NEW DELHI: The opposition Congress I Tuesday accused the National Front government of appeasing “terrorists, secessionist and fundamentalists in troubled northern Indian Punjab and of “inaction and ineptitude” which it said has cost the country dearly, PTI reports.
A memorandum submitted to President Ramaswamy Venkataramn by a high powered party delegation led by former external affairs minister PV Narasimha Rao expressed concern at what it called the alarming deterioration in the situation resulting in killing of 400 civilians since the present government assumed office.
The memorandum said there was total demoralization in the tanks of the police force as also the administration because of the government’s policy. More police officers have been killed in the last two months than in the last four years, it said.
Cautioning that the situation was rapidly reverting to the Position which obtained in the first half of 1984, the Congress I said “‘all the gains that had so painstakingly been secured since proclamation of the president’s rule in May 1987 are being squandered.”
The delegation comprised among others, Congress I general secretary K.N. Singh, former defiance minister Krishan Chandra Pant, former Union Minister Dinesh Singh, Punjab Congress I President Beant Singh and Darbara Singh and H.S Hanspal, M.P.S.
Later K.N. Singh told a press conference that in the 30 minute meeting the president gave the deputation a patient hearing and expressed surprise at some of the facts like the killing of 400 people and setting up of Khalsa panchayats (Sikh self-governing village level bodies). He was not apprised of these developments by the government, Singh said.
According to Singh, during the course of conversation the delegation learnt that the government had not yet forwarded the bill seeking withdrawal of the 59th amendment enacted by the previous Congress (I) government, to take away the Tight to life.
The party was especially harsh on what it described as the “assiduous courting” by the government of Sikh Akali Party leader Simranjit Singh Mann despite his continued “irresponsible, provocative, anti-national and even seditious statements.”
Listing the various reported statements of Mann, the memorandum regretted that the government have not taken any action in the matter nor even commented on the statements.
‘The main stumbling block in the resumption of political process is government’s adamant refusal to spell out its position” the party said pointing out that the government had not even reiterated the previous administration’s refusal to embark on negotiations with anyone who resorted to violence or rejected the constitution.
Besides it said the government had not even stated whether it accepted the basis of the 1985 Punjab accord signed by the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and the then leader of the Sikh Akali party, Harchand Singh Longowal, for a negotiated settlement.
The memorandum alleged that as a result of the breakdown of effective administration, the Golden Temple at Amritsar and other Sikh shrines had become sanctuaries for criminals and terrorists.”
The party said that Pakistan was fully exploiting the weakness caused by the government’s “inaction” as was evident from the sharp increase in the Pakistani interference, intervention and subversion in the state,
Article extracted from this publication >> March 2, 1990
