More than a month after two MlAs from Punjab’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) — Kultar Singh Sandhwan and Amarjeet Singh Sandhoa — were denied entry by the Canadian authorities and send them back to India from Ottawa airport, the Union External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on
Thursday said that the Indian High Commission in Ottawa has taken up the matter with the Canadian Government.
Swaraj, in response to a letter by Punjab Vidhan Sabha Speaker Rana Kanwar Pal Singh, has also assured him to follow the matter scrupulously.
“The Indian High Commission in Ottawa has taken up the matter with the Canadian Government seeking the circumstances and reasons for this deplorable action by the Canadian immigration authorities,” she said in the letter.
Assuring the Speaker to follow the matter scrupulously, Swaraj said: “We take all matters pertaining to members of our legislative bodies very seriously. In fact, the moment I was apprised of the treatment meted out to the two AAP MlAs by the Canadian authorities, my office immediately contacted the High Commissioner in Ottawa to ascertain the facts.”
She further wrote, “I fully agree with you that elected members of our Assemblies deserve to be treated with courtesy and respect whenever they travel abroad. The Canadian Foreign Office has sent the mission an interim response stating that ‘consultations with the Canadian Border Services Agency are ongoing to determine a comprehensive response’.”
“Our Mission will continue to pursue this issue with the Canadian side to ensure that such incidents do not recur in the future,” she said.
Meanwhile, the Speaker has advised all the MlAs to follow prescribed procedure for their visit abroad including obtaining of political clearance from the Ministry of External Affairs and providing prior information to Indian Missions abroad, even for their private visits.
The External Affairs Minister also said that Indian diplomats in Canada were unaware of the visit of these two MlAs. Neither was the Indian External Affairs Ministry informed of the visit nor the requisite political clearance sought, she said.
