PROCESS TO ISSUE FRESH PASSPORTS OF SIKH CHILDREN RESIDING IN FRANCHE BEGINS AFTER DSGMC TAKES UP ISSUE WITH MEA

New Delhi, April 27 : The Indian Embassy at France has started issuing fresh passports to Children of Sikh community residing in the country after the issue was taken up by the Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee (DSGMC) General Secretary Mr. Manjinder Singh Sirsa with the Minister of External Affairs Mrs. Sushma Swaraj.

This was disclosed by Sikh Community leaders of France including Iqbal Singh Bhatti, Cheema Begowal, Surjit Singh Mana, Harinderpal Singh besides others. These leaders have formed an orgnisation Aurore Dawn to take up cases related with Human Rights and had taken by this issue with Mr. Sirsa sometime ago.

These leaders disclosed that after they took up the issue with Mr. Sirsa, he personally took up the issue with Mrs Swaraj whereas the Shiromani Akali Dal President Mr. Sukhbir Singh Badal has also sought intervention of PMO in this matter which resulted in resolving the impasse.

They disclosed that not only new passports are now being issue to children of sikh community but the Embassy has also assured to issue new passports to those families whose heads have Refugee status and have no case registered against them in India and they want to improve their financial condition. They said that apart from these, four unknown cases in which persons had expressed desire to go back to India to their families, three of them are also under consideration and likely to be cleared by Embassy.

These French leaders expressed gratitude to Mr. Sirsa and said that this has become possible only because of intervention of Mr. SS Badal and Mr. Sirsa.

Mr. Sirsa assured these community leaders that the SAD under the leadership of S. Sukhbir Singh Badal was committed to work for the betterment of community and will always be at the forefront to resolve the problems, if any, being faced by the community members throughout the world.