations, titled Besakhi Wasdi Pani Nal (A rich harvest needs abundant water). The SGPC leader had said the seminar was an excuse to criticise India on the water issue. Hashmi had walked out of the seminar and suspended the director of the DSRCF.
This year’s seminar was titled Besakhi Dey Phikkey Pendey Rang (The withering colours of Besakhi) and included a tableau performed by children about the cruelties of Indian forces on Sikhs and the injustices they faced living in India. The Sikh children hoisted an orange flag of Khalistan, the mooted independent homeland for Sikhs in India, with the Sikh religious symbol of a Kanda (two krapans, or Sikh swords).
Hashmi refused to attend the event this year because of its controversial title, sources in the ETPB told The Express Tribune. They said that Hashmi, a supporter of the Pakistan Peoples Party, did not want to give “our Indian guests the impression that we allow them here only to try to provoke them into standing up for Khalistan”.
The SGPC party leader this year, Gurvinder Singh Shampur, said he had not been invited to the seminar. He said he did not want to attend an event where the slogan and flag of Khalistan came up. He said he had left Lahore to visit the Gurdwara Kartarpur at Aimanabad. He said that the Sikh visitors moved in Pakistan according to the ETPB’s schedule.
In previous years, the ETPB has always invited a representative of the SGPC, which looks after all Sikh holy sites, to attend seminar hosted in connection with Sikh religious festivals.
Punjab Assembly Speaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal Khan was the chief guest at Monday’s seminar. He welcomed the Sikh pilgrims to Pakistan and hoped they would enjoy celebrating Besakhi here. He said Pakistan gave constitutional protection to all minorities.
Over 1,500 Sikh pilgrims arrived in Pakistan from India and Western countries on April 11 to attend the 10-day Besakhi festival. They are due to return on April 20.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 19th, 2011.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ