Two members of Punjab Legislative Assembly who were earlier denied entry to Canada at Ottawa Airport on 21 July 2018 are now eligible to enter the North American country at any time in future.

In a letter to Punjab Assembly Speaker Rana KP Singh, Union External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said that the Indian High Commission in Ottawa has strongly raised this matter with the Canadian Government seeking the circumstances and reasons for this deplorable action by the Canadian immigration authorities.

“I have been informed that the Canadian Border Services Agency has conveyed to our Mission in Ottawa that due to privacy legislation they are unable to provide further details in the matter. However, they have also conveyed that Mr Kultar Singh and Mr Amarjit Singh are eligible to return to Canada, if they choose to do so, at any future time,” she wrote.

”We will continue to pursue such matters with the Canadian side to ensure that such incidents do not recur in the future. I also urge you to kindly ensure that Government of India’s guidelines on foreign travels are followed by Legislators in the future and Our Mission and Posts in Canada are kept informed about such travels,” the Union minister added.

Expressing serious concern over the discourteous treatment to the two Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislators, Sandhwan and Sandoa, at the Canadian Airport, the Speaker had on 25 July written to the External Affairs Minister for action in the matter.

Expressing gratitude for the Union minister’s efforts in the matter, the Speaker advised all MLAs to follow the prescribed procedure for their visit to abroad including obtaining of political clearance from the ministry of external affairs and providing prior information to Indian Missions abroad, even for their private visits.

The two AAP MLAs were denied entry into Canada and sent back to India shortly after they landed in the country on a private visit. Later the duo had clarified that the misleading and confusing information in their visa applications led to their deportation.

Their visa applications had mentioned that they will be travelling along with their families, however, when they landed in Canada, the families were missing. Both gave conflicting statements to the Canadian immigration authorities about their visit and hidden political agenda.