A Sikh community leader is distraught after being linked to terrorist group ISIS and has had his campaign poster for council election defaced.
Yugraj Singh Mahil has been serving the community for more than a decade now and is the latest victim of racism and hate. His campaign poster for councillor was defaced earlier this week.
Mahil, a chartered accountant, lives with his family in East Hamilton and is one of the candidates for the councillor’s position for the area.
Early on Monday, August 22, he was informed through social media that his campaign poster had been spray-painted with the word ISIS by an anonymous miscreant.
This hateful gesture by an individual or group has shocked the community and Mahil’s family is now living under the stress of being targeted.
Mahil arrived in New Zealand from India in 1998 and said this was the first time he had come across such racial abuse.
“I am shocked that such act of hate is being carried out in the most peaceful nations of the world,” Mahil told Indian Weekender.
He has been getting messages of support and sympathy from community members and his colleagues through Facebook, calls, e-mails and in-person.
Mahil believes that his campaign may be affected by this incident, but is looking forward to the city council elections in October.
Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is a terrorist organisation and is responsible for senseless killings and massacre around the world.
Mahil, a Sikh, sports a turban and beard as his religion requires, and he believes that is the reason he was mistaken for a terrorist.
“Any individual sporting a beard and a turban or a cap, irrespective of their religion, does not represent the heinous group that has terrorised the whole world," Mahil said.