Gurdwara victims called loving,dedicated,deeply religious

Wounded in his lower extremities,Kaleka,65,made it inside,hid with others in a room,and died there.

“It was like a second home to him,” Amardeep Kaleka said of his father’s love for the temple. “He was the kind of person who,if he got a call that a bulb was out at 2 am,he’d go over to change it,” the son was quoted as saying by the Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel.

Lahwinder Singh,a member of the community,said the president “brought everyone together. He just wanted to make a good temple,a good community.”

After more than 10 hours of waiting,including hours inside the basement of a nearby bowling alley,family members began learning the fate of loved ones from officials late yesterday. Authorities began calling out the names of waiting family members to talk to them in a private area.

“It’s hard to describe the scene. People were crying and hugging each other,” said Ben Boba Ri,an official with the temple was quoted as saying in the report.

Among those killed was Parkash Singh,a priest who was described as quiet and gentle.

“He was a good guy,a noble soul,” said Manminder Sethi,a dentist who is a member of the temple.

Parkash Singh had been an assistant priest at the temple for six or seven years,said Gurcharan Grewal,president of the Sikh Religious Society of Wisconsin.

Sikh religious leadership condemns attack on Gurudwara in US

The Sikh religious leadership today condemned the attack on a Gurudwara in Wisconsin in which seven people were killed.

“It is a highly unfortunate incident which has taken place in America leaving six innocent devotees dead. This is a security lapse on the part of US Government,” Giani Gurbachan Singh,the head priest of Akal Takht,the highest Sikh temporal seat,said here.

He said that the time has come for US-based Sikhs to adopt all kinds of possible security measures in the entry point of Gurdwaras by installing close-circuit cameras so that surveillance on suspected elements can be kept.

The Jathedar also said that he has directed the SGPC President to send a special team of Sikhs to the US to investigate the cause of the attack.

He said that prayers will be held across various Gurdwaras in India,including the Golden Temple here,for the departed souls.

President Shiromani Gurudwara Pharbandhak Committee (SGPC),Avtar Singh Makkar,”I am leaving for Delhi to meet the US Ambassador and the External Affairs Minister to take up the issue with the US authorities concerned. The cause of this brutal attack on innocent Sikhs must come out so that such incidents could be prevented in future”.

He further said that two SGPC members Surinder Singh and Amarjit Singh Chawla and member of Sikh Student of Federation,Paramjit Singh Khalsa,who were currently on a visit to Canada,have been asked to reach the US to give an account of the incident to the SGPC.