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Punjab Congress MLA Khaira speaks up
for Sikhs on Black List
WSN Network
Chandigarh: Rarely does a Congress
leader dare to take a stand on something like this. Congress MLA
Sukhpal Singh Khaira, who is the son of one-time senior Akali leader
and a man of strong views Sukhjinder Singh, has asked the Govt of
India to review the black list pertaining to certain Sikhs residing
abroad. “Times have changed," he said in a letter to Union Home
Minister Shivraj Patil.
Khaira said several such youths, under
the scanner of Intelligence agencies but without any criminal
record, were residing abroad while their old parents needed them
back in Punjab.
To quote one specific example, Khaira
wrote, Daljit Singh of Baagwanpur village under Bholath police
station in Kapurthala district has been residing in the United
States for over 25 years now, while his old parents were in Punjab
with nobody to look after them.
“Daljit neither has any criminal record
nor any case was pending against him in any court of law in India,
but reports by Intelligence agencies have included his name among
the blacklisted people,” Khaira stated.
The MLA further stated that he had
personally taken up his (Daljit’s) case with the Punjab Police
authorities, but was told that reports by Intelligence agencies
continued to have suspicion about him, although he has never
participated in any objectionable activity even in the US, where he
carried a clean record.
Khaira stated that there were many such
Sikh families not only in his Bholath constituency but in the whole
of Punjab and even outside the state, who continued to be victims of
“this negative policy being pursued by the Central Government”.
“I personally feel that with the
changing times, the parameters of this black list policy must also
be amended liberally and compassionately to allow at least those
Sikhs who , have no criminal record in India and have never
participated in any anti-national activity to visit their families
back home,” he said.
He suggested a broader transparency in
the screening process while reviewing the cases. “I would go a step
further and suggest that even those elements that have been
identified with some suspicious record in India be given a chance to
join the mainstream by offering them some sort of a settlement”.
The Congress MLA has forwarded a copy of
the letter to Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal, in which he has
suggested that the elected representatives of all parties be made
part of the screening process for any review of the said black list.
He said the political scenario has
changed a lot over the years and, thus, “our mindset should also
change”.
2
July, 2008
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