Amritsar, Punjab (November 09, 2013): The Shiromani Gurdwara Prabhandak Committee (SGPC) has termed the move by Canada’s Quebec province to ban religious symbols as “unjust” and appealed to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to intervene in the matter.
In a statement, SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar has said Quebec’s move to give final touches to the controversial “Charter of Quebec Values” was a “testimony of its dictatorial policies.”
He said the Quebec government had earlier promised to give the proposal a second thought in view of protests from Sikhs and other religious communities, but nothing of the sort seemed to have been done.
He said the tabling of the Bill in the Quebec assembly was a “grave injustice” to students and employees of the Sikh community. He said religious symbols like the kirpan and turban were a part of the Sikh identity and the move has posed unnecessary but sever threat to the free practice of one’s faith.
Meanwhile, World Sikh Organization of Canada has said that Parti Quebecois was playing politics with Fundamental Freedoms.