Over Seas
German Consulate promises Prof. Bhullar family opposition to death penalty
April 21, 2013 | By Sikh Siyasat Bureau
San Francisco (April 21, 2013): The German Consulate in San Francisco promised the brother of condemned Professor Davinderpal Singh Bhullar that the German government opposes the death penalty in all circumstances during a meeting on April 18, 2013.
Supporters of Prof. Bhullar, including Tamils, Dalits, Christians, and Sikhs spill onto the street outside San Francisco’s Indian Consulate
“Konsul Stephan Boehm was very reassuring,” said brother Tejinderpal Singh Bhullar after the meeting. “My mother Upkar was unfortunately feeling poorly and unable to accompany us. Her spirits will be lifted by the Konsul’s promise to swiftly transmit our request for Germany to withdraw her ambassador to India unless Davinderpal is freed.”
At the meeting, Tejinderpal presented Konsul Boehm with a 4-page memorandum documenting the persecution of the Bhullar family by the Indian State and India’s failure to observe due process in prosecuting Professor Bhullar after his illegal deportation from Germany in 1995. Additional sections identified Amnesty International statements in 2003, 2011, and 2013 condemning Bhullar’s death sentence verdict and asserted the Indian Police have a history of lawlessness based on statements from US Congressman Dan Burton, the US State Department, and human rights sources.
From left – Manjit Singh Brar, Jesse Kang, Tejinderpal Singh Bhullar, Siri Pritam Khalsa, Bhajan Singh Bhinder
Tejinderpal was accompanied by a 5-member delegation of Sikh-American leaders and human rights activists including Siri Pritam Khalsa, Manjit Singh Brar, and Jesse Kang, and Bhajan Singh Bhinder and Pieter Singh from Sikh Information Centre.
Tejinderpal and his mother, Upkar, who reside in California, claim that Indian Police began targeting the Bhullar family in the 1990s to punish Professor Bhullar’s political involvement. Balwant Singh, his father, was arbitrarily disappeared by police in 1991, along with his uncle Manjit Singh Sohi and two cousins. The cousins were later released, one with a leg amputated through torture. The father and uncle were never seen again.
“Professor Bhullar stands not only for the Sikhs,” said Bhinder. “He is here as a poster boy of the oppression of the Indian state, the oppression against all minorities of India, the killings of Muslims, Buddhists, Christians, Sikhs. We will not rest until the victims of state terrorism in India see justice roll down like waters.”
The meeting on Thursday morning was followed that afternoon by a rally outside the San Francisco Indian consulate of nearly 500 supporters of freedom for Bhullar. A delegation of Sikh-Americans met with the New York German Consulate, also on Thursday, after which thousands of Bhullar supporters took to the streets in pouring rain.
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Related Topics: Death Penalty, Prof. Devender Pal Singh Bhullar, Sikh Diaspora, Sikhs in United States
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