NEW YORK, NY: Three lawyers who represented Sikhs and got them political asylum were honored by the all India Sikh Students Federation at the Sikh Cultural Society in Richmond Hill here on Dec.17.
Lynn Neugebauer of the law firm Tucker and Cohen, represented Sukhdev Singh, a functionary of the All India Sikh Students Federation and successfully fought his case for political asylum. This was the first time that a Sikh had been granted political asylum in New York.
Addressing the congregation, she said that she was moved by the plight of the Sikhs and the suffering and persecution suffered by her client.
Virginia L. Bishop of law firm Philips Wezerd, who belongs to the Human Rights Group, has been preparing the documents which are presented to the court, in an honorary capacity, said that she found the material published in The World Sikh News to be particularly helpful in formulating her briefs. The judges, she added were ignorant and had to be briefed. Since they don’t know anything, (about the Sikhs) they think the worst. She added. She congratulated the Sikh community on the way in which it had managed to help the Sikhs who escape persecution in India.
Amy N. Gell of the Gell and Gell, who has helped to get political asylum to more Sikhs than any other lawyer in New York, said she appreciated the Sikhs who were incarcerated in the airless jail. They persevered because of their intelligence, courage, faith in God and their ability to maintain good sense of humor, she said. She narrated how each to those who got freedom helped others who were still incarcerated.
She referred to her disturbing education about the atrocities committed on the Sikh men and women, The Sikh religion’s classless equality and the inherent democracy as manifest in the ‘langar’ tradition were particularly important, she said.
In introducing the three ladies to the congregation, Harbhajan Singh Gill, Vice President of the World Sikh Organization and paid rich tributes to their dedication and the skills with which these lawyers have defended the rights of their clients. He thanked various organizations in the US, Canada and in India which helped to fight the cases.
Balkar Singh, a Canadian Sikh was bestowed a Siropa by Giani Gurdeep Singh, head priest of the SCS. He was brutally tortured by the Punjab Police in Amritsar during a visit. Addressing the Sangat, he said that the attack on Harimandir Sahib was a slap on the face of all the Sikhs. He recalled how he was tortured in the Mal Mandi interrogation center and left for dead. Girls from 12 years to men of 75 years are tortured at the interrogation center, he said. The people in jails are proud of Sikhs abroad and we should help the movement, he added. The family members of Jasbir Singh were also amongst those honored.
Baldev Singh, a trustee of the SCS, while addressing the congregation thanked the lawyers for standing up to the rights of the Sikhs and asked the question “Where was V P Singh, Arun Nehru and Syeed when Indira Gandhi attacked Harimandir Sahib?” He pointed out that they were Gandhi’s aides and did not raise their voice against the atrocities on the Sikhs.
The people of Punjab have sent a message of solidarity with the freedom movement and the Sikhs will not negotiate anything less than an independent state, he said as the sangat responded with Jaikaras endorsing the position. “We will negotiate only on the political map of Punjab,” he added.
The lawyers who were scheduled to be honored but were not present were: Mary B Pike, Ron Kuby, Steven Wineburg, Mark Kaplan, David A Barnett, Eleanor J Guerrero, Steven Lyons, and Indira Pal.
Article extracted from this publication >> December 29, 1989
