NEW DELHI: A Punjab militant and his accomplice were on Sept.7 deported to India from Hong Kong via Bangkok, ending several days of high drama, official sources said . Balwinder Singh, Deputy Chief General of the Bhindranwale Tiger Force of Khalistan (BTFK) Sangha group, and his accomplice, Hardeep Singh were brought from Bangkok by an Indian Airlines flight to Calcutta and then to the Capital later in the evening.
The sources said cooperation of the authorities concemed in Hong Kong and Thailand had facilitated the deportation even though there was no extradition treaty between India and Hone Kong.
A special team of the Punjab police had gone to Hong Kong and Bangkok to bring the two here.
The two were taken to Punjab Wednesday, the sources said.
The Indian Government took up the matter with the Hong Kong authorities through diplomatic Shannal to which they responded positively.
Finally, a few days ago the Indian authorities received a message from Hong Kong that they were willing to deport the two even though there was no extradition treaty between the two countries. In the first week of September, they were taken to Hong Kong airport but they physically resisted their deportation. It was at this Juncture that Hong Kong requested India to sent its own officers to take the two back to India.
On September 5, they Were put on a connecting flight to Bangkok. The same day they broke through a glass panel on Bangkok airport and fell from the three story structure, getting serious boné injuries. While they were being given medical treatment, their militant outfits threatened the Bangkok authorities not to deport the two, bur Bangkok officials went ahead with the scheduled plans and put them aboard a Calcutta bound flight of Indian Airlines Tuesday.
Article extracted from this publication >> September 10, 1993
