Hardliners divided over holding 'Sarbat Khalsa'

In a bid to project united front, a section of hardliners today urged the organisers of the 'Sarbat Khalsa' (congregation of Sikhs) to convene it at Akal Takht on November 30 and build a consensus on its agenda so as to make it a grand success.
Advocate Harpal Singh Cheema (SAD Panch Pardani), Satnam Singh Paonta Sahib (Dal Khalsa), R P Singh of Akand Kirtani Jatha, Paramjit Singh of Sikh Youth of Punjab, and Gurpreet Singh of Gurdwara Kendri Singh Sabha today met the organizers of the event-- Simranjit Singh Mann, Mohkam Singh and Gurdeep Singh Bhatinda.
After the meeting, that lasted for 5 hours at a local gurdwara here, Cheema told the media that they wanted the venue to be shifted at Akal Takhat as that's central place for all Sikhs and appropriate place for such historic events.

"We had focused on certain principles. Sarbat Khalsa is an historic institution. It's not the game of numbers- who could gather how much. It is a representative gathering that reflects the collective will of the community," he said.
"We had urged them to adopt proper procedure, guidelines, concrete agenda and mechanism to engage the Sikh Diaspora. We also wanted the organisers to delay the event just for twenty days so as to rope in all those Sikh organisations and personalities in India and abroad that had expressed reservations to be part of the event," Cheema said.
Cheema, who met jailed militant Jagtar Singh Hawara also conveyed his message to Mann.

"Hawara wanted Mann to postpone it for a while so as to make it more representative and less controversial," Cheema said.

Cheema clarified that if the organisers would consider their viewpoint positively then only they would become part of the event.
"We have conveyed our point of view to the organisers and now the ball is in their court. We had focused on certain principles", clarified Cheema.
A section of hardliners and Sikhs have convened 'Sarbat Khalsa' at Amritsar on November 10 even as Akal Takht had rejected it saying it can't be called congregation of Sikhs as only the supreme temporal seat of Sikhs can summon such an event.