Satluj row to reach Harike Pattan, Khalra's wife backs Akal Takht's Ardas call

The controversy surrounding the Diljit Dosanjh-starrer Satluj, based on the life and death of activist and Khalistani sympathiser Jaswant Singh Khalra, is set to play out at Harike Pattan, the alleged Ground Zero, on Tuesday. An eyewitness claimed that Khalra's body was dumped into a canal at Harike Pattan. The Akal Takht, the highest temporal seat of Sikhism, has called for Ardas (prayer) at Harike Pattan on Tuesday, and Khalra's wife, Paramjit Kaur Khalra, has urged people to participate in large numbers. She has also made three demands.

The Ardas by Akal Takht is for the "eternal peace" of youths who went missing never to be found in the years when Punjab was gripped by Khalistani militancy and counter-insurgency excesses. Paramjit Kaur Khalra called upon people across Punjab and the Sikh diaspora to participate in what she described as a "collective quest for truth and justice".

It is alleged that Harike Pattan is the site where hundreds of unidentified bodies were allegedly cremated or dumped into the canal by Punjab Police after extrajudicial killings during the peak Khalistani insurgency years. The body of Jaswant Singh Khalra, who was documenting these alleged extrajudicial killings, was also dumped at Harike Patan, according to an eyewitness.

Dosanjh plays Khalra in Satluj, which sparked a controversy after it was platformed and removed within 48 hours by ZEE5.

The call for Ardas by the Akal Takht comes after the movie triggered a debate over its removal and the alleged fake encounters and mass cremations in Punjab in the 1980s and 1990s.

Khalra, who is called a pro-khalistani voice by critics, investigated the cremation of thousands of unidentified bodies in Punjab during a 10-year period from 1984 to 1994. Khalra was kidnapped in 1995 and was never found. In 2005, four Punjab Police personnel were convicted for Khalra's abduction and murder and sentenced to seven years in prison. Two years later, the Punjab and Haryana High Court increased their sentence to life imprisonment.

AKAL TAKTH ANNOUNCES ARDAS FOR VICTIMS WHO WERE ALLEGEDLY KILLED BY PUNJAB POLICE

Announcing the religious congregation on July 8, Akal Takht's officiating Jathedar, Giani Kuldeep Singh Gargaj, said the Ardas would be offered for the "eternal peace" of Sikh youths "who were killed by the police" and "whose cases were brought to light by Khalra".

According to the news agency PTI, Gargaj also said that "countless mothers and sisters still did not know what had happened to their sons and brothers, and the time had come for the world to learn what transpired in Punjab and for the victims' families to receive justice."

"The prayer ceremony will begin at 6 pm in the location where the bodies of innocent youths who had been killed were reportedly disposed of in the river," Gargajj added.

The Jathedar invited families of the victims and all those who have worked for human rights to attend the gathering.

JASWANT SINGH KHALRA'S WIFE CALLS PEOPLE TO ASSEMBLE FOR ARDAS

Soon after the announcement of the Ardas by the Akal Takht, Paramjit Kaur Khalra amplified the call through a post on X. She urged "the people of Punjab, the entire Sikh Panth, and people around the world who believe in justice for human rights" to assemble at Harike Pattan for the July 14 Ardas.

"The military action at the Golden Temple in June 1984, the anti-Sikh violence of November 1984, and the subsequent period marked by alleged torture, unidentified bodies and fake police encounters continue to await accountability decades later," Paramjit wrote in her post.

She levelled allegations against successive governments, accusing the then Congress government of carrying out gross human rights violations while claiming later governments failed to ensure justice. She further alleged that governments led by the Shiromani Akali Dal rewarded police officers accused of abuses with official positions, legal support and privileges. At the same time, victim families continued to face neglect and legal harassment.

AAP GOVT SHIELDING CONVICTED COPS, SAYS PARAMJIT KAUR KHALRA

Paramjit also accused the Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann-led Aam Aadmi Party government in Punjab of shielding convicted police personnel instead of ensuring accountability.

"The current Aam Aadmi Party government has followed the same path by helping convicted police personnel evade the law instead of bringing them to court; among them are DSP Jaspal Singh, the killer of Khalra, former Inspector Jasbir Singh, and Satnam Singh," she wrote.

Paramjit's post also referred to allegations against the BJP-led central government concerning alleged assassination plots abroad, arguing that impunity for human rights violations has continued across political dispensations.

"The BJP government is also facing serious allegations from the FBI regarding assassinations targeting individuals on foreign soil," alleged Paramjit.

Paramjit must be referring to the allegations of former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's claim that the Indian government was involved in the murder of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey in 2023. New Delhi vociferously challenged the allegations. Now, the US and the Canadian government have now charged gangs for the murder, and given a clean chit to the Indian government.

PARAMJIT KAUR KHALRA'S THREE DEMANDS BEFORE AKAL TAKHT

Beyond the call to attend the Ardas, Paramjit made three key demands to the Akal Takht in the same X post.

She demanded the formation of a people's commission to establish the true number of those who disappeared or were killed in alleged fake encounters in Punjab during the 1980s and 1990s.

Paramjit also urged that the Akal Takht must recognise unidentified victims exposed through Jaswant Singh Khalra's work in the Central Sikh Museum, and provide financial assistance from the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) for affected families.

She also called for those responsible for, or complicit in, alleged human rights violations to be stripped of official honours and subjected to public accountability, asserting that the memory of Punjab's "unidentified bodies" and Khalra "should not become a tool for political mobilisation but a reminder of the unfinished pursuit of truth and justice".

With the Satluj controversy reopening wounds from Punjab's insurgency era, Tuesday's Ardas at Harike Pattan is set to become more than a religious ceremony.

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