While the Punjab Director General of Police, KP.S.Gill, was busy opening a friendly cricket match between the Punjab Governor XI at Chandigarh, his police force was busy scuttling the Akali Dal (Badal) rally here,
Making a mockery of the claim by the police that normalcy had been restored in the state and that “grass root level” democracy had been restored with the holding of the panchayat collections, the police personnel went berserk while blocking the Akali Dal workers from reaching the venue of the rally,
The police had put up “nakkas” at several places in the state. All passengers were searched and questioned. Those suspected of having even the slightest link with the Akalis, were prevented from moving further. The police officers said that they were under orders from the higher ups although no formal orders were issued to block the entry of party workers.
When the Express team sought to argue that only prohibitory orders were in force and that it should be allowed to the venue of the rally because there were no orders for curfew, a senior police officer curtly said that he was “not interested in any discussion” on the subject. He said that he was only following the orders of his seniors.
Article extracted from this publication >> March 19, 1993
