Canadian Def Minister Sajjan pays obeisance at Golden Temple

Canada's Indian-origin Defence Minister Harjit Singh Sajjan today paid obeisance at the Golden Temple here where he was presented with a robe of honour, PTI reports.

He reached the holy Sikh shrine shortly after 6 amand spent around 15 minutes inside its sanctum sanctorum. Wearing a grey turban and a white shirt, Sajjan took a round of the Harmandir Sahib's complex and spent over an hour in its premises.

Sajjan also explained his intended visit to Punjab to Reuters: "I am not going to get into petty politics of one chief minister of any other province. My reason for going to Punjab is to pay respects to Harmandir Sahib (golden temple) because as you know I am Sikh. I want to pay respects to the village that I was born. We are very very proud of my roots."

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The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committeepresident Kripal Singh was also present when the minister reached the shrine.

Sajjan is a Sikh whose native village, Bambeli, falls in Hoshiarpur district of Punjab. The Canadian defence minister reached the holy city of Amritsar from New Delhi last evening.

Earlier in his trip, Reuters reported that Canada's Defence Minister Harjit Singh Sajjan said thatIndia and Canada discussed enhancing defence and security cooperation between the nations.

The minister will be in Chandigarh tomorrow where he will inaugurate the new office of the Consulate-General of Canada.

(Agencies)