Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh has been quoted by the Indian media this week as saying that the state government will seek further extension in the service of police chief K.P.S.Gill. Beant Singh is not aware of any central move to shift Gill to Jammu and Kashmir. The Punjab government, he says, will continue to use Gill’s service “to curb militancy.” In any case, it is too early to take any decision because Gill’s present extended term comes to an end on December 31, the chief minister says. Beant Singh had had stated only a few days earlier that the state government was on the lookout for Gill’s successor as director general, police.

It is worth noting in the first instance that the law and order postings and transfers of police officers is the states’ concern in terms of the Indian Constitution but the federal Indian government has over the years usurped this power in total disregard of the provisions of the law. This is particularly so in the Congress (I) run Slate governments. The Akali ministry headed by Surjit Singh Bamala had voluntarily surrendered this power to New Delhi under the discredited Rajiv Longowal accord and had allowed the Indian central government to lord over Punjab through the then director-general J.F.Rebeciro, To bring home to the Bamnala ministry the point that Delhi is the master of all that it surveys, the Indian government even arranged through Rebeiro an enquiry against and the arrest of an Akali minister under charges of corruption. The Puppet Stale ministry had no guts even to lodge a mild protest against the Indian government. When in power the Akalis made it appoint to trade off state’s constitutional powers to the Indian federal government but out of power the Akalis raised dust on seeking more powers from India in terms of the Anandpur Saheb resolution. Returning to K.P.S.Gill’s, matters connected with his service are not decided by Beant Singh but by the Indian prime minister directly or through his home minister. That point we have been hammering time and again in these columns in the context of the allegations of human rights violations and the failure of the Indian government to take action against security forces, No action by India is conceivable since its own prime minister is personally responsible for appointment, transfer and action against the senior security forces officers particularly in the key states like Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir. Rebeiro had in private conversations made it a point to say that the Indian prime minister wanted him to take action in Punjab.

In one go” (read massacre of Sikhs) but he would not like to go down in history as “butcher of Punjab.” Therefore, the then Indian police officer had refrained from ordering large deals killings of Sikh youths. But as*’career officer,” Gill had no such inhibitions in his mind and was willing to do anything if it missed his career graph, No wonder, this “career Sikh officer” worked wonders in Punjab, massacred thousands of Sikhs “in one go” and was soon free to be Sent to some other state. As director-general, police, Maharashtra? That silly suggestion an Indian film actress, Sridevi, had made to Leave Gill wondering: “Only as director-general? You would not like me to be promoted?” Gill had mounted a powerful publicity campaign in the captive Indian media in favor of his “victory” in Punjab over the Sikh militants. This campaign was clearly aimed at bagging government’s post for Gill.

 But India’s Brahman rulers are smarter than K.P.S.Gill. Any appointment whether as director-general or governor for Gill must fit in with India’s own scheme of things in the first instance? Publicity blitzes cannot impress the Brahman rulers. It appears the Indian rulers are still in the process of assessing whether they would gain by putting up a K_P.S.Gillin Kashmir as its governor or a Bedi is enough to do that trick. They would also like to evaluate the impact of such a decision internationally. That is why the issue has been left undecided. Moreover, the Indian rulers appear scared of their own creation this power Hungary monster called K.P.S.Gill, They would like to clip his wings well in time before he poses a threat to their power. After all, Gill is an ambitious political man. The Brahman rulers have used Gill with vengeance. They can now afford to discard him provided it does not send wrong signalstonew recruits of hired musclemen, But why should the Brahman rulers feel uncertain when there are legions of sill, Bedis and Samaras in the Sikh community alone? It is interesting to note that the mighty Sikh institutions like the S.G.P.C. the Akal Takhat, the Damdami Taksal and the like have nothing to say on the legions in the army and the police serving the Indian Brahman state against the Sikh interests.

 

Article extracted from this publication >>  September 10, 1993