SAD president Sukhbir Badal on Friday welcomed the decision of the Narendra Modi government to abolish any adverse local lists of Sikhs living on asylum basis abroad. These lists were maintained by Indian Diplomatic missions.
“No such local lists will henceforth be prepared or maintained by Indian embassies and high commissions abroad and this will facilitate visits to India by Punjabis who are living in other countries on asylum basis,” he said.
“Now, Sikhs and other Punjabis living in other countries on asylum basis and their family members will be granted visa and consular services at par with the foreigners of the country in which they are living. They can also get OCI cards if they have held normal Indian visas for at least two years,” said Sukhbir.
Sukhbir added that this was the third historic pro-Sikh initiative by Modi Government after Kartarpur Sahib corridor and Sajjan Kumar's indictment.
It may be recalled that the Indian origin asylees (predominantly Sikhs) were denied visa services by Indian Missions and posts abroad since they sought asylum abroad.