US President Barack Obama today called up Prime Minister Minister Manmohan Singh to convey his condolences over the August 5 shooting incident at a gurudwara in Wisconsin in which six people were killed during Sunday morning prayers.
Obama told Singh that the tragic incident would be investigated. He also chose the occasion to appreciate the contributions made by the Sikh community in American society.
Singh on his part thanked the US President for the support extended by the government and people of the US and hoped that measures would be taken to avoid recurrence of such incidents.
Singh stressed that India and the US, as two pluralistic and open societies with respect for religious freedoms, should continue to work against ideologies of violence and hatred.
Various groups in the US had condemned the shooting calling it a “cold-blooded massacre of innocent worshippers“.
A former US Army specialist, with a 9/11 tattoo on his arm, was later identified as the gunman behind the hate crime against the Sikh community in the gurudwara.
Keywords: Wisconsin gurudwara massacre, Barack Obama - Manmohan Singh talk, Obama conveys condolences on gurudwara killings,
Comments:
This was not a hate crime against the Sikhs. It is quite apparent to many at the site of the shooting that the primary intention of the gunman was to target Muslims. The turban and beard usually worn by the elderly Sikhs in the US seems to have been mistaken for Muslim Taliban and evidently this was a planned attack. I do not think the US law enforcement authorities can do anything to counter deranged people who have easy access to guns and go around shooting innocent people. S Rajendran
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