India stops Sikh pilgrims from boarding Pak train

LAHORE: After some unforeseen technicalities, around 1,000 Sikh pilgrims arrived on Sunday at the Wagah border via bus from India.

In anticipation of Indian Sikhs intending to perform their pilgrimage at Punjab’s historic Gurdwaras, the Pakistani government had dispatched a special train to Attari in India to transport Sikhs to the Wagah Railway Station.

But India refused sending the Sikh pilgrims on that train citing ‘security concerns’ and fear of bomb blasts.Talking to ‘The News’, Foreign Office (FO) officials in Islamabad said the Indian government had taken the decision due to fear of terrorist attacks in Pakistan. Some media reports in Pakistan suggested that the move was made in advance and the pilgrims had been advised by the Indian authorities to cross the Wagah-Attari border by foot.

Representatives of Sikh pilgrims said they had come to Pakistan to practice their religious rituals at Gurdwaras, especially Gurdwara Nankana Sahib and Gurdwara Panja Sahib in Hassan Abdal, 40 km from Rawalpindi.

They said both the Indian and Pakistan governments could not be blamed for the inconvenience they faced travelling to Lahore. They expressed their gratitude for the warm reception by a Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) officials in Pakistan. They referred to the concerns of the Indian government as a ‘misunderstanding’ and said Sikhs in Pakistan enjoyed equality in all affairs of the state.

Sikh protesters break into Parliament Housev

 

ISLAMABAD: Members of the Senate remained confined to the four walls of the upper house of parliament for three hours on Friday afternoon when Sikh community members broke into the Parliament House premises, unnoticed by the law enforcement and intelligence agencies.
Breaking all security checks and barricades, over 300 Sikh community members entered the premises of the Parliament House, despite the presence of a large contingent of police, to lodge their protest against the desecration of their holy book in Sindh.

Clarifying their position, the deputy commissioner and SSP Islamabad claimed that under an understanding, the district administration and the police had allowed the Sikh community members to hold a peaceful demonstration in front of the Islamabad Press Club but they violated the agreement.

The district administration, the Security Division and operational police passed the buck to each other but security experts pointed the finger at the Security Division and intelligence agencies.

“It was a failure of intelligence agencies first and thenthe Security Division is responsible for the serious negligence,” the officer said. The Parliament House security operators termed it the negligence of the district administration, the Security Division and operational police.

Police sources said about 300 Sikh community members reached Islamabad from Nankana Sahib (Hassan Abdal) on two buses when the police were battling the PTI protesters who were trying to enter the Red Zone.

The Sikh community members parked their buses at the Dhokri Chowk and marched towards the Parliament House and crossed the Serena check-post in the presence of 17 cops. The protesters entered the Red Zone from the Serena Hotel side and marched all the way down to the Parliament House through two kilometres of the Constitution Avenue housing the Diplomatic Enclave, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Prime Minister’s Secretariat, Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation, Election Commission of Pakistan and the Supreme Court of Pakistan and finally entered the Parliament House facing no resistance from the police force.

When this correspondent contacted SSP Operations Mohammad Ali Naikokara for comments, he said the operational police were engaged with the PTI’s violent protest near Nadra when the Sikh community members entered the Red Zone and marched towards the Parliament House. He said though it was the responsibility of the Security Division, the operational police could intercept the rally but they were engaged with the PTI rally.

Meanwhile, Senate Chairman Syed Nayyer Hussain Bukhari and Acting Speaker National Assembly Murtaza Javed Abbasi took notice of the Sikh community’s protest and sought a report from the Ministry of Interior and IGP Islamabad on the security lapse.

When the protesting Sikhs entered the Parliament House premises, Opposition Leader in the Senate Aitzaz Ahsan and PPP’s Parliamentary Leader in the Senate Mian Raza Rabbani, along with the opposition parties, were addressing a press conference. Seeing the protesters entering the premises, they stopped their press conference and moved into the Parliament House.

The protesters declared that multiple incidents of desecration of their holy book had taken place in different areas of the Sindh province during the last few weeks. They refused to leave the premises until the prime minister and interior minister assured them of an early arrest of culprits. They also called for protection in Sindh and other towns of Pakistan.

Later, after negotiations with the local administration, the Sikh protesters agreed to end their protest.Meanwhile, sources in the National Assembly told this reporter that SP Security, Islamabad, appeared before the acting speaker after the incident and told him that the police did not opt for baton charge as a sign of respect to the minorities. However, sources said Murtaza Javed Abbasi did not agree with the SP and told him that it was the third incidence of breach of the Parliament House’s security.

Meanwhile, IGP Aftab Cheema suspended SP Habibullah Khan Niazi, three DSPs, Khalid Virk, Safeer Hussain and Fida Satti, and two SHOs Sattar Shah (Bhara Kahu) and Abdur Rehman, making them scapegoats.