Journalist: Mr. Ambassador, with the release of Bhai Jasbir Singh and the dissolution of the Punjab Assembly, Indian government has tried to upset the applecart of both Barnala and Badal Akali Dals.
Ambassador: That’s right.
Journalist The Assembly, they feel, has been dissolved to ward off the possibility of the two Dals coming together and staking their claim for ruling the Punjab, and Bhai Jasbir Singh has been released to tell them that the government can talk straight to the militants and thus make them irrelevant.
Ambassador: Very correct.
Journalist: What will the government do if the two Akali Dals, in sheer revengefulness, were to extend their support to the freedom fighters’ struggle for Khalistan? Will it order another Bluestar Operation?
Ambassador: Not in national interest to disclose.
Journalist Mr. Ambassador, the leaders of all political parties in India have welcomed the release of the five Sikh High Priests.
Ambassador. That’s right.
Journalist. But Delhi based Sikh journalists like Rahul Singh and Tavleen Singh have sharply reacted against the move and described it as a “cowardly capitulation” before the guns.
Ambassador: Very correct.
Journalist: When would these journalists start looking at the problem from the Sikh angle rather than acting as “yours faithfully”? How come they did not feel agitated when the government struck a deal with Mr. Laldenga or with Assam Students Union?
Ambassador: Not in national interest to disclose.
Journalist: Mr. Ambassador, a report appearing in a section of the Washington press stated that India has more than twenty nuclear bombs. The report is said to be based on the U.S. Intelligence sources.
Ambassador: That’s right.
Journalist: However, Indian authorities have denied the report and Mr. P.K. Kaul described it as a “pure figment of imagination”.
Ambassador: Very correct.
Journalist. Who would accept Indian denial especially when Indian diplomats have made it a habit to cheat the world through fraud and falsehood?
Ambassador: Not in national interest to disclose.
Article extracted from this publication >> March 25, 1988
