Punjab wants lenient view on runaways ‘in exile’ in US

CHANDIGARH - Punjab has urged Indian embassy officials in the US to issue visas to Punjabis who sought political asylum in that country during the height of militancy in Punjab and were now being living in “enforced exile”.

Punjab’s Non-Resident Indian (NRI) Affairs Minister Sewa Singh Sekhwan met Consul General of India in San Francisco Susmita Gongulee Thomas Sunday to plead the case of “exiled” Punjabis and sought that they be given visas to return to India to meet families and relatives.

Seeking a lenient view in cases where people did not have any criminal background, Sekhwan said that as minister in charge for NRIs, he was receiving scores of requests from the families of those living in exile.

He said that it was a matter of great regret that these Punjabis had to seek asylum due to a peculiar political situation in the state when militancy was at its peak during 1981-1995.

He said these Punjabis were now being denied the basic right of meeting their families in Punjab despite the return of normalcy in the state for the last two decades.