Union External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Monday assured Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh of the Centre’s commitment to “help and protect all Indian citizens abroad”, after he raised the issue of killing of another Sikh in the US in a suspected hate crime case.
Capt Amarinder, concerned over the recent spurt in attacks on Indians, including the Sikhs, abroad, urged the Centre to ensure their protection and take up such issues in “right earnest”.
In response to Capt Amarinder’s tweet on the killing and his plea for her help to protect the Sikhs living abroad, Swaraj said that she had spoken to the Indian ambassador in Washington, Navtej Singh Sarna, on the issue.
Capt Amarinder is seriously concerned over the recent spurt in hate crimes against Indians, particularly Sikhs, settled in the US and other parts of the world…He conveyed to Swaraj that growing intolerance against Indians, which frequently got translated into racist attacks, especially against the Sikh community, needed to be nipped.
The Chief Minister also said that the protection of Indians abroad was an issue that the central government needed to take up in right earnest.
The Central Government should take up the issue at the highest levels with governments in the US and other countries that have witnessed such senseless killings in recent month, the chief minister has demanded.
“The US alone has witnessed several such attacks on Sikhs, who have been at the receiving end of the growing bigotry in the country, he pointed out, demanding immediate steps to ensure their protection,” Capt Amarinder has written to Swaraj.
The Centre, he said, needed to adopt a more proactive stance to bring pressure on the US government to crack down on racist elements and provide fool-proof protection to the Sikh community.
Noting that most of the anti-Sikh racist attacks were “a case of mistaken hate crimes”, Capt Amarinder said that the governments in the US and other countries should take initiatives to create awareness among their people about the religious identity and beliefs of the Sikh community, which has always played a major role in the development of the country they have settled in.