Sunderland Shopkeeper Arrested In India Over Alleged Terrorism And Gun Offences

[HSD1]

http://www.sunderlan...brebBAw.twitter

A SUNDERLAND shopkeeper is being questioned over alleged terrorism and gun offences in India.

Jaswant Singh Azad is in custody facing accusations of funding terror squads, giving support to Sikh militants in Punjab, and carrying a 9mm pistol and 15 rounds of ammunition.

The 60-year-old father-of-four has run a newsagents in Carlisle Terrace, Southwick, for nearly 30 years.

His wife Jasreigh Kaur said she feared for his health and protested his innocence.

“My husband is a shopkeeper, not a terror financier.

“These allegations are so false that I was bemused at the suggestion of them. We have loyal customers 
who all know and respect my husband as we work every single day of the year.

“We have been law abiding UK citizens for more than 40 years and all our children were born here. The UK is our home.

“My children still have student debts and I have a mortgage. We don’t have access to the kind of money that these allegations seem to indicate we should have.”

Police in Jalandhar, where Mr Azad is being held, claim he was managing anti-government terrorist sleeper cells by providing them with money, networking and hideouts and used students to transfer the money.

Secret services claim to have evidence of him meeting wanted terrorists in Pakistan.

Police chief Gaurav Yadav alleges Mr Azad also has links to a Scottish-based group which funds outlawed Sikh militants.

The Foreign Office confirmed that a British national was arrested and that consular assistance was being provided to the family.

Mrs Azad said she shocked to discover her husband of 40 years had been arrested as a suspected militant.

“I started crying after seeing articles and a picture of him on the internet stating he was connected to Indian terrorist organisations.

“I have repeatedly tried to speak to my husband, but have been denied access.

“A lawyer should have been appointed to him as soon as he was arrested but one was not and he is being deprived of a fair legal process.

“As a result I have spoken to my local MP and gotten the Foreign Office involved.”

Mrs Azad said her husband had only returned to India to build a retirement home in his ancestral village, and finish a number of charitable deeds he was doing for the local school in the village.

She added: “At the moment my husband is still under questioning and no charges have officially been made.

“A mistake has been made and the sooner this mistake can be cleared up, the better.

“We have contacted Amnesty International and I feel I am trapped in a nightmare where there is no going forward.”

And the grandmother-of-one said she was shocked by reports of her husband’s arrest in the Indian press.

“The articles I have read have suggested that my husband is a known militant, and the inference is that he is guilty before he has been proven innocent.

“Isn’t it supposed to be the other way around? He is an innocent man and my family and I will fight this until we breathe no longer.

“There is some jealousy when non-resident Sikhs return to India with higher comparable wealth to the locals, and I feel that this has prompted my husband’s arrest.

“There is absolutely no foundation to these allegations.

“My husband has never possessed any firearms, and would have absolutely no knowledge of how to use one correctly.

“This is another incredibly fabricated allegation.”

Edited November 27, 2012 by HSD1

[chatanga1]

i feel sorry for this guy, he is going to be in india for a long time, cos the british govt are not going to do anything at all.

[Premi]

On 11/28/2012 at 2:40 PM, chatanga1 said:

i feel sorry for this guy, he is going to be in india for a long time, cos the british govt are not going to do anything at all.

It could have been worse

https://www.sikh24.com/2017/07/26/breaking-jalandhar-court-acquits-daljit-singh-bittu-in-a-case-registered-under-uapa/

BREAKING: Jalandhar Court acquits Daljit Singh Bittu in a case registered under UAPA

By

 Sikh24 Editors

 -

July 26, 2017

JALANDHAR, Punjab—Sikh activist Bhai Daljit Singh Bittu and a UK citizen Jaswant Singh Azad were today acquitted in a case registered against them in 2012 under sections of Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).    

http://www.sikh24.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/bhai-daljit-singh-bittu-and-advocate-jaspal-singh-manjhpur-355x200.jpg

Sharing the development with Sikh24, Bhai Daljit Singh Bittu’s legal counsel Advocate Jaspal Singh Manjhpur informed that the Jalandhar police had registered an FIR No. 216/2012 under sections 10, 13, 17, 18-B, 20, 38, 39 & 40 of UAPA against UK citizen Jaswant Singh Azad in 2012. He added that later Bhai Daljit Singh Bittu was also framed in this case.

Advocate Jaspal Singh Manjhpur further said that the case was purely politically motivated and the Court found no evidence against the accused persons. He informed that such a case against Bhai Daljit Singh Bittu was also registered by the Ludhiana police in which he was later acquitted in May 2016. He added that this was the last case among 33 cases registered against Bhai Daljit Singh Bittu by the state in which he has been acquitted now.

He stated that the UAPA (after amendments of 2008 & 2012) was proxy of infamous acts like TADA & POTA which is being used by the state and police suppress rebel voices.

In 1967, India had introduced its first “Black Law”, known as the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), which allowed the State to curtail the following rights of citizens who it deemed were not acting in the national interest:

• Freedom of speech, and expression
• Right to assemble peaceably, and without arms
• Right to form associations, or unions

The Congress Party introduced the UAPA at a time when the State of India was in turmoil. Indira Gandhi’s grip on power was under threat. India had only just emerged from wars with both China, and Pakistan, the economy was in crisis, the political system was in crisis, and the Congress Party itself was in crisis. There were new strands of opposition emerging, and gaining in strength. The Congress Party could not see how to avoid their inevitable failure at the next election, so they created an atmosphere whereby, anyone who raised a voice was labelled as an enemy of the State, and then could be booked under the UAPA.

In 1985, the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) was introduced, and used to suppress anyone who raised a voice against the Indian State’s actions, specifically in Punjab which  gave wide powers to law enforcement agencies for dealing with so called ‘terrorists’. The Act was scrapped in 1995, but many Sikhs charged under the TADA still remain in prison today.

In 2002, India introduced the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA), and after strong opposition in 2004, the Indian parliament removed it. In 2004, the UAPA which still remains on the book of statutes, was given more bite.  In 2008, and again in 2012, further amendments were made, which contain many of the provisions of POTA. Each time such Acts are introduced, the Government gives assurances that there are in-built safeguards against abuse, but given India’s abysmal human rights. record, their primary use is to target anyone who raises a legitimate voice against the activities of the Police, or the endemic corruption of Indian society.