CHANDIGARH: India’s military top brass gave vent to their feeling that Sikh militancy in Punjab will continue notwithstanding several recent successes against the guerilla armed groups achieved by the country’s security forces. The occasion for exchange of views with the media was provided recently when the army’s western command celebrated the 45th anniversary of the command’s creation at the Manimajra cantonment near here. Senior generals and field commanders spoke to newsmen informally but frankly. They sounded unhappy about the way the army’s withdrawal from Punjab after about 11 months of induction was stalled through political maneuvering. They felt that the way the Punjab police was conducting itself in the state was in no way conducive to bringing about normalcy. Senior army officers were evidently armed with a lot of information about the police ways in Punjab. They made no bones about the fact that police gangs were engaged in killing Sikh youths in fake and contrived encounters. These gangs were also free to rape Sikh women and loot villagers at gunpoint. The officers were unhappy that most police crimes were being allowed without any check by the authorities. This was helping in the process of further alienating the population from India and its armed forces, The police atrocities, the army senior officers felt, would continue so long as the state was ruled by an “illegitimate government.” The police could not be controlled by this government. This, the army officers felt, provided the fertile ground for the growth of the Khalistan movement. What the Indian army authorities are worried about is the mounting difficulty in dealing with Pakistan in view of the Sikh alienation.
The army also cannot allow its men to be put on anti-militancy duties for long because of the peculiar situation in which there is no identified enemy to fight against with the result that soldiers remain stuck.
The result is that the morale of the force goes down and its fighting capability is impaired. Interestingly, the army’s views on Punjab went unreported in the media thanks to its pro-police bias. The Hindu media does not want the Punjab police and its chief to be seen in a bad light irrespective of the long-term damage it may be causing to the Hindu interests as viewed by the army top brass.
Meanwhile, the army has turned out a new outfit, the Rashtriya Rifles, and has inducted it in Punjab in place of regular, traditional troops. The aim appears to be to minimize the loss in terms of morale of the traditional fighting force remaining inducted for long in the state of Punjab. The army has produced three battalions so far and has put them on duty in Punjab.
Article extracted from this publication >> October 2, 1992
