Amritsar: The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) President Harjinder Singh Dhami reacted to the souring diplomatic relations between India and Canada and said that the governments of both the countries should bring the matters on the agenda of serious consideration.

In an official statement here today, the SGPC President said that the Sikhs are living across the globe, whose human rights as well as religious concerns are also important.

The Sikh community has gone through many painful times, including the June 1984 military attack on Sachkhand Sri Harmandir Sahib and Akal Takht Sahib, the 1984 Sikh Genocide and the extra-judicial killings of Sikh youths of a decade. The Sikh community living across the globe can never forget this pain. Even today, the Sikhs living in many countries have been deprived of coming to their homeland and of paying obeisance at the sacred shrines of their Gurus (religious masters).

Dhami said that in the murder case of Canada based Sikh Hardeep Singh Nijjer, the expelling of a diplomatic officer of India by Canadian government after allegations were levelled against him raises many questions. As a reaction to this, even though India rejected the allegations and expelled a Canadian diplomatic officer, this matter is very serious and directly related to the Sikhs which is going to affect the community members at the global level.

He said the Sikhs have always kept their presence and existence high in the country as well as in the whole world with their hardworking nature and intellectual strength, but despite this, the Sikhs always have to struggle for their rights. It is the responsibility of the government of the country to adopt a sincere approach regarding such matters related to the Sikhs of the country and abroad and not to allow an atmosphere of distrust among the community members.

Dhami appealed to the Government of India to simplify the issues of Sikhs in India and move towards an appropriate and meaningful solution by understanding the problems and feelings of the Sikh community living abroad. He said that seeing the existence of Sikhs in the whole world today, both Canada and India need to join hands, so that the truth can come out in case of accusations and the relations between the two countries also remain good.