Derby: Gurdwara Sri Guru Arjan Dev in Derby, United Kingdom, was vandalised on Monday morning by a Pakistani man, who was trying to mobilise Sikhs against India over Kashmir in England. He was later identified and arrested.
Amid lockdown in the UK due to COVID-19, this particular Gurdwara has been serving over 500 meals per day to needy.
In a statement issued by Gurdwara, the individual entered Gurdwara premises at 6 am (local time) and damaged building. The cleanup process has started and no individual was injured in the attack.
“The hate crime or any other crime against Sikhs will never deter us from the practice of ‘Seva’ and ‘Simran’. We will continue to serve the community with langar and continue to stream live ‘Nitnem’. We will ensure the safety of all sevadars (volunteers) and employees”, it added.
The gurdwara described the vandalisation of the shrine as a hate crime. The CCTV footages of the person, showed smashed glass doors of the gurdwara, glass shards scattered all over the floor and a man inside the premises.
The vandal left a hand-written note in broken English on a piece of paper in the gurdwara, making an appeal to Sikhs to "help people in Kashmir". Strangely, besides scribbling ‘Pak Allah Pak' in a corner of the paper, he had also provided a phone number.
The attack on Gurdwara was widely condemned by Indian and UK leaders. Preet Kaur Gill, Member Parliament UK says,” Very sad to see an attack on any place of worship. Thoughts are with the Derby Sangat who have been providing 500 meals a day from Guru Arjan Dev Gurdwara.”
Also read: Rahul Gandhi interacts with taxi driver in Delhi amid lockdown
Shiromani Akali Dal spokesperson Manjinder Singh Sirsa has urged External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to raise this matter of hate crime with the UK.
Some social media accounts claim that the attacker left a note after vandalising Gurdwara and motive appears to be related to Kashmir.
The attack happened one day before martyrdom day of fifth Sikh Guru, Guru Arjan Dev ji at Gurdwara named after him which has reportedly hurt sentiments of people from Sikh community globally.
