Sikh from Pakistan Refused Entry at Golden Temple

April 27, 2011

Sikh from Pakistan refused entry at Golden Temple

April 27, 2011 10:48:35 PM

JAGMOHAN SINGH | AMRITSAR

A Sikh devotee from Pakistan was not allowed to enter the sanctum sanctorum of the Golden Temple here by members of the task force of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee on Monday night.

Tarun Singh, who is a resident of a village near Peshawar and speaks only the Pashto language, had come to the country for the purpose of paying obeisance to the Guru Granth Sahib.

However, when the matter was brought to the notice of SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar, he took a serious note of it and made special sitting arrangements inside the sanctum sanctorum for Singh. Makkar also expressed regret to him over the incident.
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/india/35254-sikh-pakistan-refused-entry-golden-temple.html

Commenting on the incident Makkar said that it was a matter of misunderstanding and the issue has now been resolved. "The visitor is satisfied and is not carrying any grudges," he said.
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=35254

According to an SGPC office member, Tarun, being a resident of Peshawar, did not speak any other language which led to a misunderstanding between him and task force members.

source: http://www.dailypioneer.com/334644/S...en-Temple.html

 
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Hmmnn...what does this mean exactly? if you don't speak Punjabi then your intentions will be questioned?? This appears to contradict the information on the SGPC website regarding access to the Golden Temple:

"Guru Arjan Sahib got it built on the lower level and unlike Hindu Temples having only one gate for the entrance and exit, Guru Sahib got it open from four sides. Thus he created a symbol of new faith, Sikhism. Guru Sahib made it accessible to every person without any distinction of Caste, creed, sex and religion. "

I must be missing something here. If you are not a Punjabi speaker you need to make special arrangements? I mean, I know I haven't been there since 1984, but how could our gurudwara have become so unwelcoming.
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=35254

Of course, unless you happen to be the Queen of England something.

Strange i do not talk Punjabi but have entered Golden temple so many times ....

That makes this even more puzzling. Why was Tarun Singh given a hard time?

It could be that someone took seva to the extreme. That can happened. Someone loses control. There is not very much information ... for example, what "task force" is the article referring to?

I just checked about 8 other links to the story. What Soul_jyot ji posted is about all there is on the net. There must be background to the task force thing but i can't find it.

I am guessing it is some sort of internal police force along simiilar lines to the Vatican perhaps......but I am searching too and came across this report which is a bit disturbing and refers to the actions of this task force:
http://www2.panthic.org/articles/5341/

The task force bit is about 2/3 of the way down the page

This is really bad...

I have Googled the exact phrase "SGPC Task Force" and a lot of hits have been returned and each one has described them in a negative way and criticised them for their physical approach

Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=35254
I still cannot find anything about the origins of such a group but the articles go back a few years....surely someone must know something about them?
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=35254

Not good...........