NEW DELHI: The Akali Dal (M) president, Simranjit Singh Mann, on Monday said he wanted the United Nations and the five permanent members of its Security Council to stand in as guarantors of the government’s promise to hold elections in Punjab by February 15.

Addressing a press conference here, he wondered whether the army had been redeployed for a possible military misadventure against Pakistan.

Is this election a ruse, a feint to induct the army and then leap frog for a military adventure into Pakistan,” he asked.

 Mann reiterated that the government could open a dialogue only with the militants to find a settlement of the Punjab problem, In this connection, he identified the Zafarwal group, the Sohan Singh group and the Babbar Khalsa International with whom the dialogue could be started.

Mann charged the government with committing “genocide of the Sikhs”.

He said the government was not serious about holding elections in Punjab. Last time, the elections were postponed at the last moment and “I am sure this time also they (government), will cancel the elections on one or the other excuse.”

Therefore, he said that some international agencies like the UN should guarantee that elections would be held in the state. “Why cannot the UN or its Security Council members act as guarantors for elections in Punjab, when they can do so in the case of Cambodia and Namibia”, he asked.

When pointed out that Cambodia and Namibia were nations while Punjab was part of India, he said the Sikhs had lost confidence in the government and except for some international agency nobody could convince them that the Center was keen on holding elections in the state,

He avoided any direct reply to the query whether his party would participate in the elections if they were held by February 15.

Asked what stand he would take in the Center rejected his demand to allow an international guarantor for elections, the Akali Dal (M) chief said “we will decide our future course of action later and if needed, approach the UN in this regard.”

To charges that Pakistan was encouraging subversive activities in Punjab, he said. “I have not come across any iota of evidence in this regard”.

The army, he said, should be immediately withdrawn from the state. The government was saying that the army had been sent to the state for conducting elections. He noted and remarked “for balloting, you don’t need artillery every time”.

He said there were indications that India was “heading on the path for a war with Pakistan”,

Asked what stand he would take in the eventuality of war with Pakistan, Mann said “we will not participate in the war. We will not cooperate (with the government) in any way”,

Mann said his party had already launched an agitation against the redeployment of the army in the state. “We will hold Protest marches and agitations all over the state against the amy,” he said.

He said according to his information at present there were six corps of the army deployed in the State, “Each crop comprises 80,000 men. The sheer strength Speaks for itself that the army is in the state to kill innocent civilians,” he stated.

In this connection, Mann distributed among the reporters copies of the purported counter affidavit filed by the Punjab government in the Supreme Court in a case.

He said the affidavit “clearly Slates” that innocent people were being killed by the security agencies.

When a reporter pointed out that militant were also killing innocent people, Mann said” there is a law to punish everyone, including the militants but what law is there to punish the state.”

Article extracted from this publication >> December 6, 1991