IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada

After the ban on All India Sikh Student Federation (AISSF)'s activities in March 1985, several incidents have involved its members and led to their arrest [ Catherine Heiniger and Karl Linow, Inde, (Lausanne: Office central suisse d'aide aux réfugiés (OSAR), 1988), p. 35-37, 41.]. AISSF members were detained in September 1985 in connection with the boycott of provincial elections in the Punjab [ Ibid, p. 36]. In January 1986, young Sikh radicals took control of the Golden Temple in Amritsar and members of the AISSF, among other groups, occupied the sacred compound [ H.W. Degenhardt, Revolutionary and Dissident Movements, (London: Longman, 1988), p. 157.]. Para-military troops and police forces surrounded the temple on 28 January 1986 [ «Militant Sikhs Gain Control of Golden Temple in Amritsar-Reconstruction of Akal Takht- Moderate Sikhs Convene in Anandpur Sahib», Keesing's Record of World Events, August 1986, vol. 32, p. 34562]. On 30 April 1986, a curfew was imposed and, at the beginning of June, security guards entered the temple to end occupation by Sikh militant groups [Degenhardt, p. 157.].

AISSF's members are generally presumed terrorists and for that reason are still today the target of arrests [ Heiniger and Linow, p. 41.]. Police abuse of the Sikhs has occurred in all districts of Punjab since the 1984 Golden Temple incident, followed by the assassination of Indira Gandhi [ Hazarika S. "Indian Rights group Says Police Abuse Sikhs", New York Times, 26 February 1989, p. 8.]. Police actions have been re-inforced since 1986 by the nomination of a hardliner as Punjab Chief of Police [ "Punjab Punch", The Economist, 30 August 1986.]. In May 1987, large-scale police operations throughout the Punjab led to the arrest of hundreds of suspected Sikh militants [ "Indian Government Holds Hundreds of Suspects in Punjab Crackdown", Globe and Mail, 15 May 1987, p. A10.]. It is only quite recently, on 29 July 1989, that Manjit Singh, President General of AISSF, was released after five years of detention ["Released: Manjit Singh", Asiaweek, 11 August 1989, p. 48.].