The highest temporal authority of the Sikh faith announced plans Tuesday to build a memorial in Punjab dedicated to the thousands of people who disappeared or were killed during the region's decade-long insurgency.

Giani Kuldip Singh Gargajj, the acting Jathedar of the Akal Takht, made the announcement during a mass prayer service (Ardas) held at the Harike Headworks on the banks of the Sutlej River. The gathering brought together hundreds of families carrying photographs of missing loved ones who vanished during the turbulent period between 1980 and 1995.

Gargajj directed the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC)—the body responsible for managing Sikh places of worship—to draft a comprehensive historical archive documenting all major extrajudicial killings, massacres, and disappearances from that era.

"Preserving these historical records is absolutely vital for future generations," Gargajj told the congregation.

The joint prayer ceremony was notable for its cross-community focus. The Akal Takht emphasized that the service was a unified collective prayer for all Punjabis, explicitly honoring both Sikh and Hindu families who lost relatives to the violence.

The event comes amid renewed public debate in India over human rights abuses in Punjab. The controversy was sparked by the brief release and subsequent removal from a streaming platform of Satluj (formerly titled Punjab '95), a biographical film centered on the life of slain human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra.

Rajiv Singh Randhawa, a key witness in the Khalra murder trial, addressed the crowd, accusing the authorities of the time of killing Khalra in an attempt to bury evidence of widespread human rights violations.

The service drew prominent representatives from various political and religious factions across Punjab, concluding with the Jathedar presenting ceremonial robes of honour (siropas) to the families of victims and human rights advocates.

In the 1990s, Khalra uncovered government records proving that security forces had illegally cremated thousands of missing youths, labeling their bodies as "unclaimed." Khalra himself disappeared and was killed by police officers in September 1995.