New Delhi:
A day after a mob attack on the Nankana Sahib Gurdwara in Pakistan, Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri sought to know on Saturday whether those protesting across the country against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) needed more evidence of oppression of minorities in the neighbouring country.
Taking to Twitter, the Union housing and urban affairs minister said the violent mob that besieged the Nankana Sahib Gurdwara on Friday had threatened to change the name of the holy place to “Ghulam-e-Mustafa”.
Gurdwara Nankana Sahib, also known as Gurdwara Janam Asthan, is the site near Lahore in Pakistan where the first Guru of Sikhs, Guru Nanak, was born.
A violent mob had attacked the gurdwara and pelted it with stones on Friday.
“The violent mob that besieged Nankana Sahib Gurudwara has threatened to change the name of our holy place to Ghulam-e-Mustafa.
“Do those who are opposing the CAA need more evidence of oppression of minorities in Pakistan,” Puri said in a tweet in Hindi, along with a video clip that showed a mob threatening to change the name of the gurdwara.
Members the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) and Shiromani Akali Dal staged a protest near the Pakistan High Commission here on Saturday over the mob attack on the Nankana Sahib Gurdwara.
According to the CAA, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians who came to the country from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan till December 31, 2014, facing religious persecution in those nations, will not be treated as illegal immigrants but be given Indian citizenship.
-Nankana Sahib incident justifies CAA: BJP-
Condemning the attack on Gurudwara Nankana Sahib in Pakistan, the BJP on Saturday said that the incident justifies amendments made to the citizenship law to protect minorities in three neighbouring countries.
Addressing a conference here, BJP leader Meenakshi Lekhi said minorities in Pakistan have been subjected to threats for civil conversion, rapes and violence for decades and the Nankana incident shows how minorities there are persecuted and why they need citizenship in India.
Lekhi also said that this incident should open the eyes of Congress leaders such as Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Navjot Singh Sidhu, TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, the leftists and the “urban Naxals” who have been opposing the amended Citizenship Act.
-Attack on Nankana Sahib can’t be tolerated: Sukhbir Badal-
Condemning an alleged mob attack on the Nankana Sahib Gurdwara in Pakistan, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief Sukhbir Singh Badal on Saturday said such incidents could not be tolerated and demanded that the Pakistani government should be the needful at the earliest.
According to media reports, a mob attacked the Nankana Sahib Gurdwara, near Lahore in Pakistan, and hurled stones at Sikh pilgrims on Friday.
The shrine is revered by Sikhs as their first guru, Guru Nanak Dev, was born there.
“It is a condemnable act. We cannot tolerate such attacks on our holy shrines,” Badal said.
Wondering if there was “any law and order” in Pakistan, he said earlier, a Sikh girl was abducted there and now this attack on the gurdwara established that there was a threat to minorities in the neighbouring country.
Badal requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to raise the issue with Pakistan and ensure the security of Sikhs in the neighbouring country.
The SAD enjoys a substantial influence in the Sikh community and also controls the main Sikh religious body, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC).
