CHANDIGARH: Even as the Centre indicated on Friday that it was willing to consider rehabilitation of Sikhs, who had fled abroad during militancy, a chorus is growing in Punjab on the eve of Union home minister P Chidambram's visit, to review the mysterious 'black list', after making it public.
TOI had first highlighted the issue immediately after PC gave a call to the Kashmiri youths, who had crossed over to PoK after picking up arms. Jathedar Akal Takht Giani Gurbachan Singh had asked Chidambaram to extend the same scheme to Sikh youths, but the minister turned down the suggestion on Wednesday. However, following uproar in Punjab on his reply, the Union home minister indicated on Friday that the demand "could be considered".
The minister said "we will look into that also". If misguided Sikh youths want to denounce the demand for Khalistan and want to come back, "we have to find a way to rehabilitate them also", he said.
It has been proved through the initiative of several Sikh leaders like Bholath MLA Sukhpal Khaira that many of these Sikhs were not allowed to come back, simply because they had staged protests outside India against Operation Bluestar when the Indian Army had launched an attack to flush militants out of the Darbar Sahib complex which houses the Sikhs' holiest shrine, the Golden Temple. The incident had led to large-scale protests across the globe wherever Sikh diaspora was settled. However, soon afterwards, the authorities started denying visas to many of these NRIs.
"When people like Khushwant Singh and Capt Amarinder Singh also protested, how was this being held against us," Joginder Singh Bal, mayor of Slough, UK, who was denied visa for 20 years, had questioned.
While many hardcore militants had also managed to flee the country following police onslaught, allegations levelled by families of several youths and human rights groups that many youngsters were slapped with false cases of terrorism by some unscrupulous cops due to personal feuds, which forced the former to flee the country in those times. These youths have also not been able to come back home since their names figured in the dreaded list.
"We are not demanding general amnesty for everyone. All we want is that the list should be reviewed thoroughly so that innocents are not persecuted," says former CM Amarinder Singh, who had also taken up the matter during his tenure. Akal Takht jathedar, too, had echoed similar thoughts saying those facing criminal proceedings should be dealt according to law, but the innocents should be allowed to come back.
Meanwhile, MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira in his letter to Chidambaram said, "There are many Sikhs who have no criminal record in India, neither any involvement in anti-India activities abroad, but their names continue to be in the black list. It is high time that a liberal review be conducted into the draconian Black list pending against Sikhs so that they can return to their motherland."
