TOLL: A total of 5093 persons were killed and 738 abducted by militants in Assam Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab during 1990 and 1991 (till August 21) the Rajya Sabha was informed on Wednesday.

The Home Minister S.B.Chavan told Ramdas Agarwal in a written reply that they included civilian’s government servant’s security and para-military personnel.

PUNJAB: In another written reply the Minister of State for Home Affairs M.M Jacob told S.P.Malviya that 362 persons were killed by militants in Punjab during the period from June 22 to August 15, 1991.

Jacob told Dr. Ratnakar Pandey that the government was committed to restore normalcy in Punjab at the earliest and believed in negotiated settlement of all outstanding issues.

He said negotiations were possible only with those who accepted the framework of the Constitution No unilateral initiative was possible in this regard at this stage he added.

KASHMIR: Jacob told K.L.Sharma that 15 militants were that set free in exchange of kidnapped civilian VIPs in Jammu and Kashmir during 1989-1990 and 1991.

Some militants held armed parades and hoisted Pakistani flags on August 14, 1991 in some isolated places near Srinagar which were promptly removed by security forces Jacob told S.P.Malviya.

There is no proposal to restructure the Special Investigating” Team (SIT) entrusted with the inquiry of the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi Jacob said.

He said this in reply to a question: by Gurudas Das Gupta whether the Govt proposed to restructure the SIT in view of its failure to) apprehend the main culprits involved in the conspiracy of the killing.

Chanvan said steps taken by the Govt of Assam to arrest the deteriorating situation included gearing up of intelligence machinery intensification of patrolling and security to vulnerable persons.

WSN Service

CHADIGARH: Akali leader Simranjit Singh Mann was deplored the arrest of Babbar Akali leader Rajinderpal Singh by the” Chandigarh police.

Mann said the arrest was aimed at preventing the ongoing discussion among Sikh organization against the growing police repression of Sikhs.

Article extracted from this publication >> September 6, 1991