Chandigarh: There was a lot of activity on the Abohar-Fazilka issue during the past three four days. Quite a bit of tension was created on the question of census in the area, In a sudden move K.K. Mathew who has a commission which has to give certain Hindi speaking areas to Haryana from Punjab in lieu of Chandigarh, made a surprising announcement ordering census again of 54 villages belonging to Abohar-Fazlka Areas. This move was resented by Barnala as well as Parkash Singh Badal and Gurcharan Singh Tohra who opposed this. Mr. Barnala criticized the move initially but reconciled to it by saying that he will cooperate with the Central Government and Badal called upon Surjit singh Bamalato boycott the commission. Gurcharan Singh Tohra also strongly criticized the move to hold census and said that it was contrary to the accord. Balwant Singh described Justice Mathew as the modern Jinnah whose action led to communalization of the atmosphere of the Abohar-Fazilka area to wreck the Punjab accord as he put it.
Eventually the Punjab government banned entry of political leaders of Haryana who wanted to in filtrate in the Kandu Khera Village bordering Haryana to change its linguistic complexion. But around the clock vigil and posting of police force prevented large scale entry in the village from the Haryana area.
Eventually, it is believed that the overwhelming majority of the villagers have recorded Punjabi as their mother tongue and only a small percentage have turned out Hindi speaking. It is clear that Judge Mathew will have to depart from the principle of contiguity to award Kandu Kherra and a few other villages to Haryana. It is also important to know that Punjab Chief Minister went on record saying that the state government would not consider the accord binding on the state if any village of Abohar-Fazilka area was given to Haryana. On the other hand Bhajan Lal also announced that Haryana would not be content without getting villages from Abohar-Fazilka are: lieu of Chandigarh and in the event of villages not given to Haryana from this area, the accord would not be binding on it. But the political observers believe that all this drama was enacted mainly to press Punjab into taking certain constitutional steps to pave the way for the establishment of a tribunal to determine the distribution of river waters between Punjab and Haryana, Over and above what had been agreed to between Punjab and Haryanain terms of the Punjab accord.
It is considered that the commission would award all these villages to Punjab and no villages from these areas would be given to Haryana unless there is a last minute out of court accord between Punjab and Haryana and the Central government. In other words, the possibility of Chandigarh’s transfer can be delayed if Justice Mathew somehow does not give some of the villages of Abohar-Fazilka area to Haryana.
Article extracted from this publication >> January 24, 1986
