Blacklist of Sikh NRIs scrapped |
Indian Prime minister`s office has scrapped scrap a 32-year government blacklist that banned India visits by Sikh NRIs from 212 families. The blacklist was put in place by a Congress government after Operation Bluestar in 1984 and the Kanishka bombings in 1985. Most nonresident Sikhs affected by this ban are residents in the United States, UK and Canada. Operation Bluestar was an Indian Army offensive against Khalistani militants holed up in the iconic Golden Temple of Amritsar. It was ordered by the then prime minister Indira Gandhi. Explosives on board Air India`s Kanishka, a Boeing-747 aircraft flying the Montreal-New Delhi route, destroyed the plane while it was over Irish air space killing 329 passengers, most of them Canadian-Indians. Sikh militant groups were investigated for the bombing and there were several arrests in Canada. Officials familiar with the government`s decision on removing the blacklist said a committee headed by additional secretary of the home ministry had examined the blacklist, and 212 cases of a total of 324 were removed.The remaining cases are being examined and may be removed from the blacklist as well. An official explained that many of the blacklisted names were arbitrary.
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