Foreign dream snuffing out lives, five deaths in May alone

Aparna Banerji

Jalandhar, May 28

A spate of deaths/murders of people who are abroad or want to go there has raised alarm bells over the viability of foreign aspirations. In the month of May alone, at least five people have died in crimes abroad or in their pursuit to go there.

3 died in shooting cases in US

• At least three youths died in shootings in USA in May
• Another man and his mother-in-law died in close succession in India, after the man’s US-dream soured since he was deported

At least three youths died in shootings in USA in May. Another man and his mother-in-law died in close succession in India, after the man’s US-dream soured since he was deported.

On May 4, two Sultanpur Lodhi-based brothers were shot dead in a shooting in Portland and on May 5, a Kapurthala-based youth was shot dead by robbers at a petrol station where he was working. In January, a native of Kapurthala had died after being run over by a car in Fresno, California. These deaths don’t include other accidental deaths.

On May 10, a Boparai (Kapurthala)-based father-son duo was also killed in an accident in Fresno when they were on their way to celebrate the completion of the son’s medical education.

Advocate Kulwant Singh of Kapurthala said, “There is an unprecedented craze among people to go abroad. There are families whose only kids have died after going to the US in accidents or shootings. Yet relatives do not learn a lesson. People are ready to send children abroad by hook or by crook and while knowing they might be going through the perilous “donkey” routes. On the other hand there is an increased mental health crisis among those who don’t make it.”

Former president of the NRI Sabha, Jasvir Singh Gill, said, “The government should check credentials of those going abroad and parents should educate kids to act sensibly. Increasingly, youths are heading abroad in a mad run, not knowing what to do there. Some are forming gangs. We had even sought CBI help on some cases. The government needs to extradite hardened criminals wanted in India so this problem doesn’t go