Akal Takht Jathedar announces memorial to militancy-era victims at Harike

Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Kuldeep Singh Gargaj on Tuesday announced the establishment of the “Shaheedi Pattan Memorial” at Harike Pattan to honour those who lost their lives during militancy in Punjab. He directed the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) to build the memorial with support from the Khalsa Panth.



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Gargaj said the Akal Takht, through the SGPC, would document details of all killings between 1982 and 1995. Records would include those murdered, declared unclaimed and cremated without being handed over to their families. These would be preserved in the official archives of the Akal Takht, he added.


Leading a collective “ardas” at Harike Pattan, Gargaj remembered victims who disappeared and whose bodies were cremated as unclaimed or disposed of in rivers during the militancy years. He noted that thousands of men, women, children and elderly people, including human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra, were killed and their bodies disposed of at this site.


He said governments of the time violated fundamental human rights by declaring bodies of Sikhs and Hindus as “unclaimed” and denying them to their families. “While all enmity should end after death, those rulers continued their hostility even towards the dead,” Gargaj said, praying that the Almighty holds them accountable.

The event comes amid renewed public discussion on Punjab’s militancy era following the release and removal of the film Satluj, based on Khalra’s life and work. Gargaj remembered both Sikhs and Hindus who disappeared or were killed during the period. A large number of youth and activists from religious and political groups attended the event