Illegal Migration - 26/12/2007
Why is the Punjab Government ignoring illegal Punjabi migrants?
The film “Shores Far Away / Door Kinare” by Savyasaachi Jain highlights accurately the extreme plight of illegal Punjabi migrants in Europe.
We were invited by the British Government to participate in two seminars on illegal migration in the UK; 15 November in Birmingham and 18 November in London.
The International Organisation for Migration (“IOM”) estimates that 1 in 3 international migrants are from India.
The Chief Minister accepts that this is a critical issue but this government has taken no action so far.
Whilst the Punjab Government gets ready to spends crores on wining and dining a handful of legal privileged NRIs at Chandigarh and Jalandhar next month, Mr Badal has forgotten the hundreds of thousands of illegal Punjabis overseas, including an estimated 15,000 in prison, of which 1500 alone suffer in the harshest conditions possible in Kiev, Ukraine.
The agents conducting human smuggling out of Punjab are not difficult to identify. Their network worms its way through every village, town and city in Punjab. Thousands have been named in countless reports gathering dust in the Economic Offences Wings of each police district.
Ask any sarpanch who the local agents are, and you will get a full reply, including a credibility report on each.
Yet, more than an economic offence, this is a grotesque human tragedy on a massive scale. These agents deserve to be charged for murder, as invariably they have caused the loss of live.
Tales of the corpses of Punjabi youth scattered over the frozen European terrain are now so frequent that they have ceased to find mention in the European press.
Yet what does this government do? Absolutely nothing!!
Why? Because just like the fact that most Akali MLAs and leaders are either arthias, or hand-in-glove with the arthias, it is well known that Akali politicians participate in this racket and provide cover for agents. Their hands carry the stench of the acrid blood of illegal Punjabi youth dead and dying overseas.
The government needs to:
1. engage legal counsel for Punjabi youths languishing in jails overseas
2. appoint overseas advisors to support illegal Punjabi migrants
3. work closely with each foreign Indian mission to ensure that illegal Punjabis are assisted and not ignored
4. agree protocol with Ministry for External Affairs for the time bound issuance of new passports to illegals who have lost or had stolen, often forcibly, their original
5. enact laws that prevent human trafficking from Punjab
6. ensuring stress free re-entry to India
7. welcome back every returning illegal through a rehabilitation cell. If the UK government can offer about £5000 per returnee why can’t the Punjab government help, at least a facilitator.
Worryingly many of the illegal Punjabis crossing Europe are targeted by the ISI for mentoring and financial support, resulting in many joining the terror cells in Pakistan.
The economy of Punjab is sustained in no small part by the inward remittances of Punjabis, legal and illegal.
Yet what does this government offer in return. Nothing !!
Badal sahib, please act now and stop this human tragedy.
Behind every illegal migrant success story there are numerous cases of poor health, malnutrition, violence, destitution and death.
JASSI KHANGURA MLA
AJIT SINGH SHANT MLA
QILA RAIPUR
NIHALSINGHWALA
CHANDIGARH 26.12.07