Toronto-area Sikhs are calling for a visiting Indian government cabinet minister to be sent packing from Canada for alleged human rights violations which resulted in killings of Sikhs.
Kamal Nath, a well-respected Indian minister of highways and roads, began a week-long state visit to Canada last Wednesday. During his stay he will meet with members of Canada’s Indian community.
About 30 Sikh gurudwaras (churches) from across the country have written to Ottawa asking that the government deny Nath entry to Canada. Complainants claim Nath led a 1984 protest in New Delhi in which 3,000 Sikhs were killed.
Nath, who was never charged with any wrongdoing, was identified as being involved in leading the attacks on Sikhs which took place after former prime minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination.
Amarjit Singh Mann, of the Ontario Gurudwaras Committee, contended Nath would never pass a background check, as other immigrants do, to enter Canada.
“He participated in human rights violations by inciting and leading angry mobs that killed innocent Sikhs,” Mann alleged on Friday. “Sikhs across Canada don’t believe he should be allowed into this country.”
Mann, and others, are urging the Conservatives to return Nath to India immediately.
Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, of Sikhs for Justice, said Nath visited Canada in 2001 and 2006 without incident.
Pannun said witnesses have testified in court to seeing Nath leading an armed mob that attacked a gurudwara (church) and burned “several Sikhs alive.”
“We don’t want him in Canada,” Pannun said on Friday. “Anbody else with his background would have been banned from entering Canada.”
Community members plan a protest against Nath when he addresses the Canada-India Business Council on March 23, from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Le Meridien King Edward Hotel, on King St. E.
Catherine Loubier, of Foreign Affairs in Ottawa, said Nath is a long-serving elected representative in India and a key member of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s cabinet.
Loubier said allegations connected to the anti-Sikh riots of 1984 were brought before the 2000 Nanavati Commission, which found no evidence of wrongdoing on the part of Minister Nath.
“Minister Nath has visited Canada on past occasions beginning in 2001,” she said. “Several Canadian ministers and premiers have met with him in India.”