‘The annual convention of the Punjab Sikh Lawyers held at Ludhiana on November 16, 1986, and attended by more than 100 lawyers drawn from different parts of the State appealed to Sikh leadership to denounce the Punjab Accord as it had already died its natural death.
Let us examine what the memorandum of settlement has to say about the so called army deserters ‘or the prisoners of conscience who refer to themselves as “victims”.
Para 4 regarding those discharged from the army states, “For all those discharged, efforts will be made to rehabilitate and provide ‘gainful employment”.
Now the army fosters strong, religious sentiments in these troops to enhance their willingness to fight and die for the country. But the soldiers were punished for acting in accordance with the same religious sentiments the army has gone to such lengths to inculcate. They are thus the “soldiers of misfortune”.
‘According to the press reports, Of the2734 soldiers who reacted in this way, 376 were found guilty by martial law, 40 are in military custody, 41 still under trial, 49 declared dead, 23 missing believed to be dead, 2 missing whose fate is unknown and 2203 were taken ‘back in the army. Of the 376, found guilty, 129 are in Punjab jails, 97 in prisons in other states and 150 served various sentences and released. Out of those in jails, some have been awarded sentences between 5-10 years, others for 10 years and about 20 percent for less than five years. Thus these unfortunate persons are still languishing in jails
‘The army precedents show that these soldiers are meted out discriminating and vindictive treatment. In the 1965 war, the Madras and Bihar regiments allegedly ran away from the morchas, abandoning guns in their fight. These men were taken back into the army and in later years, some of their officers even rose to be Major Generals.
The behaviour of another regiment at the time of Operation Blue Star is also reported. It is alleged that soldiers of the Madras Regiment who were’ caught carrying away valuable domestic articles were let off and the matter hushed up.
The Indian soldiers who mutinied in the year 1857 in the so called war of Indian Independence were let off by the then British Government. The case of Sehgal, Dhillon and Shah Nawaz was argued by no less a person than Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru and Bhirla bhai Desai who had taken part after desertion in the Indian National Army and no action of punishment nature was taken against other soldiers who fought against the Indian Army.
It, therefore, boils down to this that it is not simply a matter of military discipline but a case which has right ones side the ethos Of the Sikh soldier who is a deeply religious man.
In the era of hope and goodwill following the signing of the Punjab accord, it seemed the Government would take appropriate steps to cancel the “deserter” problem. The advice of Generals like Vai ya and Oberoi to condemn the “deserters” to the severest possible punishment is not working in the Villages of Punjab where the court martialled and dismissed soldiers ‘are not forgotten men and they want them to be taken back.
Will the Indian government act up to the Memorandum of Settlement or will clause (4) also go the Chandigarh way? It is a pity that not a single clause of the Accord has been implemented and the Sikhs have, not without reason, lost all hope in the bonafides of the Center and the stalemate continue.
* Speaking in the Lok Sabha, Mr. Srirama murthy, Telugu Desam member said the only way out in the Punjab situation was to find a political solution, Mr. Jagan Nath Kanshal said that the government seemed to be in a dilemma as to how the violence should be checked when an elected government headed by Mr. Sunjit Singh Barnala had failed, About the Jodhpur detainees, Mr. Gupta (CPI) said the government should do thorough screening and the innocent should be set free.
Article extracted from this publication >> December 12, 1986
