Tuesday, January 3 2006 18:12 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Sharing concern over the plight of Indian prisoners in Pakistan, President A P J Abdul Kalam today (Jan 3, 2006) asked the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee to furnish him with a list of Sikhs jailed in that country without trial, SGPC chief Avtar Singh Makkar said.

The President also asked for a list of people languishing in Punjab jails without trial since their imprisonment during the unrest in the state, Makkar told sources after meeting Kalam at the Rashtrapati Bhavan here.

"We will be submitting the lists with his office within a couple of days," the SGPC chief said.

Makkar, who met the President with Akali MPs Sukhbir Singh Badal and Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, also sought presidential intervention over the SGPC's request to allow it to manage the proposed bus service between Amritsar and Nankana Sahib in Pakistan.

In his nine-point memorandum to Kalam, the SGPC chief referred to the condition of gurdwaras in post-war Afghanistan, saying Sikh shrines in that country required immediate attention.

"We requested him that the Indian Government should takeup the issue with Afghanistan, which should be requested to allow the SGPC to carry out 'kar sewa' there," he said.

Makkar also requested restoration of literary material the SGPC alleged was seized during Operation Blue Star in 1984 from Amritsar's Sikh Reference Library.

Besides, the SGPC memorandum carried a request for Indian intervention over the ban on Sikh turbans in state schools in France as part of that country's secularity law.