The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has sought Union Home Minister L.K. Advani’s intervention to help repeal a two-decade-old government order that requires its members and employees to get a clearance from the Home Ministry before they are allowed to go on a trip abroad.Passed in the wake of Operation Blue Star, the order has left many SGPC workers waiting for passports and other relevant documents for years.Kiranjot Kaur, former general secretary of the SGPC and granddaughter of Master Tara Singh, is among those who have been hit by the clause. Invited to Ottawa for a dinner hosted by the World Sikh Council for Canadian MPs in June, she was all set to leave before realising her passport could not be issued without the Home Ministry nod.‘‘If this is not discrimination against Sikhs, then what else would you call it?’’ Kiranjot fumes. She shot off letters to the Home Minister to protest against the incident.Similarly, a head granthi of Darbar Sahib is still waiting for his passport a year after he filed an application.Many SGPC members and staff have had to approach the high court to get their passports cleared. They include Ajaib Singh, the SGPC secretary who was denied a passport a few years after Operation Blue Star.Even state officials admit the SGPC-specific order has little relevance now. ‘‘The point we are trying to raise,’’ adds Kiranjot, ‘‘is that with the SGPC House being a body of elected representatives — its elections ironically are overseen by the Home Ministry — is there a need for screening of its members by intelligence agencies and the like?’’At a meeting held between SGPC officials, Punjab government representatives and the Union Home Ministry in Delhi yesterday, Advani ordered a review of the controversial policy. Kiranjot Kaur was also present at the meeting.
