Five districts of Punjab have virtually been placed under Martial Law. The law and order control in Gurdaspur Amritsar Ferozpur Hoshiarpur and Kapurthala districts have been handed over to the paramilitary forces These forces are directly under the Central government and are not answerable to the Punjab Government. Speaking at the Bhog ceremony of Harbans Singh Ghuman’s son Punjab Chief Minister Mr.Surjit Singh Barnala had threatened that Martial Law would be imposed in Punjab if violence continued unabated. He has partially carried out the threat and in the process implemented the assurances given to Punjab Congress (I) leaders and Shiv Sena deputationists.
Like Indira Gandhi Barnala has also started harping upon the old tune that Pakistan is responsible for the continuing chaos in his State. He has reportedly sent a detailed note to the Union Government containing what he calls confessions of some of the ‘captured’ Sikh youths. The note holds Pakistan responsible for the subversive activities in Punjab. As a follow up action Indian Foreign Minister Mr.B.R.Bhagat has warned Pakistan that serious consequences will follow if it did not stop meddling in India’s internal problems.
The imaginatively choreographed scenario excels in subtly and finesse even the masterly performance of Indira Gandhi who through a series of engineered murders of Hindus and relentless propaganda blitz had succeeded in convincing the unsuspecting world that the Golden Temple was “forcibly” occupied by a handful of trigger happy “terrorists” and “separatists” and that she was left with no option but to “reluctantly” order the army to “enter” the Golden Temple with “prayers on their lips and reverence in their hearts”.
In keeping the myth of “terrorist’s” and “separatists” alive even after “flushing out” the Golden Temple and in identifying the mysterious “foreign hand” Rajiv Gandhi intends to detract the focus from the real issues as well as justify Central Control over the law and order machinery in the State.
Article extracted from this publication >> March 1, 1991
