Canadian politician pitches for joint fight against terror groups

Thursday, 07/01/2016

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AMRITSAR: Member of Provincial Parliament, Ontario and leader of the opposition Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario, Patrick Brown, advocated the need for initiating joint efforts and actions to combat terrorism across the globe on Wednesday here.

Canadian Member of Provincial Parliament Patrick Brown (centre) with members of the trade delegation at Golden Temple in Amritsar on Wednesday.

Addressing mediapersons here before paying obeisance at the Golden Temple, the Canadian leader who crossed over through the Wagah border, said Pakistan too was a victim of terrorism.

“I met the chief minister of Pakistan’s Punjab province in Lahore and he told me that they too had to deal with terrorism,” he said, when asked about the terror strike that was launched on the Pathankot air force base by Pakistani terrorists.

Without giving a direct reply on the involvement of Pakistan in terrorist strikes in India, Brown preferred to say that all terrorist activities were “very unfortunate” and that joint answers to this global evil were the need of the hour. He said countries facing terrorism should launch a crusade together against this menace which was no longer confined to one nation but had become a global challenge.

Brown said Canada was committed to extend every possible help and support to nations combating terrorism. He said that he had discussed this sensitive issue with various leaders of different nations and emphasised the need of joint efforts against this global evil.

Answering a query regarding racial attacks on Sikhs in North America, Brown said that in Canada, such incidents were rare as his country had adopted ‘zero tolerance’ against such crimes. He termed these attacks arising from mistaken identity, misinformation and confusion as unfair and unacceptable.

Replying to another query regarding his visit, he said that he was here along with members of Indo-Canadian Chamber of Commerce for a trade mission. He said the trade mission was aimed to make fruitful connections that will benefit economies of both Punjab and Ontario.

He said under this trade mission, he was in Pakistan to also boost trade relations with that country.

After paying obeisance, Brown and members of his delegation were honoured by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) at the Information Office of the Golden Temple.