Names of 142 NRI Sikhs removed from blacklist

A large number of leaders and members of various Sikh organisations along with Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit and education minister Arvinder Singh on Thursday met and thanked UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi for the government’s decision to remove names of 142 Sikhs from a blacklist.

A large number of leaders and members of various Sikh organisations along with Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit and education minister Arvinder Singh on Thursday met and thanked UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi for the government’s decision to remove names of 142 Sikhs from a blacklist.

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“We expressed our gratitude to Soniaji for taking up the issue with the government,” Arvinder Singh said, adding, “The government’s decision will provide relief to the NRI Sikhs and their families.” The centre has deleted names of 142 non-resident Indian Sikhs from the blacklist after a detailed review while the exercise is still continuing in 27 other cases, home minister P Chidambaram had said on Wednesday.

The NRI Sikhs whose names were mentioned in the blacklist are alleged to have been routinely denied travel permission to the country on grounds that they had taken part in anti-national activities during insurgency period.