Sham Singh re-elected PSGPC president, body still waits for its formal constitution

Sham Singh has been elected as the president of Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (PSGPC) for the third time while the Sikh body in the neighbouring country still waits for its own formal constitution.

The committee was formed on April 11, 1999 to manage Sikh Gurdwaras and Sikh affairs in Pakistan.

Sham Singh was the first co-chairman of the Sikh body, which was then headed by Lieutenant-General Javed Nasir, a former chief of the ISI, as its founder chairman.

Pakistan has many a times claimed that the body was working as per the constitution, but the fact is that there had been no formal constitution to run the affairs of the Sikh shrines in Pakistan. Notably, there are 172 historical Sikh shrines situated in Pakistan, but the devotees were allowed to visit only a couple of them.

During the formation of the PSGPC, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) had raised eyebrows and even stopped sending Jathas to register their protest but many other organizations, including the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC), American Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (AGPC), Sikh bodies of Europe and UK, had supported the formation of the PSGPC.

In wake of the Sikh Diaspora's support to the PSGPC, the SGPC later reviewed the decision and accepted the existence of the new body and started sending the Jathas to Pakistan. But the SGPC and various other Sikh bodies had been questioning why the Pakistan Government was silent on the formation of the constitution of the PSGPC. On many issues like Nanakshahi Calendar, unique Sikh identity, the PSGPC had been at loggerheads with the SGPC.

Following the demand of the constitution from different corners of the world, Pakistan made an advisory and liaison committee though the experts pointed out that it was a mere eyewash.

Meanwhile, Sham Singh that his priorities would be to facilitate the visits of the devotees who are visiting Pakistan to pay obeisance in the Sikh shrines.

"We are constructing more than 1,000 rooms for the stay of the devotees in various Gurdwaras in Pakistan," he said while talking to ANI from the Nankana Sahib in Pakistan.

He said the construction and renovation of Gurdwaras including that of Mata Sahib Kaur, Gurdwara Choha Sahib of Guru Nanak at Kila Rohtas, Babe Di Ber Sialkot, would be sped up so that the devotees could visit these shrines also.

After the formation of the PSGPC which has been working under Pakistan Evacuee Trust Property Board, (PETPB), many works had been taken up to facelift the historical shrines, including Nankana Sahib - the birth place of Guru Nanak, Dera Sahib, Lahore, Panja Sahib, Hassan Abdal, Rohri Sahib, Guru Ram Das Gurdwara at Chuna Mandi in Lahore, Gurdwara Singh-Singhania in Lahore and they also opened couple of new Sikh Gurudwaras for the Sangat.

The other major decision taken by the PSGPC was opening of the Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib in Narowal district, which is visible from India as it is close to the international border of two countries, and today after Nanakana Sahib, this is the most visited Sikh shrine.

The deputy secretary of PETPB, Faraz Abbas, told ANI that they were doing everything to facilitate the visits of the devotees. However, he did not respond to the questions regarding the constitution of the body.