Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has strongly refuted the 'Guru Dokhi' edict issued by the Sikh clergy, asserting that the controversial video at the heart of the dispute is not him and accusing religious bodies of political manipulation.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann announced that all Sikh MLAs and cabinet ministers will appear before the Akal Takht on June 29 regarding the anti-sacrilege law. This decision follows a closed-door meeting in Amritsar, where Mann stated that representatives would present their views in writing. The Akal Takht had summoned Sikh legislators and ministers over objections to the Jaagat Jot Sri Guru Granth Sahib Satkar (Amendment) Act, 2026, which it claims was enacted without consulting the Sikh Panth. Mann also addressed accusations of challenging the Akal Takht's authority and criticised political appointees for one-sided decisions.
Dal Khalsa spokesperson Kanwar Pal Singh and KAC Chairman Bhai Mokham Singh were among those taken into preventive custody by the Amritsar police on Wednesday morning.
Pro-Khalistan slogans were on Friday raised by supporters and activists of radical Sikh outfits at the Akal Takht, the supreme temporal seat of Sikhs, while a peaceful bandh was observed around the Golden Temple and interior walled city on the 41st anniversary of Operation Bluestar.
Leaders have appealed to the participants to maintain peace and not to raise any kind of slogans.
Hundreds of Sikh youths, led by the Dal Khalsa, were carrying Khalistani flags and photographs of damaged Akal Takht.
The statements the separatists make, the abominable tableaux at their parades, the slogans, posters, and selfies with assault rifles are not India's problem. If they are a nuisance, it should bother their host countries, because they are armed and have their own underworld with deadly gang rivalries. Significantly, none of this happens in the US -- only in snowflaky Canada, points out Shekhar Gupta.
The PAC expressed its concern over anti-party activities indulged in by Gandhi and Khalsa. Both have been involved in the activities of certain outfits, opposed to aims and objectives of the AAP.
Amandeep Singh, a general internist at Monroe Hospital in Indiana, recently received the death threat through a text message on his cell phone by the unknown individual who claimed to have murdered the number's previous owner, community leaders said.
Sikh organisations, including hardline groups, gathered to take part in 'Sarbat Khalsa', seeking to free Sikh institutions from political influence.
Recognising that peaceful protests are a hallmark of a thriving democracy, the United States has said that it encourages dialogue between the protesting farmers and the Indian government to resolve their differences.
'You can still hear gunshots, and this time even children know they are not normal.'
SEWA International, a leading Indian-American non-profit organisation, has so far raised more than $250,000 for its COVID-19 relief efforts. It is using the money to buy personal protective equipment's, in particular facial masks and surgical masks, to donate free to the local law enforcement officials and hospitals in some of the hot spot areas like New York, who have run out of these essential items.
Amid apprehensions that Sikh hardliners might object to the customary address by the Akal Takht jathedar at the Golden Temple, Amritsar city was turned into a fortress with about 5,000 security personnel comprising seven companies of paramilitary forces being deployed to maintain law and order.