Hard evidence of Pak support to Sikh militants
LAHORE: Even as a fresh diplomatic row started between India and Pakistan over Indian diplomats not being allowed to meet Sikh pilgrims visiting Lahore, there is a larger security issue that has developed with photographs of Sikh militant leader Gopal Singh Chawla with Lashkar-e-taiba chief Hafiz Saeed emerging where both are seen greeting each other.
The photographic evidence reveals that Pakistan-based terror-outfits Jaish-e-mohammad (JEM) and Jamaat-ud-dawa (JUD) are backing Sikh militants.
According to reports, Chawla, under the instructions of the Pakistani authorities, recently stopped Indian officials from entering Gurdwara Panja Sahib on April 14 (Baisakhi day).
Earlier on April 12, the officials were also stopped from meeting the Sikh pilgrims when they reached Wagah, the first station when a train crosses over to Pakistan.
LAHORE: EVEN as a fresh diplomatic row started between India and Pakistan over Indian diplomats not being allowed to meet Sikh pilgrims visiting Lahore, there is a larger security issue that has developed with photographs of Sikh militant leader Gopal Singh Chawla with Lashkar-e-taiba chief Hafiz Saeed emerging where both are seen greeting each other.
The photographic evidence reveals that Pakistan-based terror-outfits Jaish-e-mohammad (JEM) and Jamaat-ud-dawa (JUD) are backing Sikh militants. According to reports, Chawla, under the instructions of the Pakistani authorities, recently stopped Indian officials from entering Gurdwara Panja Sahib on April 14 (Baisakhi day).
Earlier on April 12, the officials were also stopped from meeting the Sikh pilgrims when they reached Wagah, the first station when a train crosses over to Pakistan.the embassy officials went to meet Indian pilgrims as a standard practice to help them out with consular duties and emergencies.
A group of around 1,800 Indian pilgrims reached Pakistan to visit the shrines on the occasion of Baisakhi, the birth of Khalsa.
The visit of pilgrims takes place under a bilateral agreement on facilitating religious visits. To run Pakistan’s anti-india propaganda, Sikh militants also placed posters of “Referendum 2020” in Parikarma of Gurdwara Panja Sahib, the holy Sikh shrine.
Indian said high commissioner Ajay Bisaria, who was to greet the pilgrims on Baisakhi, was also “compelled” to return for unspecified security reasons while on his way to Gurdwara Panja Sahib. The ministry of external affairs (MEA) described it as an “diplomatic discourtesy” in violation of the Vienna Convention.
This violated the 1992 bilateral protocol on the treatment of each other’s diplomats, which the two countries “reaffirmed” recently, said the statement. The terror outfits in Pakistan work under the patronage of country’s intelligence agencies, including the ISI. They use these outfits to wage a proxy war against India and create trouble in the country, said the statement.