Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Prime Minister wraps up Indian visit with chaotic tour of Golden Temple

AMRITSAR, India — Prime Minister Stephen Harper wrapped up a three-day tour of India on Wednesday with a chaotic tour of the Sikh Golden Temple in Amritsar.

The prime minister's visit to the crowded, sprawling temple attracted dozens of Indian cameramen and photographers, who turned the tight perimeter around Harper into an angry roiling mosh pit. It was a far different scene earlier in the day in New Delhi when Harper toured the world's largest Hindu temple, strolling through magnificent empty boulevards.

The last Canadian prime minister to visit the Golden Temple - site of a violent clash in 1984 that ultimately led to the bombing of an Air India flight out of Vancouver a year later - was Liberal Jean Chretien in 2003.

A total of 329 people died when the jumbo jet went down in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Ireland.

Harper arrives back in Canada on Thursday morning.

with thanks : source : http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5jeX7ws6HV91DE3HWnpCyW3PIFlmg

SikhsIndia

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