Akal Takht will shortly problem an official notificationand repair a date to honour Gajinder Singh (File)
Amritsar:
The Akal Takht, the very best temporal seat of the Sikhs, has determined to confer the “Panth Sewak” award on radical outfit Dal Khalsa founder Gajinder Singh, one of many 5 males accused of hijacking an Indian Airways airplane to Lahore in 1981.
India had put Gajinder Singh’s identify within the checklist of 20 “most wished” terrorists in 2002.
An official of the Akal Takht on Sunday mentioned it was determined throughout a gathering of 5 Sikh head monks just lately to confer the award on Gajinder Singh.
Looking for anonymity, the official mentioned it was determined to honour him “for his contributions to the Sikh neighborhood”.
He mentioned the Akal Takht will shortly problem an official notification on this regard and repair a date to honour him.
Presently, Gajinder Singh is residing in Pakistan’s Lahore.
Within the wake of the hijacking, the Union authorities had banned the Dal Khalsa in 1982. The ban was, nonetheless, lifted a decade later.
In Pakistan, Gajinder Singh and others had been sentenced to life imprisonment. They spent round 14 years in jail, mentioned Dal Khalsa spokesperson Kanwar Pal.
Gajinder Singh reached Germany in July 1996 to start out his life afresh however he was deported to Pakistan.
“A petition was filed by Dal Khalsa activists within the administrative courtroom of Germany protesting the deportation of Gajinder Singh again to Pakistan. Since then, he’s in exile,” claimed Kanwar Pal.
Concerning the Dal Khalsa founder’s household, he mentioned his spouse and daughter had been allowed to go to him in jail in 1987-88 and after they once more visited Pakistan in 1990, they by no means returned to India.
Thereafter, his spouse settled in Germany and daughter was married within the UK. His spouse Manjit Kaur died in Germany final 12 months, he mentioned.
Gajinder Singh is presently the patron of the Dal Khalsa, he mentioned.
The airplane was hijacked with 111 passengers and 6 crew members on board on September 29, 1981.
The accused compelled the airplane to land in Lahore of Pakistan, the place they had been arrested and underwent imprisonment from September 30, 1981 to October 31, 1994.
The hijackers had demanded the discharge of a number of Khalistani terrorists, together with Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale.
Pakistan used its elite commando drive to get all passengers launched.
(Aside from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV workers and is revealed from a syndicated feed.)
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