CHANDIGARH: The Akali Dal (B) leader and former Chief Minister of Punjab, Parkash Singh Badal, Saturday condemned the decision of the Congress (I) government to deploy the Amy int he state.

In a statement issued here, he said the scale of the Army deployment in Punjab this time would be unprecedented. Some formations and units were already on the move. A total of nine Army divisions were experted in the state by the first week of December. In addition to about 1,15 lakh troops, there would be 80,000 members of the paramilitary forces and over 50,000 men of the Punjab police turning the state into viral military camp, What the government was totally ignoring was that the havoc that this deployment would cause would be of a severe nature and would wreak misery on the people who were already shattered. This would be the third major blunder after the operations Bluestar and Wood rose.

Time was when the Army had the highest respect in Punjab. He recalled the scenario of the 1965 and 1971 wars when the entire Population of the state stood like a rock in support of the Army and Acted not only as a second line of defense but also boosted the morale of troops by providing them the much loved Punjabi food and warmth of their hearts. With all other organizations, even the police and bureaucracy having been lost in the quagmire of politics, the Amy was the only organization left which was sill apolitical, But the Congress a government seemed to bent upon politicizing it by its deployment on law and order duties on the slightest pretext.

Nowhere in the world had the problem of militancy been surmounted by force. There were number of examples of this such as China, Cuba, Vietnam, Algeria, Malaya and Northern Ireland, Experiences showed that peace returned only to those countries where political solutions were found for the disturbing problems.

The former Chief Minister felt that solution to the Punjab problem could still be found with sincerity and understanding and not by turning the state into a military cantonment and finding a solution through the barrel of the gun. “We have seen enough of it in the last decade. Do we need any more proof that the harsh treatment does not solve any problems in Punjab but create more?  He asked.

Article extracted from this publication >> November 22, 1991