Reports since 1997 of Sikh militants in Punjab exerting any pressure on the local residents to provide food, shelter, money and transportation could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

The Research Directorate has produced many Responses to Information Requests that discuss the return to normality in Punjab, the improvement of the general human rights situation, and the virtual elimination of the Sikh militant movement there. Please consult the following Responses in particular: IND26376.EX of 17 February 1997 providing information from four specialists on Punjab; IND26992.E of 21 May 1997 providing information from Cynthia Keppley Mahmood, anthropologist and specialist in Sikh militancy, on the current situation in Punjab; IND27112.EX of 4 June 1997 providing information from three human rights workers and one human rights lawyer from Punjab; IND28217.EX of 10 November 1997 providing information from Dr. Jasdev Singh Rai of the Sikh Human Rights Group (SHRG), London, UK.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1997. 1998.

India Today [Delhi]. Weekly. March 1997-June 1998.

Resource Centre. International/Indexed Media Review [Ottawa]. Weekly. March 1997-present.

_____. "India" country file. March 1997-present.

SAHRDC, Delhi. July 1997. Alternate Report and Commentary to the United Nations Human Rights Committee on India's Third Periodic Report under Article 40 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. (WWW)

_____. n.d. Human Rights & Human Rights Instruments in India. (WWW)

Electronic sources: Internet, IRB Databases.

Oral sources:

Unsuccessful attempts to contact three oral sources.

One oral source did not provide information on the requested subjects.