Harsimrat takes up case of Punjabi students in Canada with Jaishankar
Hundreds of students, "who were facing deportation after being duped by an unscrupulous education services agent", are facing deportation.
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Harsimrat Kaur Badal on Monday said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) betrayed Guru Nanak Dev by going back on the commitment given to the Sikh community to free all Bandi Singhs (Sikh prisoners who were convicted for alleged involvement in militancy in Punjab).
Speaking to reporters, the Member of Parliament (MP) from Bathinda said it did not behove the Union government to go back on the commitment given to the Sikh community on the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev in 2019.
“All Bandi Singhs should be freed immediately taking into account the fact that they have served up to 30 years in prison, double than a normal life sentence,” she said.
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Badal said it was shameful that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi was not releasing Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar (a 1993 Delhi bomb blast case convict) despite completion of all formalities for his release.
“The release orders of Bhullar are lying on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal‘s desk since one year now yet he is not being released,” she said adding there was a pending formality of the Delhi Sentence Review Committee which was being postponed continuously.
“Kejriwal should explain why he is going against the sentiments of the community and taking an anti- Sikh stance on this issue,” Badal added.
‘Bandi Singhs’ is a term given to Sikh prisoners who were convicted for alleged involvement in militancy in Punjab. Since the militancy was wiped out in early 1990s, the Sikh activists are demanding their release as they have already spent over three decades in jails, have grown old and some are physically and mentally unfit.
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