Toronto: Even as extremist elements have tried to create a divide between the communities in recent times, representatives of 30 gurdwaras and Hindu mandirs in British Columbia have come together to form a unified front to thwart such attempts.
Nearly 60 representatives from the participating places of worship attended a meeting in this regard in Vancouver on Saturday. The venue was the Khalsa Diwan Society or KDS’ historic Ross Street gurdwara in the city.
Among the resolution that was passed at the meeting was that Hindu-Sikh unity would be maintained and that no protests should be allowed within the vicinity of a gurdwara or temple.
Former KDS president Kashmir Singh Dhaliwal was selected as chair of the core 20-member committee that will coordinate efforts in this regard. Dhaliwal told the Hindustan Times that the new organization will be called the United Sikhs and Hindus Association of North America.
“We want peace. We will condemn terrorism, whether it’s by Khalistanis or even Hindus creating a problem in the future,” he said.
“We formed an association because we don’t want people to create trouble and because there is tension between two communities,” he said.
Of the 30 organisations which have signed on the initiative, 24 are Sikh societies and managements of gurdwaras, and six Hindu groups, including the Lakshmi Narayan Mandir in Surrey.
Joginder Sunner, who was also named to the core committee, said attendees “unanimously approved” the call for unity between the communities in a resolution that was passed at the meeting. Another resolution referred to barring protests outside gurdwaras and temples. “We’re talking to the province and city councils to create buffer zones,” he said.
“We don’t want violence in the community,” he stressed.
While the newly formed association currently has members only from BC, the intent is to expand it to cover other provinces in Canada, including Ontario, and to the United States.
The meeting came after nearly 45 days of planning and discussion between the societies that joined it. It was precipitated by the protests by pro-Khalistan groups outside places of worship that were hosting consular camps organized by Indian missions to Canada, this November.
On November 3, radical elements violently attacked the Hindu Sabha Mandir in the Greater Toronto Area or GTA, which led to counter-protests outside the Malton Gurdwara, and on November 4, leading to multiple arrests.
KDS Vancouver sought and received an injunction against protests within 50 metre of the gurdwara, before it hosted a consular camp on November 16. Later in the month, the Lakshmi Narayan Mandir in Toronto emulated their example and obtained a similar court order as it hosted a camp on November 30.
