CHANDIGARH, India: A specially trained section of 1,000 policemen will be raised to tackle the separatist problem in the troubled northern Indian state of Punjab, Director General of police, K.P.S. Gill had said here in the state capital.

Addressing a press conference Monday, Gill said 1,000 men would be selected from the state’s police for special training. Later they would then be attached to the three range digs at Ferozepur, Patiala and Jalandhar in Punjab.

Gill said violence had decreased in the state in the month of October despite withdrawal of 26 companies of police force. “There is a slow but perceptible improvement in the situation which we hope to maintain,” he added.

The situation was grim in Putti and Tarn Taran divisions of Amritsar district with reports of extortion of money and forcible closure of schools pouring in, the dig said,

Gill said 94 civilians, nine policemen and 26 militants were killed in October against the figures of 98, 12 and 33 respectively in September and 104, 18 and 28 respectively in August this year.

He said about 400 to 500 militants were at the moment wanted by the state police Sikh separatists in the state have started a military campaign to create a separate state of Khalistan (land of the pure).

Both Singh and his deputy P. Chidambaram accused Pakistan of arming the Sikhs with sophisticated weapons and training them to create disturbances in Punjab.

Opposition parties in both the houses criticized the Government of failing to take any steps to find a political solution to the Punjab tangle. They said the government was inconsistent in its approach to tackle the problem.

Reeling out figures of increase in violence in the state, the opposition demanded that elections to the state assembly be held immediately.

The opposition felt that extension of the Presidents rule in Punjab was negation of democracy.

In the lower house, Chidambaram admitted that there was rise in the violence. More than 2,000 people have been killed in the ongoing violence in Punjab this year alone.

Article extracted from this publication >> November 11, 1988