225 Sikhs removed from Blacklist; 73 still remain

New Delhi, Aug 18 (PTI) Names of 225 Sikhs, chronicled inthe government’s blacklist for their alleged involvement insubversive or anti-India activities, have been removed overthe last four years. The pruning has been done in a list of 298 Sikhs whichwas prepared at different levels by security agencies since1980s. Those Indian-origin people, who were allegedly involvedin subversive or anti-India activities abroad, were includedin the blacklist and such people were barred from visitingIndia. "We have pruned the list in the last four years andrecently removed names of 36 Sikhs settled abroad," a HomeMinistry official said. The names of remaining 73 people, whose names are in theblacklist, are expected to be removed in phases, the officialsaid. Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had urged PrimeMinister Narendra Modi after he assumed office in 2014 todirect the Home Ministry to evolve a mechanism for a regularreview of all such cases. Badal had said he wanted removal of the names of personsfrom the list against whom no cases or legal proceedings werepending. Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal too hadwritten a letter to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh toreview the blacklist of Sikhs and delete names of the personswho were not wanted in any criminal case in the state. A delegation of British Sikhs too had urged the PrimeMinister to remove the names of Sikh individuals from thelist. During the 1980s and 1990s, a large number of Sikhfamilies had migrated to the US, Canada, the UK, Germany andother countries seeking political asylum. Many of the asylum-seekers were booked in cases in Indiaand have not been allowed to visit India in the past decades.PTI ACBAKK