Information on the activities of the Akali Dal and its factions; and on its relationship with the All India Sikh Student Federation (AISSF) from 1993 to the present [IND21027.E]

According to the attachment from the Australian Refugees, Immigration and Asylum Section (RIAS), the United Akali Dal, which was formed in 1991, brought together all the various Akali Dal factions (June 1994, 7). Due to internal fighting, it fell apart but reunited, except for Akali Dal (Badal), on 1 May 1994 as the Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) (ibid.).

The BBC Summary attachment of 3 November 1993 describes the 1 November 1993 Akali Dal "protest march" to Delhi, which was banned by the Punjab government. This march was to protest the "sacrilege" of a Ludhiana shrine (ibid.). Akali Dal leaders and supporters were detained, while others went underground to escape arrest (ibid.).

According to a 3 December 1994 BBC Summary report, the president of Akali Dal (Badal), Mr. Prakash Singh Badal, was arrested with others for breaching Section 144, which bans the assembly of five or more individuals. Over 300 other party members were detained while attempting to begin their march from Amritsar to Delhi (ibid.).

According to Revolutionary and Dissident Movements, the All India Sikh Student Federation (AISSF) is the militant youth group of the Akali Dal (1991, 139). AISSF was banned in March 1984 (ibid.). A 23 March 1995 letter to the DIRB from Dr. Cynthia Keppley-Mahmood, a professor of Anthropology at the University of Maine at Orono, who is a specialist on Sikh militants, states that

in my understanding this organization [AISSF] was formally banned only from the 1984 attack on the Golden Temple until the Rajiv-Longwal Accords in 1985. At that time it was banned as a whole, without regard to factions. The fact the AISSF is now not a banned organization, however, does not mean that members are not harrassed/persecuted by authorities. AISSF continues to have the reputation of a militant separatist organization, and it doesn't seem to matter which faction (armed or not) one belongs to in terms of how one is treated.
According to the RIAS attachment, AISSF was "briefly proscribed in 1984/5 with the ban being lifted in April 1985 (June 1994, 7).

For additional information on the Akali Dal, its factions, its role in Punjab's 1993 parliamentary and 1994 state assembly elections, its relationship with AISSF, and AISSF's legal status, please consult the following Responses to Information Requests, all of which are available at Regional Documentation Centres: IND20501.E and IND20502.E of 26 April 1995, IND18528.E of 3 October 1994, IND17758.E of 2 August 1994, and IND17954.E of 25 July 1994.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the DIRB 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.

References


BBC Summary of World Broadcasts. 3 December 1994. "Two Sikh Party Leaders, 300 Others Detained in Punjab." (NEXIS)

_____. 3 November 1993. "Akali Dal Leaders Arrested as Police Thwart March to Delhi." (NEXIS)

Keppley-Mahmood, Cynthia, Department of Anthropology, University of Maine, Orono. 23 March 1995. Letter sent to the DIRB.

Revolutionary and Dissident Movements: An International Guide. 1991. 3rd. ed. Edited by Henry W. Degenhardt. London: Longman Group UK.

Refugees, Immigration and Asylum Section (RIAS), Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australia. June 1994. Country Profile: India. Parkes, ACT: Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Attachments

BBC Summary of World Broadcasts. 3 December 1994. "Two Sikh Party Leaders, 300 Others Detained in Punjab." (NEXIS)

_____. 3 November 1993. "Akali Dal Leaders Arrested as Police Thwart March to Delhi." (NEXIS)

Refugees, Immigration and Asylum Section (RIAS), Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australia. June 1994. Country Profile: India. Parkes, ACT: Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, pp. 6-7.