Taking strong note of the "brutal" assault of an 82-year-old Sikh man outside a gurdwara in the US, a national minority panel today sought intervention of the Prime Minister and External Affairs Minister in the matter to restore the confidence of Sikhs living abroad.
Ajaib Singh, member of the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) expressed shock over a media report of the brutal, suspected hate crime committed against Piara Singh outside a gurdwara in Fresno, California, USA.
He appealed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid to intervene and said that the sense of security and confidence of Sikhs living in the US and other foreign countries needed to be restored.
"The recent spurt in reports of hate crimes committed against the Sikhs in the USA is a matter of grave concern," he was quoted as saying in a release issued by the Ministry of Minority Affairs.
In a suspected hate crime, Singh was brutally assaulted with an iron rod outside a gurudwara in the US earlier this week and was in a serious condition.
