Akal Takht asks Gurbaksh Singh to end hunger strike

The Akal Takht, the top temporal seat of Sikhs, today asked former militant Gurbaksh Singh Khalsa to immediately end his hunger strike seeking release of Sikh detainees who have completed their jail terms.
Gurbaksh Singh has been on hunger strike at a Sikh shrine in Mohali for 41 days as of today demanding release of six Sikh prisoners who have already completed their jail terms after being convicted in former chief minister Beant Singh's murder case in 1995.
Akal Takht head Gurbachan Singh issued an edict saying the Sikh community could never afford the loss to health of Gurbaksh since his condition was deteriorating each day.

He said after sincere efforts of SGPC and the Punjab Government, the Sikh detainees were being released from various jails of the country.
Meanwhile, radical Sikh outfit Dal Khalsa spokesperson Kanwar Pal Singh said "the Jathedar's decision was too late and not up to mark".
"Had Jathedar took the lead from the first day, the issue would have resolved by now," he said.
Out of six detainees, three are in Burail jail in Chandigarh, one each at Karnataka, Uttar Pardesh and Gujarat.