Hope of Sikh political prisoners’ release revives

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, October 12

The hope of releasing Sikh political prisoners has revived once again after the Union Home Ministry has taken steps to expedite the matter with the states concerned.

This was stated by Damdami Taksal head Baba Harnam Singh Khalsa today.

The Under Secretary of the Home Department, Renu Suri, has asked the chief secretaries of Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh to proceed as per the directions received from the PMO.

“We have received a communication in this regard. There is hope that Sikh political prisoners will be released soon”, he said.

A delegation of Damdami Taksal had met Rajya Sabha member Dr Subramaniam Swamy on June 20 regarding the early release of Sikh prisoners who were languishing in various jails despite the completion of their sentence. “Besides, we had asked that records pertaining to the ‘84 riots be made public and action taken against the culprits, scrapping of the ‘black list’, implementation of the Sikh Marriage Act, re-establishment of Gurdwara Gian Godri and return of records and documents of Sikh Reference Library”, said Khalsa.

Dr Swamy had taken up the issues with the Union Government, following which the PMO had recommended to resolve these issues.