COURTESY HT SEPT 22

Akal Takht event to repent Sikh leader’s killing by Khalsa army in 1844

Maharaja Ranjit Singh .
HT Correspondent

letterschd@hindustantimes.com

AMRITSAR : The Akal Takht is organising a religious function on October 10 to repent the killing of noted Sikh spiritual leader Baba Bir Singh Naurangabadi and his aides by the Khalsa army (established by Maharaja Ranjit Singh), 176 years after the incident in 1844, said Takht secretariat staff on Monday.

Baba Bir Singh’s camp near Harike Pattan had become the centre of a Sikh revolt against Dogra dominance over Punjab after Maharja Ranjit Singh’s in 1839.

Hira Singh, the Dogra PM of the Sikh kingdom, sent 20,000 men and 50 guns to attack Baba Bir Singh’s citadel in 1844.

The Baba forbade a fight-back, citing that attacking their own brethren would be unethical. He was in meditation in the presence of the Guru Granth Sahib, when he was killed with a shell from the Sikh troops.

“Pashchatap samagam (ceremony to express regret and remorse) was never held at the highest Sikh temporal seat to the best of our knowledge. This is being done after 176 years,” said Jaspal Singh, personal assistant to Takht acting jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh.

Giani Harpreet Singh said, “It was very painful that a spiritual Sikh leader and Sikh general was killed by Sikh soldiers lured, misled by Hira Singh Dogra. In light of the suggestions from Sikh scholars and devotees, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) is directed to hold akhand path (nonstop recitation of Guru Granth Sahib) and ardas (Sikh prayer) at the Akal Takht Sahib in collaboration with other Sikh bodies.”

The Takht has also changed name of title to be awarded to pro-Khalistan leader and Dal Khalsa founder Gajinder Singh who led his colleagues in hijacking an Indian Airlines aircraft to Lahore in 1981 and is one of the most wanted persons in Union home ministry files.