The Shiromani Akali Dal MP from Anandpur Sahib Prof. Prem Singh Chandumajra has demanded that the Punjabis who went abroad in search of greener pastures but adopted the then convenient path of seeking political asylum under the garb of political victims should be allowed to visit their native land by suitably amending the law concerned.He took up this issue in zero hour in the Lok Sabha last evening in the context of black list of the Sikhs whose entry in India has been banned. He made it clear that most of these political asylum seekers abroad were actually seeking economic asylum and they should be treated as such. Moreover, they had not committed any crime nor were they involved any radical politics here. They just adopted this easy route in the context of the troubled situation in Punjab.
Prof. Chandumajra pleaded that taking up such cases leniently; they should be treated as economic asylum seekers and be given proper documents so that they could visit Punjab. They could not return in the absence of travel documents as they were asylum seekers whose cases were still to be decided by the respective countries.He demanded that the law should be amended to deal with such special cases. He mentioned that during his latest visit to USA, he had talked to the embassy people and he had come to the conclusion on the basis of that discussion that amendment in the law would go a long way in providing relief to these people. Akali leader also referred to another problem faced by the NRIs and that was the location of offices of the counsel general as at some places, people had to travel about 2000 km to get their passports renewed and procure other documents. He demanded that at least sub-offices of the counsel general should be opened in all the major cities in these countries where the Punjabis were concentrated to solve this problem which was not a big deal.He pressed for ending black list saying those against whom there were no cases should be dropped from the list and others be allowed to undergo the legal process to enable them to visit India.