Will there be a relook at the Sikh Blacklist? by Chander Suta Dogra
The Forbidden Tale
* Hundred of Sikhs abroad are on the blacklist drawn up during the militancy
* They are denied entry into India
* After the Union home minister’s move to facilitate the return of Kashmiris in PoK, there is a demand to strike innocent Sikhs off the blacklist
* But the state government says it’s unwilling to send a proposal to the home ministry to initiate such a move
The recent declaration by Union home minister P. Chidambaram that the Centre is drafting a new surrender policy for Kashmiris who had crossed over to PoK to join militant ranks, so as to facilitate their return, has created a furore in Punjab. Reason: hundreds of “former Sikh extremists” continue to be denied entry into the country, two decades after Khalistan-inspired terrorism petered out in the state.
Initially, Chidambaram said the amnesty for misguided youth is only for j&k. But after Punjab politicians from the ruling Akali Dal and the Congress demanded the same treatment for blacklisted Sikhs abroad, he announced that the government would facilitate the return of Sikh militants settled abroad if they gave up their demand for Khalistan and shunned violence.
He also said the Punjab government has to send a proposal to the Centre to enable it to proceed further. Even before the affected Sikhs could rejoice at this positive development, the state’s vicious politics took over, and is fast bogging any forward movement.
The entire issue relates to what is commonly called the ‘blacklist’, which has scores of non-militant Sikhs who also left the country at the peak of militancy but were suspected of having taken part in anti-national activities. Many of them do not have criminal cases against them and learnt they were on the list after they landed at the airport only to be turned back. Says Jasbir Singh Rode, the nephew of Khalistan ideologue Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, “I’ve personally been contacted by scores of such Sikhs during my travels to the UK, US and Canada, who are desperate to return to their homeland.”
Congress legislator Sukhpal Singh Khaira cites the case of two such persons from his constituency of Bholath, who had no criminal case against them but were unable to even visit their villages because their names were on the list. “I took up their case and their names were cleared and they have begun coming to Punjab. One of them is the mayor of Slough, in the UK, Joginder Bal,” he told Outlook.
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/hard-talk/29526-will-there-be-relook-sikh-blacklist.html
Another Congress legislator, Jassi Singh Khangura, while urging the Centre to make public the Sikh blacklist, has said that a number of those on the list have never been directly or indirectly involved in militancy.
Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal responded to Chidambaram’s offer by saying that it is for the Centre to prepare the proposal. He added that for long the Punjab government has been requesting the Union home ministry to share the blacklist so that the state could investigate their antecedents and take a view on those who wanted to return to the mainstream. The demand to make the blacklist public by putting it on a website is not only coming from the political fraternity, but is also privately voiced by the law enforcement machinery in Punjab. But as Rode points out, “Both the Akalis and Congress have played politics with it. The reluctance of the moderate Akali Dal to get the blacklisted Sikhs back into the mainstream is understandable because they have always been at loggerheads with the extremists. They now occupy the political space vacated by the Khalistan lobby. But even Amarinder Singh as chief minister did not do anything. He has shared the podium with Khalistanis in Canada, but paid only lip service.”
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=29526
Source:
www.outlookindia.com | Homeland Visa 
Our Donation Goal
: Why Donate? : Donate Today! : Donate Anonymously (ਗੁਪਤ) : Our Family of Supporters 
Linear Mode
