Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh on June 4 declined the Centre's offer of 'Z' category security to him, saying it would have hindered his interaction with the public for propagating the Sikh religion.
He, however, thanked the government for its offer earlier in the day. "I respect the sentiments of the Centre." His statement came after the Union Home Ministry granted him 'Z' category security.
Akal Takht is the highest temporal seat of Sikhs, and Jathedar is its appointed head.
The Jathedar said he came to know about the Centre's decision through the media. Home Ministry officials had said in Delhi earlier in the day that the decision to accord the country's second-highest category security to the Sikh religious leader was taken in view of the enhanced threat perception.
"I do not know what input the government has," said the Jathedar.
He said being the Jathedar of Akal Takht, his area of work is to propagate the Sikh religion, its principles, and tenets and he has to travel within and outside the country for the purpose.
During the discharge of this duty, he said, he often has to meet a lot of people and sometimes he needs to stay at somebody's residence.
"In such situations, travelling with 'Z' category security is not feasible for me," he said. "I want to say that with this 'Z' security, some problems would have naturally come in my propagation of the religion," he said, urging the Centre to withdraw its offer.
The Akal Takht Jathedar was one of 424 people whose security were pruned by the newly formed AAP government in Punjab. Even though his security was later restored, the Jathedar refused to take the State Government security again.
