Canada has denied entry to a retired CRPF officer, Tejinder Singh Dhillon, saying that the paramilitary force in which he worked had committed “human rights” violations.
Dhillon, a retired as inspector general of police of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) was declared inadmissible under Canada’s immigration and refugees protection act, reported Hindustan Times.
Ties between Canada and India hit a new low in recent days after the Ontario Assembly carried a motion that described the 1984 anti-Sikh riots as “genocide”. The motion was moved by a Member of Provincial Parliament belonging to the ruling Liberal Party of Ontario, which had voted down a similar motion last year. India termed the motion “misguided” in response to the incident
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A document provided to Dhillon at the airport stated that he was a “prescribed senior official in the service of a government that, in the opinion of the Minister, engages or has engaged in terrorism, systematic or gross human rights violations, or genocide, a war crime or a crime against humanity”. The newspaper, however, reported that this was removed from the second report issued by the immigration department at the airport.
According to the report, soon after the couple landed in Canada they were pulled aside during the initial immigration check. Dhillon said the officers who interrogated him behaved in an “unreasonable and indecent manner”, accusing him of having either participated or having knowledge of human rights violations by the CRPF.
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They had arrived in Canada to spend a couple of days with friends in Vancouver. They had further planned to visit their daughter’s home in Seattle in the United States and then travel back to Toronto to attend their niece’s wedding in Brampton.
After returning to Ludhiana, Dhillon told HT that he had been travelling to Canada for more than 30 years and had visited several times as a serving officer of the CRPF. He said he had a Canadian visa issued in India that was valid till 2024.
