{Brampton temple attack} Mann asks Centre to raise issue with Canadian govt

Chief minister Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday condemned the attack on a temple in Brampton and urged the Centre to take up the issue with the Canadian government to prevent such incidents in the future.
Protesters carrying Khalistani flags clashed with people at the Hindu temple on Sunday.
“I strongly condemn the incident. I also demand from the government of India to speak to the Canadian government over this issue in order to prevent such incidents in future,” Mann said in Bathinda.
“What has happened during the past few days in Canada is condemnable. Canada is the second home for Punjabis, no one wants such violent incidents to happen there,” he said.
“Punjabis are peaceful people… where ever we have been, Punjabis achieved everything with hard work. Such acts had a bad impact on the image of all the Punjabis. The relations between India and Canada should be normalised and there should be talks on the federal government level. The politics of religion should not be done anywhere,” he added.
On Sunday, an Indian consular camp at the Hindu Sabha mandir witnessed a ‘violent disruption’ near Toronto. Following the attacks, the Hindu-Canadian Foundation, a non-profit organisation working for the Hindu community in Canada, shared a video of the attack on the temple and claimed that pro-Khalistani supporters attacked kids and women.
Both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau condemned the incident.
In October, bilateral relations hit the lowest after the Canadian authorities named the Indian high commissioner Sanjay Verma as a “person of interest” in their probe into Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s killing.
New Delhi retaliated by summoning Ottawa’s Charge d’Affaires and lodging a strong protest, before withdrawing the Indian envoy and expelling six Canadian diplomats.
Defeat conspiracies to divide Hindus, Sikhs: SAD
Chandigarh: Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) working president Balwinder Singh Bhundar also condemned the incident and appealed to people of Indian origin to defeat conspiracies to divide them on communal lines.
Bhundar called upon the Canadian government to ensure all places of religious worship were secure from such acts of violence.
In a statement, Bhundar said, “attempts are afoot to divide Sikhs and Hindus in Canada on communal lines. This is against the teachings of our Guru sahiban who have preached the concept of ‘sarbat da bhala’ (welfare of all).
“The SAD also has always stood for communal harmony and has also made numerous sacrifices to uphold this principle. It is a votary of Hindu-Sikh ‘bhaichara’ and has ensured impeccable peace and communal harmony during its successive terms in government in Punjab,”he said.
He appealed to people from both communities in Canada to recognise their common roots and exercise utmost restraint and maintain communal harmony at this critical juncture.
Bhundar also appealed to the Canadian government to ensure safety of all persons of Indian origin as well as safety of their places of worship.