Tarn Taran, Jul 14 (PTI): Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Kuldeep Singh Gargajj on Tuesday said "Shaheedi" memorial will be set up at Harike Pattan here as he performed an 'ardas' (Sikh prayer) in the memory of human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra and Sikh youths who were declared missing or were allegedly victims of extrajudicial killings during the militancy period.

Gargajj further announced that the Akal Takht, through the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, would comprehensively document the details of all those who were allegedly killed, declared unclaimed, and cremated without being handed over to their families between 1982 and 1995.

He said these records would become part of the official archives of Sri Akal Takht Sahib.

The 'ardas' on the banks of the Satluj river had been announced by the head priest of the supreme temporal seat of the Sikhs after the issue came into focus following a row over Diljit Dosanjh-starrer 'Satluj' which is based on Khalra, who had brought such cases to light.

In the prayer, Gargajj remembered those who were cremated as "unclaimed" and whose bodies were dumped into rivers as he raised the issue of human rights violations.

He also named one Hindu --Gulshan Kumar --from Tarn Taran, who allegedly disappeared.

"We are not speaking about any particular religion. We have come here to speak about human rights," he noted.

Paying tributes to Khalra, Gargajj said the human rights activist was killed and his body was dumped at this place.

"No martyr of our 'Panth' is unclaimed," he said. "Today, the entire Panth remembers martyrs. It is the responsibility of the 'Panth' to remember our martyrs. 'Qaum' considers Khalra as 'Qaumi Shaheed' and will continue to do so," Gargajj said.

Addressing a gathering this evening following the 'ardas', Gargajj asked the SGPC to build a memorial at the site in the memory of those whose bodies were disposed of as unclaimed during the militancy period.

"Where we are standing is known as Harike Pattan. There is a direction to the SGPC that 'Shaheedi Pattan' memorial be built at Harike Pattan with the support of entire Sikh community," he said.

He declared that from this day onward, the site where Sikh youths were "martyred" and their "dismembered" bodies thrown into the rivers would be known as "Shaheedi Pattan".

A large number of people had gathered at the Harike Pattan here. Among them were those whose family members went missing during the militancy period.

Gargajj also recalled that "countless young Sikhs" were killed, dismembered, and their remains dumped into the confluence of the Sutlej and Beas rivers at Harike, as well as into other rivers, canals, and waterways across Punjab.

He prayed that the Khalsa Panth be blessed with the determination and strength to secure justice for the sons and daughters of Punjab, and also sought blessings for the families and children of the martyrs to remain in high spirits.

During the ceremony, the Guru Granth Sahib was respectfully installed in a special 'Palki Sahib', followed by the recitation of 'Sri Sukhmani Sahib'.

Thereafter, the Hazoori Ragis led by Bhai Simarpreet Singh from Sri Harmandir Sahib performed Gurbani Kirtan for the congregation.

Speaking to the media on the occasion, SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami said that Khalra fought tirelessly to secure justice for the young Sikhs who were cremated after being declared "unclaimed".

He claimed that in an attempt to silence the voice of truth, the police abducted Khalra, subjected him to torture, martyred him, and disposed of his body in a river.

Dhami said that Khalra is a "Panthic martyr" who commands immense respect within the Sikh community.

He added that the SGPC would implement the directive issued by the Jathedar to construct a Shaheedi memorial at Harike Pattan, where the names of the "martyrs" would be inscribed.

Amid the row over the film 'Satluj', the Akal Takht Jathedar had called a special religious gathering on the banks of the Satluj river at Harike Pattan on Tuesday evening to perform 'ardas' for Sikh youths whose alleged extrajudicial killings were brought to light by Khalra.

Before the prayers on Tuesday, Union minister Ravneet Singh Bittu had appealed to the Jathedar to remember all the victims of the violence witnessed in Punjab during the 1990s in his 'ardas'.

"The blood that was shed then did not belong to terrorists alone, nor to the police, nor only to innocent civilians. It was Punjab's blood. It was the blood of Punjabis," the minister said in a statement on X.

The BJP leader had on Sunday questioned why the film 'Satluj' had underplayed "the massacres of innocent Hindus" and the "immense sacrifice of Punjab Police personnel, security forces and countless brave citizens who fought terrorism".

Khalra was abducted in front of his house in Amritsar in September 1995. He was later found to have been murdered, though his body was never found.

The film was pulled from the OTT platform ZEE5 for viewers in India two days following its release on July 3 after the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting cited security concerns.

In November 2005, a CBI court had sentenced former DSP Jaspal Singh and ASI Amarjit Singh to life imprisonment for Khalra's abduction and murder, while four other policemen were handed seven-year jail terms each.

In 2007, the Punjab and Haryana High Court acquitted Amarjit Singh while enhancing the sentences of the four other convicts to life imprisonment, a decision that the Supreme Court upheld in 2011. PTI CHS VSD KVK KVK

(This story is published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. No editing has been done in the headline or the body by ABP Live.)