Top UK diplomat apologizes after calling Amritsar's Golden Temple a mosque
London: The top civil servant in Britain's Foreign Office has apologized for calling one of India's holiest Sikh temples a mosque.
At QBP in Chandigarh @SinghLions presented @DHCAndrewAyre with picture of HM The Queen at Golden Mosque in Amritsar in 1997, a permanent memento for Deputy High Commission’s wall @UKinIndia pic.twitter.com/GFkBT0GcRU
— Sir Simon McDonald (@SMcDonaldFCO) April 23, 2018
Simon McDonald referred to the Golden Temple in Amritsar as the "Golden Mosque" in a tweet. On Tuesday he tweeted: "I was wrong: I am sorry. I should of course have said the Golden Temple or, better, Sri Harmandir Sahib."
I was wrong: I am sorry. I should of course have said the Golden Temple or, better, Sri Harmandir Sahib. https://t.co/4rJ4mwOdCJ
— Sir Simon McDonald (@SMcDonaldFCO) April 24, 2018
Bhai Amrik Singh, chairman of Britain's Sikh Federation, said the gaffe "demonstrates a remarkable level of ignorance from someone in his position."
The mistake is particularly sensitive given suspicions about the extent of British involvement in India's deadly 1984 raid on the temple to evict Sikh separatists.
In 2014 Britain acknowledged that a UK military officer advised the Indian army before the raid, though it said his advice was ignored.
