Harsimrat Badal seeks Sushma Swaraj help to identify Punjabis in Oregon detention facility
Union food processing minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal today urged Union External Affairs minister Sushma Swaraj to take up the issue of identifying Punjabis detained in the Oregon detention centre in the United States as well as intervening with her US counterparts to ensure they received consular as well as legal access. In a statement here, Mrs Harsimrat Badal said according to media reports 52 Indians had been detained in the Oregon facility but there was no report on their identity. She said the Punjab government had also not been able to identify Punjabis detained at Oregon as no effort had been made to establish a control room and reach out to the affected families. She said in such a situation Mrs Sushma Swaraj could ask the relevant Indian Consulate to seek details of the Punjabis at Oregon. Mrs Badal said reports emanating from the US indicated that the detainees were not being allowed any access to lawyers. She requested the External Affairs minister to make out a case for the same with her US counterparts besides requesting the American authorities not to deport any of the detainees without giving them ample opportunity to make relevant appeals. The union minister said reports from Oregon also stated that that the Indian detainees were being held in sub-human conditions. She said it was reported that the inmates of the detention centre were shackled and were kept in cells close to open toilets. Mrs Badal urged Ms Swaraj to intervene in the matter and ensure the Oregon facility complied with civil detention standards in force in the United States.
