US gurudwara shooting: Sikh religious leadership condemns attack

The Sikh religious leadership on Monday condemned the attack on a gurudwara in Wisconsin in which seven people were killed.

"It is a highly unfortunate incident which has taken place in America leaving six innocent devotees dead. This is a security lapse on the part of US Government," Giani Gurbachan Singh, the head priest of Akal Takht, the highest Sikh temporal seat, said here.

He said that the time has come for US-based Sikhs to adopt all kinds of possible security measures in the entry point of Gurdwaras by installing close-circuit cameras so that surveillance on suspected elements can be kept.

The Jathedar also said that he has directed the SGPC President to send a special team of Sikhs to the US to investigate the cause of the attack.

He said that prayers will be held across various Gurudwaras in India, including the Golden Temple here, for the departed souls.

President Shiromani Gurdwara Pharbandhak Committee (SGPC), Avtar Singh Makkar, "I am leaving for Delhi to meet the US Ambassador and the External Affairs Minister to take up the issue with the US authorities concerned. The cause of this brutal attack on innocent Sikhs must come out so that such incidents could be prevented in future".

He further said that two SGPC members Surinder Singh and Amarjit Singh Chawla and member of Sikh Student of Federation, Paramjit Singh Khalsa, who were currently on a visit to Canada, have been asked to reach the US to give an account of the incident to the SGPC.