Journalist: Mr. Ambassador, Punjab police has sought government’s permission to arrest and interrogate the son of a senior congress (I) leader of Punjab.
Ambassador: That’s right.
Journalist: It has also been reported that Gurinder Singh, the man who killed two cops and wounded another two in Chandigarh had requested a meeting with the same son of the Congress (I) leader.
Ambassador: Very correct.
Journalist: Does it not suggest that Congress (I) leaders have direct links with those indulging in violent activities? Does it also not prove that government is engineering violence in order to defame Sikh youth?
Ambassador: Not in national interest to disclose.
+ + +
Journalist: Mr. Ambassador, Parliament has hastily approved death penalty and other stringent measures against “disruptive activities” immediately after a series of bomb explosions that claimed 85 odd lives.
Ambassador: That’s right.
Journalist: More than 100 untouchables (Harijans) have been brutally done to death by High Caste Hindus in Gujarat and more than 10,000 Sikhs were massacred in Delhi and other towns in November 1984.
Ambassador: Very correct.
Journalist: How is it that Parliament did not deem it worthwhile even to shed a few “crocodile tears” in sympathy with the outraged minorities? Why did it not occur to this august body to enact stringent measures against the holocaust staged by majority community hoodlums and thugs? Does it mean that the majority community has certain privileges over and above the minorities?
Ambassador: Not in national interest to disclose.
+ + +
Journalist: Mr. Ambassador, Rajiv declared in Moscow that his visit to Russia has further cemented the friendship between India and the Soviet Union.
Ambassador: That’s right.
Journalist: But he has accused the United States of supplying nuclear arsenal to Pakistan and thus disturbing the power balance in that region.
Ambassador: Very correct.
Journalist: Why is he feeling so incensed at Pakistan’s efforts to strengthen its defense mechanism particularly when Pakistan is exposed to the Soviet expansionist designs on the one hand and India’s anxiety to reintegrate it with India on the other? Does he consider Pakistan’s nuclear capacity an obstacle in realizing the dream of ““Akhand Bharat?”
Ambassador: Not in national interest to disclose.
Article extracted from this publication >> May 31, 1985
