Former president of Gurdwara panel held

Lahore: The Pakistani authorities have arrested the Nankana-based former president of the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, Sardar Mastaan Singh, on charges of embezzlement of funds.

According to the sources in the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB), which looks after the affairs of the Sikh Gurdwaras in Pakistan, Mastan Singh has been arrested on a complaint filed by the incumbent Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (PGPC) President Bishan Singh, accusing his predecessor of embezzling the committee funds.

Bishan Singh said Mastan Singh was involved in the embezzlement of Rs500,000 (Dh29,400) belonging to the Sikh community pool.

He said former PGPC finance secretary, Ravil Singh, from whom the accused had taken the money in November 2005, had got a case registered against him after one year when the money was not returned to the committee despite repeated reminders.

Bishan Singh said in addition to embezzlement of the Sikh community's funds, Mastaan Singh has also been found involved in such activities that could malign the whole Sikh community living in Pakistan.

However, more than two dozen Pakistani Sikhs, while refuting the corruption charges against Mastan Singh, staged a protest outside the head office of the Evacuee Trust Property Board in Lahore to condemn his arrest.

The Sikh protesters, who were demanding an immediate release of the accused, smashed flower pots placed in the corridors of the ETPB office after the officials refused to accede to their demand.