Jan-March 2006 - Institute of Sikh Studies

NEWS & VIEWS111NEWS & VIEWSINTERNATIONAL SIKH CONFEDERATION LAUNCHEDChandigarh, November 13, 2005. An International conclave washeld at Chandigarh on the 12th and 13th November, 2005, by a numberof like-minded Sikh Bodies on the initiative of the Institute of SikhStudies (IOSS), Chandigarh. A large number of scholars and eminentSikhs from India and abroad, attended the conclave. As a result ofthe deliberations, the International Sikh Confederation is a global Sikhorganisation was formed. The three Press notes issued on this historicevent are reproduced below, while the Resolution appears on page100 of this issue.1Chandigarh, November 8, 2005. The proposal to form a GlobalSikh Organisation in the wake of the collapse of the now defunctWorld Sikh Council, was mooted very forcefully by the Institute ofSikh Studies, Chandigarh in November 2003. On the culmination ofa very well-attended Seminar held at Gurdwara Kanthala Sahib (NearTribune Chowk) Chandigarh, a Resolution was passed “accepting thenecessity for a Central Body of the Sikhs with Global representationwhose deliberations will guide and assist the entire Sikh Community.”Sardar Gurcharan Singh Tohra, the then SGPC President addressedthe Seminar, blessed the idea and assured that the SGPC wouldwelcome the move, provided it does not hurt the existing PanthicInstitutions.On 21 st Feb, 2004, the IOSS formed an ‘Action Committee’consisting of representatives from a wide spectrum of Sikh Institutions/Gurdwara Committees/Study Groups to give effect to the Resolutionpassed in Nov. 2003. This Group further nominated a Core Group