US Sikhs urge Modi to release prisoners
Tuesday, 13/01/2015
http://paper.hindustantimes.com/epaper/viewer.aspx
WASHINGTON: A delegation of the Sikh community in the US has appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to release Sikhs languishing in Indian jails despite being eligible for parole.
In a memorandum submitted to the Prime Minister through the Indian embassy here, a delegation of Sikh Americans led by Jasdip Singh, chairman of the Maryland governor’s commission on South Asian affairs, said the two-month-long hunger strike by Gurbaksh Singh Khalsa in Ambala (Haryana) had brought this issue to the forefront.
The Sikh delegation requested the gover nment to take immediate action for the release of eligible Sikh prisoners in India.
The memorandum noted that exceptions had been made in the recent past when extremists from Kashmir and NorthEastern states had been released and rehabilitated.
In their memorandum, the delegation praised the Modi government for taking steps to address issues related to the Sikh community. It also praised the recent statement by Union home minister Rajnath Singh that the anti-Sikh riots of 1984 was a ‘genocide’.
