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PM says Black List will remain
WSN Bureau

AMRITSAR: For decades the Indian government has been claiming normalcy in Punjab, but the functioning of the establishment and its psyche refuses to change. Notwithstanding the shock expressed by Cabinet minister Jairam Ramesh about Punjab being tagged as a Disturbed Area even now, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has point blank stuck to the Government's stance that Black Lists for the Sikhs will continue to be in operation.  

Hundreds of Sikh youth who had escaped the clutches of the state terror in the 1990s are being prevented from returning to the country, but under a perverse understanding of the security, India thinks it is more secure if they remain free outside than if they come back to the country with the knowledge of the government. In a letter to the SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar, the PM said Black List was necessary because radical Sikhs in Punjab were still receiving funds from foreign countries. 

“I would like to assure you that our government has, and is, adopting a very enlightened policy in this regard (reviewing of black list). It should not be correct to assume, as you have said in your letter, that no review has ever been conducted of the so called black lists. Reviews of the so-called black lists are periodically carried out and during the past three years, at least three such reviews have taken place," media reports quoted from the PM's letter. 

Referring to the bombing of the Shingaar cinema, he told the SGPC: “You would be aware of the bomb blasts in Shingar Cinema in October last year. The investigations into the incident are a matter of concern. Fourteen persons have so far been arrested and considerable quantities of RDX explosives, assorted arms, bomb-making material and ammunition recovered from them. Investigations have revealed that the two masterminds responsible for the incident were induced to carry out such attacks during a visit they made to Pakistan. Investigations also suggest that the funding for this came from extremist elements in the US.” 

He, however, promised the SGPC chief that he was instructing the central agencies to ensure that during their periodic reviews, no one who does not deserve to be on these “black lists” finds a mention in them.

5 March 2008
 

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