CHANDIGARH: Punjab Director General of Police K-P.S. Gill has prevailed upon Chief Minister Beant Singh and senior officials to send Punjab police commandos for security duties to the troubled state of Assam. Accordingly two battalions of Punjab commandos for Assam last week according to sources. The proposal mooted by Gill was put in the cold strong by the Chief Minister following criticism from a section of senior police officers and resentment among the commandos Beant is reported to have intervened just before the commandos were to be dispatched by April-end and had sought a detailed report on the proposal
Gill who belongs to the Assam Meghalaya cadre of the Indian Police Service (IPS) had announced the proposal during a visit to Assam. The commandos were given a crash course to tackle the menace of United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) and the Bodo militants in Assam A group of Assam police personnel was also trained by the Punjab police to work in tandem with the commandos.
Beant had received representations that it would not be advisable to send the commandos to Assam under the present circumstances. Particularly after their experience in dealing with terrorism in Punjab it was felt that the same kind of Particularly after their experience in dealing with terrorism in Punjab it was felt that the same kind in Assam it was also pointed out that the geographical terrain and socio-cultural scenario in Assam was quite different from that in Punjab. The language barrier was yet another negative factor for sending Punjab commandos to the north eastern state
Article extracted from this publication >> June 24, 1994
