The Golden Temple, the most sacred place for Sikhs, has received five threat emails over the past three days, causing fear and concern among the community.
The first threatening email was received on July 14 by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), which manages the Golden Temple. Shockingly, this email came from a fake email ID claiming to be Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. SGPC immediately informed the police and called in cyber experts to trace the source.
The next day, July 15, a second threat email was sent. This time it was also sent to Member of Parliament Gurjit Singh and used a fake email ID pretending to be former Chief Justice of India, Justice Chanderchur Singh.
Things became more serious on July 16, when three more threat emails were received. These came from a fake ID of someone named Asif Gaffur. The emails were sent to SGPC and Punjab’s Chief Minister.
SGPC President Harjinder Singh Dhami expressed deep concern and disappointment. “We informed the police as soon as we got the first email, but there has been no strong response yet,” he said. “The Golden Temple is the spiritual heart of Sikhs. If threats to it don’t get the government’s attention, then what will?”
Dhami also questioned why the Punjab Chief Minister and MP Gurjit Singh have not spoken publicly, even though they also received one of the threat emails.
He raised doubts about the presence of Border Security Force (BSF) personnel around the Golden Temple. He feared this might be a planned effort to scare away devotees and reduce the number of visitors. “Any government with basic cyber tools can trace an email’s IP address in an hour,” he added, questioning the delay in action.
Dhami said SGPC has now activated its own cyber team but stressed that it’s the government’s duty to act fast and be transparent. “The people behind these threats must be found and punished.”
He ended with a strong message to the public and authorities: “Jago, Sovo Na” (Wake up, don’t sleep). “We can’t stay silent when our sacred place is being threatened,” he said.
