NRI body wants Punjab,Centre to publish list of POs

“The State of Punjab is sitting over a list of around 1,600 proclaimed offenders,who are settled abroad in various countries including United States of America,United Kingdom and Canada”,said Vikram Bajwa,President,Indian Overseas Congress,while addressing a press conference here today. Bajwa,along with Amarjit Kaur Bhinder,widow of bombed plane Kanishka’s co-pilot SS Bhinder and his brother Kamaljit Singh Bhinder,addressed reporters in the wake of the forthcoming three-days Pravasi Divas,to be held in New Delhi from January 7.

Bajwa said the Indian Overseas Congress has appealed to the Indian government and to the Government of Punjab as well,to upload the list of 1,600 proclaimed offenders on their websites,so that people who are settled abroad and are either falsely implicated in some cases or have been made POs by mistake,make seek legal remedies. “In absence of such information,what happens is that a NRI comes to India,and is detained at the airport. He receives the shock of his life,when he is told that he is a proclaimed offender in a case registered against him 10 years or 20 years ago. If the list is uploaded,at least the genuine people,who had to undergo such harassment,could seek legal remedies and come back to their motherland”,Bajwa added.

“Canada’s apology not enough”

Kanishka co-pilot SS Bhinder’s wife Amarjit Kaur Bhinder,while refusing to accept the compensation announced for the tragedy’s victims,said,“The Canadian government’s ‘sorry’ is not enough as compensation for the victims. I heard that the Canadian government is going to grant 20,000 Canadian dollars as compensation to each victim. The amount is nothing,if compared to the loss suffered by the families who lost their loved ones. If the same compensation is offered to me,I am not going to accept it. In 1985,the insurance for an air traveler was somewhere around USD 1 million; but the Canadian government has so far paid no attention towards it. I request the Canadian government to realise the pain and grief of Kanishka tragedy victims and act accordingly”.

“Only Canadian citizens,who lost their lives in the tragedy,got relief from the Canadian government,but people like me,who were non-Canadians,never got any relief till date,” Bhinder said.