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- dEsPeraTe cRaNky -
The Punjab government has recommended removal of 46 names from the list of blacklisted persons including those who were associated with the separatist Khalistani movement, drawing flak from the main opposition Congress.
Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal told reporters in Sanghol in Fatehgarh Sahib today that his government had recommended deletion of 46 names from the blacklist.
The list includes names of those individuals who were associated with the Khalistani movement.
Badal said the Union Home Ministry had forwarded 185 names figuring in the black list to the state for verification before taking any decision to delist these.
But, the list actually had 169 persons, the SAD supremo said.
Of these, 39 are not facing criminal charges, 28 are facing criminal cases, seven are present in Punjab, 84 have incomplete addresses and 11 belong to other states.
Sources said most of those whose names are recommended for removal are Khalistani protagonists living abroad, including members of the outlawed Babbar Khalsa and the International Sikh Youth Federation.
The list contains names of Gurmit Singh Aulakh, a Washington DC-based doctor-turned-president of the Council of Khalistan, and Ajaib Singh Bagri, a Canadian citizen and activist of Babbar Khalsa (Parmar) who was tried and aquitted in the Kanishka bombing case.
The sources said other names included that of Gurmit Singh Aulukh and Ganga Singh Dhillon, both US nationals and long-time campaigners for a separate Sikh state, and Shingara Singh and Resham Singh, both top Babbar Khalsa leaders settled in France and Germany.
BKI activists Avtar Singh, now in Britian, Satnam Singh, now in Germany, and Devinder Singh, now in Birmingham, also figure in the list of 46 names, the sources said.
Reacting to the SAD-BJP government's move, Punjab Congress spokesman Fateh Jangh Singh Bajwa said it was aimed at pandering to Sikh radicals in the wake of upcoming SGPC polls.
The move clearly had political overtones, he said.
Leader of the Opposition Rajinder Kaur Bhattal said unless separatist elements apologise and express full faith in the Indian Constitution, they can not be allowed to enter India.
The BJP, an ally of the SAD, said the state government should devise a mechanism to clear each such case.
Before entering India, each one of them should express faith in the democratic process and the Indian Constitution, state BJP chief Ashwani Sharma said.
Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal told reporters in Sanghol in Fatehgarh Sahib today that his government had recommended deletion of 46 names from the blacklist.
The list includes names of those individuals who were associated with the Khalistani movement.
Badal said the Union Home Ministry had forwarded 185 names figuring in the black list to the state for verification before taking any decision to delist these.
But, the list actually had 169 persons, the SAD supremo said.
Of these, 39 are not facing criminal charges, 28 are facing criminal cases, seven are present in Punjab, 84 have incomplete addresses and 11 belong to other states.
Sources said most of those whose names are recommended for removal are Khalistani protagonists living abroad, including members of the outlawed Babbar Khalsa and the International Sikh Youth Federation.
The list contains names of Gurmit Singh Aulakh, a Washington DC-based doctor-turned-president of the Council of Khalistan, and Ajaib Singh Bagri, a Canadian citizen and activist of Babbar Khalsa (Parmar) who was tried and aquitted in the Kanishka bombing case.
The sources said other names included that of Gurmit Singh Aulukh and Ganga Singh Dhillon, both US nationals and long-time campaigners for a separate Sikh state, and Shingara Singh and Resham Singh, both top Babbar Khalsa leaders settled in France and Germany.
BKI activists Avtar Singh, now in Britian, Satnam Singh, now in Germany, and Devinder Singh, now in Birmingham, also figure in the list of 46 names, the sources said.
Reacting to the SAD-BJP government's move, Punjab Congress spokesman Fateh Jangh Singh Bajwa said it was aimed at pandering to Sikh radicals in the wake of upcoming SGPC polls.
The move clearly had political overtones, he said.
Leader of the Opposition Rajinder Kaur Bhattal said unless separatist elements apologise and express full faith in the Indian Constitution, they can not be allowed to enter India.
The BJP, an ally of the SAD, said the state government should devise a mechanism to clear each such case.
Before entering India, each one of them should express faith in the democratic process and the Indian Constitution, state BJP chief Ashwani Sharma said.
