CHANDIGARH: How would K.P.S.Gill have prevented the demolition of the Babri Masjid at Ayodhya on Dec.6, if he had been asked. Perhaps, this was the only question that Gill tried to skirt while responding to the innumerable queries from Children drawn from different schools here. In all 20 odd boys and girls kept the Punjab director-general of police engaged for an hour Feb.9, asking him questions ranging from his likes and dislikes to his professional skills and political ambitions.

Gill said that he would start a school after his retirement. Recalling his school days, he said that once he was caned by the Principal not because he had committing a mistake but because the principal used to have a sound sleep only after caning some boys. Film actress Srideviis his favorite heroine, though he has no particular favorite hero. He loves reading, seeing action-packed movies, eating (but avoids overeating) and cooking. He was shy of talking to girls during his school and college days. He wanted to be a physicist specializing in atomic physics but strayed into English literature and finally ended up as a police officer.

He agreed that there was a woman behind every man, but he said he was not great and there was no woman behind his back. However, he was influenced by his parents and grandfather who was an admirer of Swami Ram Tiratha. He said that Mahatma Gandhi and Nehru were his ideal leaders.

Gill said the most difficult task for a policeman was to control an emotionally charged crowd and he would have preferred to be at Ayodhya on Dec.6 and not permitted the large numbers of kar speaks to gather at the site.

To a pointed query whether he preferred to work with the elected government o. during the recurring spells of President’s rule in the troublesome state, Gill said that working with Beant Singh and his team was easier and fruitful for they were closer to the ground reality and knew what had been happening in the state. On the other hand, the governors were outsiders who heavily relied on their bookish knowledge of the state or their experience of Punjab of the 60s which was different from the Punjab of the late 80s.

Gill admitted that the Punjab problem had not been solved for because some of the factors that contributed to it still exist. The education system had degenerated to such an extent in many states that the youth found no respectable means of livelihood. He said that the rural schools had produced the best brains, including Nobel laureates, but the system had completely broken down now.

In the case of Punjab, the green revolution had improved living standards and the low paid Army jobs ceased to be attractive to young men in the 70s. Hene, in the early 80s, the youth were attracted by Bhindranwale’s message. And their love for guns did the trick. Asked why the Army was frequently sought to assist the police and were the police not capable of handling any situation, Gill admitted that in Punjab, Army assistance was required to deal with the situation given the magnitude of the problem. However, he felt that the Army should not have been requisitioned in Assam to deal with ULFA. Instead, the police should have been given specialized training to deal with the ULFA militants.

Asked why police officers moved with a number of vehicles wasting petrol, Gill equipped that travelling in Punjab had not been fun except during the last couple of months. He said the security forces moved in strength to show their presence in the state and to retaliate effectively if attacked.

Asked if he was ever scared or afraid, Gill said he was never afraid in the normal sense of the term. However, he feared things going wrong under his charge or at times he had his apprehensions on whether the system would respond. However, he said that he would not like to attempt what he thought he was not capable of.

Gill admitted that no policeman, including himself, was perfect. During his training, he was attached to an SHO who would not even take his ration on credit, while another officer could solve all crimes. Still another, he remembered, was perfect in dealing with crowds Ina lighter vein, Gill advised the children not to aspire to become police officers as policemen were always considered wrong by everybody.

Article extracted from this publication >>  February 19, 1993