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Shaikh Nahyan visits Sikh gurudwara in Dubai Sikh community hails Shaikh Nahyans visit to Guru Nanak Darbar By Shafaat Shahbanari, Staff Reporter Published: 21:07 October 30, 2013 Dubai: The Sikh community in Dubai hailed the visit of Shaikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Culture, Youth and Community Development, to Guru Nanak Darbar at Jebel Ali on Wednesday. The first such visit by a shaikh to the temple, which opened in January 2012, Sikhs in Dubai hailed it as a momentous occasion. Shaikh Nahyan hailed the Guru Nanak Darbar as a symbol of the multiculturalism of the UAE. Likening the UAE leaderships vision, which welcomes people of all faiths and ethnicities to the country, to that of Indian Emperor Akbar, Shaikh Nahyan called the UAE a cradle of all faiths. I commend the Sikh communitys dedication for building such a wonderful place of worship, said Shaikh Nahyan as he visited the temple. He termed the Guru Nanak Darbar as the most beautiful Sikh temple after the Golden Temple of Amritsar. However, he added that a building is nothing but stones and mortar, it becomes known only for what it stands for. We are really pleased by the visit of Shaikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan to our centre. We extended an invitation to him to come and visit the centre and we are honoured that he accepted it, said Kulwant Singh, chairman of Lama Group and one of the prominent members of the Sikh community in Dubai. Guru Nanak Darbar, the first Sikh temple and community centre in the UAE, is visited by around 400 worshipers every day. The number goes up on Fridays, when around 7,000 converge to the state-of-the-art facility. Built on land gifted by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, the 100,000 square feet facility caters to a community of around 40,000 Sikhs in the UAE. The only Sikh community centre in the region, Guru Nanak Darbar offers free lunch, dinner and breakfast to all its visitors daily. Shaikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan (centre), Minister of Culture, Youth and Community Development, visits the Guru Nanak Darbar at Jebel Ali on October 30, 2013. Shaikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan (front row, centre), Minister of Culture, Youth and Community Development, visits the Guru Nanak Darbar at Jebel Ali on October 30, 2013. http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/society/shaikh-nahyan-visits-sikh-gurudwara-in-dubai-1.1249417

New Delhi, Feb 12 (IANS) Seventeen people from Punjab and Haryana, who were on death row in the UAE, landed at Delhi airport Tuesday experiencing freedom for the first time in nearly three years after being freed by a court. They were on death row in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) since 2010 convicted for murdering a Pakistani national. They were freed by a Sharjah court after paying blood money of over Rs.5.5 crore to the victim's family. Back in their homeland and with the threat of the gallows no longer hanging over their heads, all 17 men headed straight for Amritsar to offer prayers at the holiest of Sikh shrines, Harmandir Sahib (Golden Temple). "These boys are very happy to be freed at last and to reach back home. We are heading to Amritsar to offer prayers at Harmandir Sahib," Dubai-based hotelier S.P. Singh Oberoi, who led a campaign to save the men from the gallows and to get them freed, said after landing at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI) here. These men -- comprising 16 from Punjab and one from Haryana -- were allowed to walk free by a Sharjah court after they paid blood money (money paid as compensation to the victim's family) amounting to over Rs.5.5 crore which was paid to the family of the Pakistani national, Misri Khan. They were convicted of murdering Misri Khan and injuring three others January 2009, following a fight over illegal liquor business. Two other Pakistanis were injured in the clash which occurred in Sharjah. The Indian men had all along maintained that they were not involved in the murder of the Pakistani national and that they had been framed. Oberoi led the campaign to collect money from charity and well-wishers to pay the blood money and secure the freedom of the 17 men. http://www.samachar.com/17-Indian-men-return-home-from-UAE-prison-ncmqKwbbfjj.html