By Mata Press Service

Popular B.C.-based Punjabi radio host Gurvinder Singh Dhaliwal may not be able to travel to India to pick up a literary award bestowed on him by his homeland, diplomatic sources told the South Asian Post.
Gurvinder Dhaliwal’s original visa has been cancelled after he was deemed to have provided incorrect information about his occupation in Canada, sources told the South Asian Post.
He reportedly protested the decision with a sit-in at the Indian consular office in downtown Vancouver last week.
The radio journalist, however, insisted in an interview that he has not been refused a visa nor did he provide incorrect information about his occupation.
“I have not been refused a visa nor did I write the wrong occupation. Should I ever be refused a visa to India I will fight accordingly since I have done no wrong. All I have ever done is fight for human rights,” he told the South Asian Post.
“I need to confirm the date first when I will receive the award in India, then I will make plans to go abroad to receive it.”
Gurvinder Dhaliwal is the second high-profile Indo-Canadian who has run afoul of Indian visa-issuance authorities in Canada and India recently.
The first was former Liberal MP Sukh Dhaliwal, a strong supporter of B.C. Premier Christy Clark, whom many expected to be on her current trade jaunt to India and China.
The former MP who lost his Newton-North Delta seat in the last elections has refused to talk to us on the status of his visa despite repeated attempts prior to and after our earlier stories.
He has however gone to other Indo-Canadian media to decry the story saying its ‘sensational and untrue’ alternating between statements that he has a valid visa, he has applied for an extension of his current visa, and that he has not, at least not yet, been denied a visa.
The South Asian Post understands that Dhaliwal had a five year visa which expired Nov 9, 2011 and that his current application has been termed ‘pending’ for some weeks.
Normally a visa application of this nature is sorted out in a matter of days.
Neither Sukh Dhaliwal nor the Indian consular office in Vancouver would shed light on why the ex-MP’s visa status is in limbo.
However, sources said that it is linked to the ex-MP’s continued push for the Canadian government to recognize the Sikh Massacre of November 1984 as “Genocide”.
Over 3,000 members of the Sikh community were killed in anti-Sikh riots in Delhi in November, 1984 in the aftermath of the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her two Sikh bodyguards at her residence in New Delhi.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh issued an apology for the 1984 anti-Sikh riots during his recent Canada visit had has urged the Sikh community to put the events of 1984 behind them and move on.
The Canadian government and even Sukh Dhaliwal’s senior party leaders have responded that there isn’t sufficient evidence to determine that the killings amounted to genocide.
Last week, after Sukh Dhaliwal decried our reports in other South Asian media, Premier Christy Clark joined the slam-wagon telling a reporter: “These are just nasty rumors to my knowledge and Sukh has a valid visa for India as far as I know.” She added, “It is just malicious rumor mongering.”
“Sukh’s case is termed pending and he may yet get one. But right now it’s a no…Gurvinder’s case is different and involves misrepresentation, he may never get one,” said the source.
Gurvinder Dhaliwal, a long time radio journalist and newspaper man, hosts a well-followed morning program on AM1550.
He has spoken passionately for many years on the sanctity of human rights, both in India and internationally.
His advocacy work was recently recognized with his selection for the Shiromani Punjabi Sahtik Patarkar Award – one of Punjab’s top literary awards.
Originally from Ludhiana Punjab, the journalist moved to Abbotsford in 1999.
He was expecting to travel to India to accept the honour next month.
Other winners of these awards include many notable Indian writers and journalists such as Surjit Haans and Dr Tejwant Mann who bagged the Shiromani Punjabi Sahitkar Award; Gurbachan Singh and Krishan Kumar Rattu - Shiromani Hindi Sahitkar Award; Sardar Anjum and Dr Rubina Shabnam - Shiromani Urdu Sahitkar Award; Shiv Parshad Bhardwaj and Dr Mahesh Chander Sharma Gautam - Shiromani Sanskrit Sahitkar Award; Surinder Gill and Surjit Judge - Shiromani Punjabi Poet Award; Harbhajan Singh Bhatia - Shiromani Punjabi Critics Award (2010); Saroop Singh Alag - Shiromani Gyan Sahitkar Award (2011); Veena Verma and Jarnail Singh Toronto - Shiromani Punjabi Sahitkar (Foreigner) Award; Darshan Singh “Bhau” and Harbhajan Singh Komal - Shiromani Punjabi Sahitkar (outside Punjab) Award, Sukhdev Singh Grewal and Kamaljit Nillon - Shiromani Punjabi Bal Sahit Writer Award; Hukam Chand Sharma - Shiromani Punjabi Patarkar Award; Jagdish Singh Waryam - Shiromani Punjabi Sahitik Patarkar Award; Joga Singh Jogi and Nirmal Singh Khalsa - Shiromani Ragi/Dhadi/Kavishar Award; Jatinder Kaur and Kesar Singh - Shiromani Punjabi

CONSUL ON THE MOVE

AFTER THREE YEARS AS CONSUL GENERAL IN VANCOUVER, ASHOK DAS HAS BEEN APPOINTED AS INDIA’S AMBASSADOR TO ICELAND.
DAS, A CAREER DIPLOMAT JOINED THE INDIAN FOREIGN SERVICE IN 1987. HE HAS DONE HIS M.PHIL IN INTERNATIONAL STUDIES. HE HAS SERVED IN INDIAN MISSIONS LISBON, PHNOM PENH, CHICAGO, CHITTAGONG IN DIFFERENT CAPACITIES. HE HAS ALSO SERVED AS DIRECTOR AND JOINT SECRETARY IN THE MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS, NEW DELHI. BEFORE COMING TO CANADA,
DAS WAS DEPUTY DIRECTOR GENERAL OF INDIAN COUNCIL FOR CULTURAL RELATIONS, NEW DELHI.
HE TAKES UP HIS NEW POSTING WITH HIS WIFE AND TWO CHILDREN.