PHRO: first create atmosphere for talks

NEW DELHI: While Akali leader Simranjit Singh Mann has urged militants to respond to the call by Chandra Shekhar to come to the negotiating table the Punjab Human Rights Organisations has asked the prime minister to go slow in the process of holding talks as undue haste without preparation would be counterproductive.

Addressing a press conference at Chandigarh Mann said Chandra Shekhar had offered to amend the constitution on the Khalistan issue and provide safe passage to militants. He had offered to go to any lengths to find a solution according to Mann. The offer has so far met with silence from the militants

Mann was of the view that political morality demanded militants must come forward and respond to the offer. They must see what was being offered otherwise the initiative would remain with the prime minister he said.

As to why they had not responded Mann felt that being underground the militants had difficulty communicating with each other.

In reply to a question Mann admitted he did not know how relevant he was in the present situation.

The PHRO chairman Harinder Singh Khalsa in a letter to Shekar said the prime minister should lake steps lo create a congenial atmosphere for a fruitful dialogue on the Punjab issue.

Mr Khalsa referred to the roundtable conference in Chandigarh on January 201987 in which Shekhar himself had participated and where it was decided that the then govt ought to take certain unilateral steps to pave the way for fruitful talks. Those proposals assume greater significance now that Shekhar himself is the prime minister said Mr Khalsa.

Pleading for sincere preparatory measures the PHRO reiterated that para military forces should be withdrawn all black laws repealed Sikhs youths languishing in jails should either be freed or tried as soon as possible steps taken to prosecute those responsible for fake encounters and the guilty of the 1984 anti-Sikh massacres should be punished. The PHRO stressed distortions. Introduced in. the scheme of the Punjabi-speaking State be removed. Punjab’s rights to its river waters should be respected and steps taken to fill the SYL canal. These measures if initiated immediately could be accomplished in 6 months and the PHRO felt would pave the way for establishing the lost credibility of the center among the people of Punjab.

Talking to newsmen at the Amritsar International hotel on Feb 18 Mann said that when he had gone to submit a memorandum demanding that repression and fake encounters be stopped Shekhar had promised that he would do the needful. But to my regret the repression is going on unchecked he said. He also said he could not contact the militants in the prevailing situation in Punjab.

Mann for the first time confirmed that he had reached an understanding with Shekhar on December 28 that no side would try to outsmart the other One firm commitment was made that the repression would stop so as to create a congenial atmosphere. Mann did not elaborate on other details of the understanding of which WSN had reported last month.