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CBI to Probe Missing Texts of Sikh Reference Library
October 10, 2004 | 1 Comment
Twenty years after the Indian Army attacked the Harmandir Sahib complex in Amritsar, and looted and destroyed the Sikh Reference Library, the historic texts have not been returned. After recently convening a meeting with the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC), the Central government has ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to trace these texts:
Following directions from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the CBI would initiate a time-bound probe for recovering the missing Sikh religious treasure….
SGPC Secretary Dalmegh Singh said a list of the missing 10,534 religious books, manuscripts and relics had been submitted to the central government. These include centuries old hand-written manuscripts penned down by Sikh scholars.
Though the Indian Army and the Defence Ministry have not made any statement on the missing records in the last two decades, officials said that many of the things could be recovered.
“These could be in the custody of some army units that carried out operations inside the Golden Temple complex,” a senior official said in Chandigarh.
After the Army attack, the Indian government consistently claimed that the materials inside the Sikh Reference Library had been destroyed in a fire ignited by cross-fire between militants and the army. However, as ENSAAF reports in Twenty Years of Impunity: The November 1984 Pogroms of Sikhs in India:
Although the White Paper states that the Sikh Reference Library was destroyed the night between June 5 and 6, because of firing by militants, Duggal, the librarian, insists that the library was intact when he last saw it on June 6, after the Army had gained control of the complex. When he returned on June 14, the Army had burned the library down. (page 16)
Twenty years later, however, in April 2004, the Union government filed an affidavit in a court case acknowledging that it possessed many articles, including rare handwritten scriptures and documents, and wished to return them. In April 2004, the High Court then disposed of the petition, ordering the government to return the materials, which has not yet occurred. (page 18) (footnotes not included)
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