BATHINDA: The parallel ‘jathedars’ (heads of temporal seats of the Sikhs) appointed by ‘Sarbat Khalsa’ (grand assembly of Sikhs) have thanked Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh for writing to his Karnataka counterpart for release of Sikh prisoner Gurdeep Singh Khera and Rajasthan CM to shift another Sikh detainee Harnek Singh Bhapp to a jail in Punjab.They termed the action of the CM as a step towards the fulfillment of one of their demands. They hoped the state government would sympathetically look towards other two demands. The parallel ‘jathedars’ have been protesting from for the last 50 days at Bargari village in Faridkot district to seek the arrest of those involved in the cases of sacrilege and over other issues,The protest started on June 1 to mark three years of the theft of Bir of Guru Granth Sahib from a gurdwara in Burj Jawahar Singh Wala village in Faridkot.Baljit Singh Daduwal, who is the ‘jathedar’ of Takht Damdama Sahib, told TOI, “We are satisfied that the CM has written to his counterparts in Karnataka and Rajasthan for release and shifting of Sikh prisoners to Punjab. We have been demanding this for long. We are thankful to Amarinder for initiating action on our long-pending demand.”Reacting to the development, a senior leader of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) said the ‘jathedars’ were hand in glove with the Congress government in Punjab. He added that it was evident from their thanking Amarinder for only writing letters to other CMs. He said similar letters had also been written by Akali patriarch and former CM Parkash Singh Badal in the past.‘Got no funds from SJF’The ‘Sarbat Khalsa’-appointed ‘jathedars’ have denied getting any financial assistance from the advocacy group Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) for their ongoing protest and said every penny was accounted for. The ‘jathedars’ claimed that donations from various gurdwara committees and organisations from across US, Canada, UK, Italy, Belgium and Dubai were pouring in. The SFJ is organising an event on ‘Referendum 2020’ in UK on August 12 for separate Sikh homeland and has inviting students from India, Pakistan and Afghanistan to work as volunteers for the purpose.

Stay updated with all the Amritsar Latest News headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.