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Government of India finally
deletes the names of 142 persons out of total of 169
from the Black Lists of “Sikh NRIs”
Punjab Newsline Network
Thursday, 12 May 2011
By Deepti Dharmani
CHANDIGARH: Acting on the repeated pleas of the Punjab government, the
Government of India has finally deleted the names of 142 persons out of total of
169 from the Black Lists of “Sikh NRIs”. Only 27 names now remain on the List.
Punajb govt wants any discrepancy on names removed through mutual consultations
between the state and the central officials.
The issue of Black Lists, which was one of the major political demands of the
Shiromani Akali Dal and formed a part of its poll promises in February 2007, was
also a key issue agitating the minds of the NRIs. The SAD and the Punjab
government had been demanding that the lists should be regularly reviewed and
the names on it should be made public and the unjust denial of access to common
and innocent NRI Sikhs should stop. The Union government’s earlier refusal to do
so had become a major source of harassment and exploitation of Sikhs many of
whom were denied access to the country even though their names did not figure on
the Black list.
Reacting to the center’s acceptance of the SAD demand, the Deputy Chief Minister
Sukhbir Singh Badal, who also holds the Home portfolio, today demanded that all
the details, including, the names of the remaining persons, should be put on the
official website of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to eliminate any further
exploitation of Sikhs in the matter. “There should be an automatic mechanism for
periodic review of these lists. While those facing criminal charges should be
brought before the law,there should be no harassment of the innocents,” said the
Deputy CM.
The center’s decision comes at the end of several review meeting between the
officials of the Punjab and the Union governments and the recommendations of the
central and state security agencies. The center has informed the Punjab
government that its action follows the “consultations it had with the state
govt. officials and the security agencies, the Government of India.”.
The issue of the revision of Black Lists was raised by the Chief Minister Parkas
Singh Badal at the All India Chief Ministers’ Conference on Internal Security in
New Delhi on February 7 last year. The Honorable High Court Delhi had also asked
the government to consider the matter expeditiously.
This issues was again brought up by Sukhbir Singh Badal representing Punjab at a
meeting of All India Chief Ministers’ Conference on behalf of Mr. Badal
(senior). The Chief Minister had also urged the Prime Minister and the Union MHA
through separate demi-official letters in July last year. The issue figured
during several meetings he and the Deputy Chief Minister had with the PM.
Consequent upon these meetings, the Union Government had sent a CD containing
details of the persons on the Black List. After a thorough review, the Punjab
government recommended that those booked for terrorist activities should face
the law of the country and the names of all the rest who did not have any
criminal cases against them should be removed from the list.
The Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal in a statement has thanked all right
thinking persons and organizations in India and abroad for their help to the
state government in getting this demand accepted by the center.
Source:
http://punjabnewsline.com/content/center-accepts-punjab-cms-plea-black-lists-nri-sikhs-deletes-142-names/31062 |
