1,600 cops on vigil for Trudeau’s visit today Dosanjh blames Canadian ‘footsie with Khalistanis’ for cold reception
SGPC security on toes as well to keep away radical elements when Canadian Prime Minister, family pay obeisance at Golden Temple
AMRITSAR : Amritsar police commissioner SS Srivastava is leading a team of 1,600 cops keeping vigil ahead of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s visit to the holy city on Wednesday.
Trudeau is scheduled to pay obeisance at the Golden Temple along with his family after landing at Sri Guru Ram Das Jee International Airport around 10:30am. He will also meet Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh after visiting Partition Museum and fly to Delhi around 1:15pm.
Canadian defence minister Harjit Singh Sajjan and three other Canadian federal ministers of Punjab origin are travelling with Trudeau during the eight-day visit.
The whole city turned into a police cantonment on Tuesday with Punjab special security group (SSG) personnel and commandos adding to the local police strength. Punjab director general of police (DGP, intelligence) is overseeing the arrangements from Chandigarh.
Two deputy inspector generals, eight senior superintendents of police, 10 superintendent of police (SPS) and 15 deputy superintendents of police from Amritsar city, rural and adjoining districts are leading various teams. Heavy police force has been deployed on the 13km stretch from the airport to Golden Temple. “We are not blocking any route in Amritsar, keeping in view the heavy footfall of tourists and devotees,” said additional deputy commissioner of police (ADCP, headquarters and security) Charanjit Singh.
The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has also deployed its volunteers at the Golden Temple to keep an eye on any radical elements that may seek to rake up the Khalistan issue.
SGPC president Gobind Singh Longowal held a series of meetings to discuss the preparations being made for Trudeau’s welcome and also issued dress code instructions for its officials and members of SGPC’S internal security task force.
The SGPC has arranged a specially crafted 24-karat goldplated portrait of the shrine and a gold-plated ‘Sri Sahib’ (a small six-inch sword) to be presented to Trudeau along with a ‘siropa’ (robe of honour) and a shawl.
In a statement, Akal Takht jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh said if Trudeau comes to pay obeisance at the highest temporal seat of the Sikhs, he will be honoured there too.
AKALIS SLAM CENTRE
Meanwhile, SGPC members belonging to the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), which is a partner in the Bjp-led Union government, slammed the Centre for keeping Trudeau’s visit “low key” and assigning a junior minister to receive him at the Delhi airport. Gurcharan Singh Grewal, a senior SGPC member and president of Sikh Students Federation, alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi discriminated with Trudeau by skipping his reception, while he has welcomed warmly other world leaders during their visit to India. “This has left the Sikhs disappointed,” he said. CHANDIGARH: Liberal Party leader and former premier of British Columbia Ujjal Dosanjh has blamed the Indian government’s cool reception to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on the “footsie” played by Canadian politicians with Khalistan sympathisers.
Mincing no words in an interaction with CBC News Network’s Natasha Fatah on Tuesday, Dosanjh said Canada cannot afford to interfere in the internal affairs of India, either directly or indirectly. Saying that the Khalistan movement was long dead in Punjab and India, he rued that it continued to find traction in Canada due to politicians of all hues “playing footsie” with Khalistanis.
“That is what irritates India… if you want to develop a relationship with the sixth largest economy of the world, then you have to be mindful of these concerns,” said Dosanjh.
Welcoming Trudeau’s move seeking a meeting with Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh, Dosanjh said Canada has a great potential of increasing trade with India. A meeting with Amarinder will be a step in that direction.
Dosanjh traced the genesis of the present chill in the Indo-canadian relations to the rebuff dealt by the Canadian foreign minister to Capt, when he wanted to address the Punjabi diaspora in Canada in 2015. “He (Capt) was offended and he knew this had been initiated by a Khalistani group…that is the origin of this problem.”
Dosanjh also blamed this rebuff for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cold treatment to Trudeau. “The PM of India is mindful of the fact that they snubbed CM Capt Amarinder twice, once by rejecting his visit, and second by saying we are not interested in a meeting with him. That’s not how you create better relations.”
To a question whether separatists had gained more ground in the West, Dosanjh said, “In India people live with each other. They realise that the 1980s were terrible times, lots of mistakes were made by the government of India… Sikhs and Hindus, other than 1984, have never fought with each other, have never killed each other in history, and it was a tragic aberration. They have moved on, but the second, third generation Canadians here haven’t been able to deal with their own minds and they want a Khalistan.”
Underlining that Sikhs in Punjab and India don’t want a Khalistan, Dosanjh said Canada is becoming a butt of jokes in India.