Akal Takht jathedar backs Punjab Bandh call

Akal Takht jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh on Thursday extended support to a call for a Punjab Bandh on November 1 given by various Sikh outfits.

The bandh has been announced to protest the genocide of Sikhs during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and the incidents of sacrilege.

Singh said the Akal Takht, Sikh's highest temporal seat, has called on the community to unite on one platform to get the long-denied justice.

Nearly 3,000 Sikhs were killed in the riots in 1984 following the assassination of former prime minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards when the Congress government was in power at the Centre.

Singh also urged all the Sikh political outfits to extend support to the bandh to mount pressure on the state government to get justice.

He said the bandh will not be successful if all do not unite for the cause.

Singh also trashed rumours about his resignation.

"My health may not be good but it doesn't mean that I am going to resign in the near future," he said.