AMRITSAR: The British Home Secretary, Mr. Michael Howard, last week said that his government would consider the request for extradition of Sikh militants wanted in India under the existing laws as no extradition treaty between the two countries is in the offing.
Talking to media persons after paying obeisance at the Golden Temple, Mr, and Howard said the British government had decided to make suitable changes in the asylum laws.
He said these steps were being taken to discourage bogus claimants, adding that of the large number of illegal immigrants in UK who had applied for asylum, only a few were genuine refuges. The new law, Mr. Howard said, would provide refuge to only genuine persons.
Saying that his government felt strongly concerned about human, fights, he said he had been made to understand by the Indian authorities that Currently there was no violation of human rights in Punjab, He said he believed that peace had finally come to the state. He also denied any violation of human nights in Northern Ireland.
Addressing a small gathering of SGPC officials and news persons in the information center of Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), Mr. Howard said he was highly impressed by the hospitality. He said he had came here to have a wider vision about the Sikh community. In the visitor’s book, he ‘wrote; “An impressive and moving experience.”
Welcoming the visiting Home Secretary, SGPC secretary Manjit Singh Calcutta raised the issue of violation of human rights in India, He alleged that the Indian government was re~ pressing the Sikh community.
Mr. Calcutta also urged Mr. Howard to support the demand made to the United nations office by the SGPC for observing 1999 as the “year of protection of human rights and human dignity,” He said it was a matter of great Satisfaction that the British government was maintaining harmonious relations with Sikhs in that country.
Later, Mr, Calcutta told media persons that while escorting Mr. Howard in the Golden Temple, he had narrated to him the incidents of 1984.
In a video recorded conversation, Mr. Calcutta also claimed that Mr. Howard had shared the concern of Sikhs and had said that the Indian government should have felt sorry for the 1984 incidents.
Article extracted from this publication >> January 10, 1996
