Raised about Gosal’s disappearance. There is also mystery as to who Gosal was meeting at the stop-over in Phagwara, which was at his request and seems pre-arranged. But Garth Pardy assured the meeting that the Indian Government is aware of our concern about Gosal’s disappearance and is aware that we are monitoring the situation closely.”

According to Gosal’s wife Maninder Kaur, her husband has never been actively involved in politics.

Pardy told the meeting that if there is one message that he would like to send to the Sikh community is that if you are a Canadian citizen then travel on a Canadian passport.” India does not allow dual nationality and when a former Indian national decides to use an Indian passport it creates real problems and in times of trouble, according to Pardy, “our legal standing is reduced.” It is known that Gosal was travelling on a Canadian passport and had obtained a visa for India. Questions were raised as why any Canadian should not be able to travel to India and feel safe.. Pardy responded that while Canada could not provide any guarantees to anyone traveling to India, it would be advisable to obtain a visa, and if need be inform the Canadian High Commission in New Delhi about ones intended whereabouts when traveling in India, in case there is any trouble.

Concern was also raised about fear which such incident as the Gosal case instill in the Sikh community members wishing to travel to India. Ultimately. Pardy stated “you know about your activities here which may be of concern to the Indian authorities. These may be legitimate acts in Canada but could be construed illegal by the Indian government.” Pardy added that any one time there are probably a thousand Canadians in jail in over 50 countries for having violated laws of the countries they were visiting.

Another incident which raised concern in the Sikh community was the deportation last week of Maan Singh Sidhu, who had claimed refugee status on arrival in Canada in December 1992 According to a press release “Canadian Immigration authorities had concluded that Maan Singh Sidhu was a false name and that Sidhu was in reality Hardeep Singh.” The press release claims that “despite numerous attempts by Sidhu’s attorney. Louis Pasquin, the Immigration authorities refused to disclose evidence as to what led the Canadian Intelligence Service to believe that – Sidhu was in fact Hardeep Singh – Nonetheless, Sidhu was faced with having to defend himself before the Refugee Board of acts alleged to have been committees by an unknown individual.” World Sikh Organization (WSO) former president Gian Singh Sandhu was in Ottawa last week also for meetings with Citizenship and Immigration Minister Sergio Marchi, Solicitor General Herb Gray and staff of the Prime Minister’s Office.

In his meetings with Canadian government officials, Sandhu expressed concern about the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty signed in October last year. He and WSO legal counsel Palbinder K. Shergill presented an 11-page analysis of the treaty and recommendation that the Canadian government exercise is right under Article 23.2 10 terminate the Treaty by giving the required six-month notice.

Sandhu stated that while he has been given assurances that the Treaty will not be used to bring harm to any Canadian, the Canadian government officials assured to review the matter and respond in detail to the concerns raised by the WSO.

Vancouver MP Harban Singh Dhaliwal has organized a meeting for January 23 in Vancouver between Khalsa Diwan Society and Solicitor General Herb Gray over concerns about the Treaty and other matters of concern to the community.

Article extracted from this publication >> January 20, 1995