Even as it continues to talk of soft options, the Government is being forced to resort to increasingly hard options in Punjab. In order to contain the militants and make possible assembly elections before November, it had last month inducted the National Security Guards (NSG) in the border districts to supplement the state police and the paramilitary forces. Now it has taken the controversial decision to ask the army to mount exercises in those areas.

Several new steps have been spelled out as part of the intensification of anti-militant operations:

* Chalking out a weekly programme of anti-militant measures.

* Organizing night ambushes in sensitive villages, with NSG, BSF and CRPF field officers reconnoitering during the day to lay ambushes at night.

* A strike force of one additional company, consisting of both police and paramilitary troops, has been provided to the station house officers of 20 sensitive police stations.

Besides these steps, some long term measures, including fencing of another 235 km of the 530 km IndoPakistan border 120 km had been fenced earlier, have been started.

But contrary to police claims, the campaign has not so far resulted in an overall improvement in the situation. In fact violence has been mounting relentlessly and July witnessed an unprecedented escalation: more than 200 civilians killed by militants and more than 150 suspected militants gunned down by the security forces or killed in inter gang rivalries. Moreover in the past one month, the security forces and the militants have been involved in fierce and long drawn encounters, which indicate that the militants are far from being on the run,

The fall out of the increased violence is that the police have once again assumed the preponderant role in the administration. Also, under pressure in the border districts, the militants have been shifting base to other areas. Last month they struck thrice in a span of 10 days in Chandigarh killing Akali leader Balwant Singh, blasting a bomb in a police station, and then killing two senior engineers posted on the controversial SYL canal project. The alarm mounted as the militants for the first time trained their guns on the Chandigarh based newspapers last month, forcing them to publish in full a lengthy letter purportedly written to the President of India by Sukha and Jinda, General A.S, Vaidya’s alleged assassins.

‘Similar chaos marks the state’s politics. Chances of unity between the Akali Dal factions headed by Simranjit Singh Mann and Parkash Singh Badal remain dim with Mann unwilling to accommodate Badal in a senior position. But Mann’s group is itself a house divided, with Raj Dev Singh, MP, recently rebelling and ‘expelling’ Mann from the party. The MP from Patiala, Atinderpal Singh, has also launched a diatribe against Mann. However, Mann’s stock in the rural areas continues to be high, as he is the only one venturing into the villages. But his vitriolic speeches continue to hamper chances of any kind of political dialogue with the Central Government.

Meantime, Governor Virendra Verma has of late shown signs of seeking to go beyond the law and order approach. Last month he openly described Operation Bluestar as a grave mistake. He has also approved the long pending scheme to provide jobs to the unemployed youth in the border districts. But such schemes will come to nothing if the law and order situation does not improve. As for elections, they are most unlikely before November unless the Government reverses its declared policy of ‘peace before poll’.

Kanwar Sandhu

Article extracted from this publication >> September 7, 1990