Pb Assembly speaker urges Swaraj to take up 'refusal' of entry to AAP MLAs with Canada

Punjab Assembly Speaker Rana K P Singh today wrote to Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj, seeking action in the matter of "refusal" of entry into Canada to two AAP MLAs from the state.

He said the "rude and discourteous" behaviour shown to the Punjab legislators -- Kultar Singh Sandhwan and Amarjit Singh Sandoaby -- by the Canadian authorities was unbecoming on their part, which was a "matter of grave concern".

In a statement issued here, the speaker said when the public representatives had disclosed their identities at the Ottawa Airport in Canada, the authorities should have facilitated them as they were having valid visas.

He said the Indian government does not allow such type of treatment to public representatives from Canada or other countries when they visit India.

"All legislative bodies of India and Canada are branches of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) and members of the legislative bodies in both the countries are members of the CPA.

"On the one hand, we strive for increasing CPA activities like brotherhood, mutual understanding and cooperation, exchange of experiences and improvement of ties between the members of legislative bodies of both the countries, but on the other hand our MLAs/public representatives are being treated differently and humiliated," Rana K P Singh wrote to Swaraj.

He urged Swaraj to take up the issue with appropriate authorities of the Canadian government so that the public representatives from India are not subjected to "such type of untoward and humiliating incidents in future."