'Install Nijjar, Panjwar, Gajinder portraits in Golden Temple'

Jathedar of the Akal Takht, the supreme temporal seat of the Sikh community, Giani Raghbir Singh has asked the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee to put up portraits of three Khalistani separatists in the central Sikh museum in the Golden Temple complex.

While describing them "martyrs" of Sikh community, the Akal Takht jathedar asked the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee to install portraits of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, Paramjit Singh Panjwar and Gajinder Singh.

In a statement in Amritsar, he said the SGPC should display the portraits of the trio "in view of their sacrifices and contribution towards the Sikh community".

Gajinder Singh, the founder of Dal Khalsa, was one of the five men accused of hijacking an Indian Airlines plane to Lahore in 1981. He reportedly died of a heart attack in Pakistan recently at the age of 74.

India had put Gajinder's name on the list of 20 most wanted terrorists in 2002.

Khalistan separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar was killed outside Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in British Columbia, Canada on June 18, 2023. Born in India, Nijjar migrated to Canada in the mid-1990s.

Last year, the ties between India and Canada came under severe strain following Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's allegations in September of the "potential" involvement of Indian agents in the killing of Nijjar.

New Delhi had rejected Trudeau's charges as "absurd".

Paramjit Singh Panjwar (63) was killed in Pakistan last year.

Panjwar was heading the banned Khalistan Commando Force-Panjwar group and was involved in drugs and weapons smuggling and other terror activities when he was designated as a terrorist by India under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in July 2020.