By Gurmukh Singh, IANS
Vancouver : Thousands of Indo-Canadian protesters Wednesday again thwarted a bid by the Canadian authorities to deport a paralysed Sikh back to India.
Zool Suleman, lawyer for Laibar Singh, said his client was taken out of the Surrey Guru Nanak Temple by 4.30 a.m. But when a large number of Indo-Canadians blocked the entrance, the authorities decided not to go ahead with the deportation.
Thousands of protesters also stopped Canada Border Security Agency (CBSA) agents Dec 9 from taking from the temple Liabar Singh – who had entered Canada on fake documents in 2003, later suffered paralysis and asked to be allowed to stay back on humanitarian grounds in 2006.
Over 2,000 Indo-Canadians supported by Pakistanis, Chinese, and people of European origin, surrounded the car carrying Singh at Vancouver International Airport.
Fearing violence by angry protesters shouting slogans against the government, CBSA officials decided to allow Singh to stay temporarily in Canada.
To stop his deportation, the Indo-Asian community has promised to pick up his pending medical bills to the tune of Canadian $450,000, and pay Canadian $150,000 annually for his upkeep if he is allowed to stay in the country.
More than 40,000 people signed a petition to the Canadian immigration minister to allow Singh to stay. As many as 19 MPs opposed the deportation and three of them raised the issue in the House of Commons. But Immigration Minister Diane Finley refused to consider his case.