India concerned at attack on Sikhs

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, SEPT. 16. India has sought help of the U.S. authorities to prevent attack on Sikhs following the killing of a Sikh in Arizona yesterday in the aftermath of terrorist attacks in New York and Washington on September 11.

Reports from Chandigarh said that the Punjab Chief Minister, Mr. Parkash Singh Badal, spoke to the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, requesting him to ask the U.S. authorities to ensure protection to Sikhs who were being attacked as a result of mistaken identity. The spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said that the Indian Embassy in Washington and Consulates elsewhere in the U.S. were ``in touch with the authorities there.'' She said that India had conveyed its concern for the safety of the Sikhs even as she expressed the Government's ``deepest sympathy'' to the family of the victim.

Reports from the U.S. have said that Balbir Singh Sodhi was gunned down at a petrol station in Arizona yesterday. There have been other reports of violence against Sikhs who were mistaken to be Arabs presumably because of their beards and turbans.

The MEA spokesperson said that already the U.S. authorities have stepped up police patrolling in areas where Indians are present in some numbers, and there have been appeals issued by the U.S. authorities on television channels asking people not to resort to violence against minority ethnic groups.

UNI reports:

The Jathedar of the Akal Takht - the highest spiritual and temporal seat of Sikhs - Giani Joginder Singh, and the head priest of the Golden Temple, Prof. Manjit Singh, have condemned the terrorist attacks in the U.S. and expressed concern over the Sikhs being mistaken as Arabs and assaulted.

In a statement issued in New Delhi today, they expressed sympathies with the U.S. victims and advised the Sikhs living there to ``help them in all possible ways''.

They appealed to the U.S., the Red Cross and other international agencies to ensure safety of innocent civilians during the U.S. attacks on terrorist hideouts.

In a separate statement, the Shiromani Gurdwara Sewadar Committee has denounced the attacks on the U.S. and appealed to the Sikhs in the U.S. to cooperate with the Bush administration in their fight against terrorism.

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