Amritsar, October 8
District magistrate Kahan Singh Pannu today imposed prohibitory orders under Section 144 in Amritsar district to ban publication of birs of Guru Granth Sahib by private publishers.

The orders have been issued three days after the incident in which activists of the Guru Granth Sahib Satkar Committee blackened the faces of two sons of publishers Jeewan Singh Chattar Singh in public.

Talking to The Tribune, Pannu said he had imposed the ban orders after holding discussions with representatives of various Sikh organisations. He said the orders would be effective for a month. However, the SGPC or any other organisation authorised by the SGPC had been excluded from the orders.

The state government is also likely to issue a notification banning the publication and selling of Guru Granth Sahib, except by the SGPC, shortly. General secretary of the SGPC Sukhdev Singh Bhaur said the SGPC was contemplating establishing a modern printing press in Mohali. The state government had also decided to approach the Central government to make a law under which action could be taken against a person who tries to publish the holy book without permission of the SGPC.