CHANDIGARH: The case of the controversial surrender by a top militant ideologue Kanwar Singh Dhami took a new tum last week when the Punjab and Haryana High Court directed the Punjab government to produce him along with his wife and six year old son in the court on April 4.
The court issued the notice to the state of Punjab and senior superintendent of police Ropar on two separate public interest litigation petitions filed by Ranjan Lakhanpal and Inderjit Singh Jaijee both human rights activists.
Lakhanpal through his counsels Navkiran Singh Harbahajan Singh and Harshinder Singh sought direction from the court to the government to produce the detainees and ensure their protection from being liquidated by the police in false encounter Kanwar Singh had alleged that he was taken into custody 10 months back. He also alleged that he and his wife were tortured and threatened to enact the surrender drama.
Jaijee counsel Mohinder Singh Sethi prayed for relief by way of shifting Kanwar Singh under judicial custody along with his family.
The star of this high tension drama Kanwar Singh who is about 42 years old belongs to the earlier group of ideologues who were active before Operation Bluestar in 1984 A resident of Sandhrab Sodhian village under Haryana police station in Hoshiarpur district he came into contact with the fire spitting head of the Damdami Taksal Jarnail Singh Bhindran wale sometime in 1981. The police record indicates that he was involved in petty incidents of crime. He was among the small group of people who moved. to the Golden Temple Complex in 1981
It was here that Kanwar Singh interacted with members of the Akhand Kimani Jatha. However as Akhand Kirtani Jatha and Sant Bhindranwale had differences he floated his independent organization Akal Federation-in 1982-83 This self-styled organization gave a call for Khalsa Raj from within the Golden Temple complex and Started extremist activity. The organization remained very active till Operation Bluestar However his setup was never taken seriously by journalists and considered a paper tiger.
He escaped from the Golden Temple complex during Operation Bluestar and crossed over to Pakistan along with his sister-in law Kuldip Kaur whom he married there. His six-year old son who is also in police custody now was reportedly born in Pakistan. His first wife is reported to be in his village in Hoshiarpur district. In Pakistan he came into contact with Wadhawa Singh and Sukhdev Singh Babbar top leaders of the Babbar Khalsa.
Following differences with certain leaders including Gurbachan Singh Manochahal he set up his own Panthic Committee in 198788 with his wife Kuldip Kaur Gurbir Singh Surjit Singh and Prubhjot Singh as members. While he disclosed to media persons that he crossed back when then Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar made his intentions clear to talk to the militants and stayed back on his assurance the police officials say that he entered India on the directions of Inter-Services Intelligence of Pakistan to revive and reorganize the militant organizations.
Article extracted from this publication >> April 8, 1994
