New Delhi, August 19
The government today said the British authorities appeared to be taking the right course of action into the attack on an elderly Sikh by a British teenage girl at Coventry, 150 km from London, last week.

“It is certainly unfortunate and condemnable... this should not be done to anybody,” Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur said here.

Her comments came as the Akali Dal and the BJP asked the government to strongly take up the issue with the British Government.

Kaur said there did not seem to be any racial input over the attack at the moment, adding that the government was ascertaining the facts. She also noted that the 19-year-old British girl who had attacked the 80-year-old Sikh had been arrested.

The attack on the Sikh man was “intolerable” and the British Government should ensure strictest punishment to the guilty, I&B Minister Manish Tewari said.

“The Sikh community has contributed a lot to the development of those countries where they have settled, and especially to Britain, where Sikhs are present in fairly large numbers for over a century,” Tewari said.

Akali Dal MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal said: “It’s a shocking incident. This government has not done anything to take up with the respective countries the issue of repeated victimisation of the Sikhs on account of their mistaken identity. Case after case is coming to light and no effective steps are being taken to ensure justice for the Sikh community, which has contributed immensely to the economic development of which ever country they have chosen for settlement.” Senior BJP leader SS Ahluwalia termed the attack unfortunate and asked the government to raise the issue with the UK government.

Congress MP and PCC chief Partap Singh Bajwa said: “The incident is most unfortunate. The Government of India must address the concerns of the community. The Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, which has gurdwaras all over the world, also shares the responsibility of educating the residents of various countries about the culture of the Sikh minority. SGPC-run television channels can be used to spread awareness about the pride of the turban among the Sikhs and also clearly differentiate the community from other communities. The issue of mistaken identity should be addressed urgently.”