Badal to take up issue of blacklisted Punjabis with PM

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today said he will request Prime Minister Narendra Modi to review the issue of Punjabis blacklisted from coming to India after they moved to foreign nations seeking asylum during the militancy in the state.
Badal, on being asked to comment on the issue of blacklisting of Indian nationals, many of whom were Punjabis, maintained by the Union government, said he has already urged Modi to direct the Home Ministry to evolve a mechanism for regular review of all such cases from time to time.
He said that the Centre has already been requested to remove the name of persons from list against whom there were no cases or legal proceedings pending against.

Badal said that he would personally pursue this matter again with the Prime Minister in coming days.
He said that many people during the militancy period in Punjab shifted to foreign nations and got asylums by pretending themselves as wanted by the police back home.
Those in the blacklist have travel restrictions and are not eligible to get any Indian visa.

In fact they were not criminals, but now they should be allowed to come back to their home in Punjab to meet their near and dears, said Badal.
Talking about issues of Sikh prisoners, Badal said he would also take up with the Prime Minister the issue of such prisoners languishing in the jails of other states even after the completion of their sentence.

The chief minister said he had been repeatedly pursuing this matter with the Centre from time to time and once again he would seek the intervention of the government in this matter.