New Delhi
16 December 2005
Armed with a petition signed by 10 thousand
people of his constituency in Leicester in the United Kingdom, British
Member of Parliament Keith Vaz is in India to "put pressure on the Indian
government to find the killers" of Mohan Singh, who was murdered in
Punjab earlier this year.
Mr Vaz, who arrived in New Delhi on Friday, told this newspaper that he
will travel to Chandigarh on Saturday for meetings with Punjab Chief
Minister Capt Amrinder Singh and the director general of police. The
family of the late Mohan Singh will accompany the MP from Leicester East
to those meetings.
"Mohan Singh was murdered in very sad and tragic circumstances. Why
did this happen ..? He was among the many British citizens who come to
India and invest here. My visit [is aimed at] putting pressure on the Indian
government to find the killers of Mohan Singh," Mr Vaz said soon after his
arrival.
"I promised this family that I would help in every possible way and I hope
to do exactly that .... By meeting with the senior Indian officials I hope to
help the family and community find closure on this issue. Thousands of
British citizens visit Indian every year. On the rare occasion when
appalling situations like this occur the Indian and British governments
need to work together to ensure their safety," he said.
Last week Mr Keith Vaz presented the petition containing the 10 thousand
signatures to the House of Commons. It demands that "the House of
Commons work with the Indian government to help bring the perpetrators
to justice and ensure that necessary measures are in place for British
citizens to travel safely to India".
Mr Keith Vaz said he would call on Union Minister of Civil Aviation Praful
Patel to discuss the possibility of increasing the number and/or frequency
of flights between India and the United Kingdom. "We need more flights
not only to London but other cities in the UK as well," he observed.
A textile factory owner and a member of the Sikh Asian community, Mohan
Singh (59) of Humberstone, Leicester, was killed on August 18 while he
was overseing a house-building project in Punjab. His family believes it
was a contract killing and was linked to a business deal in which he was
involved.
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