Sikh group in US gets summons against PM
Friday, 27/09/2013
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2013/20130927/punjab.htm#2
Washington : A Sikh rights group has managed to get summons from a US court, this time against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, ahead of his arrival here for a summit meeting with US President Barack Obama.
The New York-based Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), which had secured similar summons for Congress president Sonia Gandhi earlier this month, got the summons against Manmohan Singh in connection with the counter-insurgency operations in Punjab in the 1990s.
Acknowledging that it would be an "uphill task" to serve the summons on the Prime Minister during his stay here, the SFJ plans to ask the Washington Federal Court for leave "to effect alternative means of service" through White House staff, the group's attorney Gurpatwant Singh Pannun said.
In America, one can get such summons by simply paying a $350 fee without the court going into the merits of a case, sources said, dismissing the case as a "publicity gimmick".
The 24-page SFJ complaint alleges that Manmohan Singh, as Finance Minister in early 1990s, had approved and financed the practice of "cash rewards" to members of security forces for allegedly killing Sikhs through extra-judicial means to curb militancy.
The complaint also alleges that during his tenure as PM beginning 2004, Manmohan Singh had actively shielded and protected members of his Congress allegedly involved in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
The SFJ plans to hold a "Justice Rally" in front of the White House on Friday during the Obama-Manmohan Singh meeting. Justifying the filing of lawsuit against Manmohan Singh, Pannun said the Prime Minister "should be held accountable before the world community for funding crimes against humanity and protecting security force personnel involved in extra-judicial killings of Sikhs in the state of Punjab".
