Baljinder Singh SANGHA, Petitioner, v. IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION SERVICE, Respondent

Baljinder Singh Sangha, an Indian national, petitions for review of the decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”). The BIA found that Sangha failed to show that he was persecuted on account of his political opinion. The BIA had jurisdiction under 8 C.F.R. §§ 3.1 (b)(2), 242.21. We have juris diction pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1105a(a). The petition is denied.

I. Facts

The facts in this case are not in dispute. Baljinder Singh Sangha, then fifteen years old, lived with his father, mother, and older brother on a farm in Punjab, India. He attended school and helped his father on the farm.

In June, 1991, Sangha’s father, Gursewak Singh, joined the Akali Dal Langowal party, and in July he assumed a local leadership role. The Akali Dal party criticized the militants and terrorists then operating in the Punjab, and it promoted peaceful solutions to political problems. In August, 1991, Sangha’s father gave a speech criticizing the Bhindrawala Tiger Force (BTF) for promoting violence in the Punjab. The BTF was an organization dedicated to the creation of a separate Sikh homeland, commonly known as Khalistan. Sangha testified that he himself was never a member of the Akali Dal…