Sikhs face extra scrutiny at US airports after Pak pilgrimage, SGPC looks to MEA

Jalandhar: An executive member of the SGPC has approached external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj to request her to take up the issue of immigration authorities in the US and Canada carrying out "extra checks" on Sikhs who had earlier gone on pilgrimages to Pakistan.
SGPC's Karnail Singh Panjoli met Swaraj with a delegation of Sikhs on Saturday, and told her that thousands of Sikhs went on pilgrimages to the neighbouring country, but were made to undergo extra checks if they visited the US or Canada later on.He urged her to take up the issue with the US.
SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar said the SGPC had already written to the external affairs ministry and the US embassy in India regarding the matter. "We wrote it after the issue came up in an executive meeting a few weeks ago. Members said they had come to know of such instances where Sikhs visiting US after Pakistan would face extra scrutiny," Makkar told TOI.
Panjoli said that he and his wife had during their recent visit to the US and Canada faced a similar problem. "Our passports also had a Pakistan visa stamped on them. We were stopped by immigration officials at the Toronto airport for around an hour and a half, and missed our flight. Then, my wife was stopped at Montreal airport when we wanted to fly to US. Though they did not question us much, it was apparent that they got suspicious when they looked at our passports," Panjoli said. "I have never faced this earlier."
In the memorandum submitted to Swaraj, Panjoli requested her to press the government machinery to have talks on the issue with the US and convey that Sikhs visited Pakistan for pilgrimages. "It is strange that they would question our identity simply because we have a Pakistan visa stamped on our passports," the memorandum read.