CHANDIGARH: The Punjab administration is likely to ask for additional companies of paramilitary 40000 men for election duties in the state.

Governor Gen O.P. Malhotra goes to Delhi some time during the soon to apprise the Union Home Ministry about the poll preparedness in the trouble-tom Punjab.

The requirement of additional security forces and other arrangements are understood to have been discussed at a meeting presided over by the Governor of senior civil and police officers of the state here on Monday.

Punjab already has 600 companies of para-military forces for main of law and order. If Punjab’s request is accepted in the event of elections in the state it would be having almost 35 per cent of the total strength of the PMF in the country. The “Army exercises” in the border belt however are likely to continue for some time.

Though the Punjab administration has been making brave announcements about its poll preparedness the intelligence wings of the state and the Centre have reportedly sounded a different note. Their assessment is that while the elections could be managed peacefully they may not be free under the prevailing situation which is much more complicated than that of November 1989.

Political activity in Punjab is virtually non-existent whereas it has reached a feverish pitch in the rest of the country. All major parties including the Akali Dal considered the most relevant to the state have not set in motion their poll machinery. Enquiries reveal that most of the Akali leaders are not ready to contest the Lok Sabha elections particularly those who were humbled in the 1989 elections.

Other major political parties the Congress (I) the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) the CPI (M) and the CPI which had readily agreed to the municipal elections in the state are dead set against the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in the state along with the rest of the country. They are of the view that the state should be delinked from the country wide poll.

Meanwhile the Sikh Students Federation on Monday challenged the statement of the Prime Minister Mr Chandra Shekhar that a section of the militants were holding talks with the Centre It said if the government was having a dialogue on Punjab at some level it should take the people into confidence.

Mr Amarjit Singh Chawla general secretary of the SSF said that all militant sections had publicly laid down some conditions for talks none of which had been accepted. According to him Mr Chandra Shekhar had proved to be the most “haughty and misleading” politician As an opposition leader he had been condemning the “Operation Bluestar” and other excesses against the Sikhs but had reversed his role after assuming power.

He also alleged that Mr Chandra Shekhar and aligned himself with the Congress (I) the most corrupt and dishonest party to come to power and then he sent a “General” as the Governor of Punjab and justified his curbs on the press He charged the Prime Minister with trying to prepare grounds for denying any concession to the state.

Mr Chawla said that the Sikhs would enter into a dialogue only on the guidelines set by Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and would bear fruits with the consent of all Sikhs Had Mr Chandra Shekhar been sincere about a dialogue he would not have sent Gen.O.P.Malhowa as the Governor and unleashed fake encounters

The Punjab Sangharsh Morcha has said in a memorandum to the Prime Minister that the four years of the President’s rule in the state would be remembered as a period of the most draconian laws which denied the Punjab’s the right to life and liberty. Punjab was turned out of the political system based on regular elections

The memorandum criticized the Congress (I) the BJP and the CPI M for opposing elections in Punjab.

Article extracted from this publication >> April 5, 1991