Dal Khalsa calls name-scrapping of names off the Indian Home Ministry’s Blacklist of Sikhs a political exercise whereas actually the very existence of such a list is against norms of international free movement of people, even if they are dissenters.

Dal Khalsa calls name-scrapping of names off the Indian Home Ministry’s Blacklist of Sikhs a political exercise whereas actually the very existence of such a list is against norms of international free movement of people, even if they are dissenters.

In a missive to Capt. Amarinder Singh, the chief minister of Punjab, Dal Khalsa spokesperson Kanwarpal Singh has questioned the timing and actual reason for taking up the issue of the blacklist of Sikhs, prepared by the government of India barring those on the list from coming back to Punjab even as visitors.

Dal Khalsa has termed this move as a cover-up after Amarinder’s fiasco on the Harjit Singh Sajjan visit and his public call not to meet him.

The letter says that the blacklist is nothing but a tool for witch-hunting of Sikhs who live overseas and who hold diametrically opposite views than those held by the government of India on the question of Sikh identity and aspirations. Kanwarpal Singh has also questioned the making of the list on whimsical and grudging grounds by disgruntled police and intelligence personnel. He has said that scrapping names from lists is a political exercise whereas actually there should not have been such a list at all.