9 May 2002

NO PUNJAB CRACK COMMANDOS FOR GILL OPERATIONS IN GUJARAT

From Jal Khambata

NEW DELHI: Supercop KPS Gill, the security advisor to the Gujarat Chief Minister, did not get Punjab's crack commandos he had used to tackle the Sikh militancy and then communalism in Assam for his operations in Gujarat to stir confidence among the minorities shaken by the communal bias of the state police.

The Centre is reluctant to send these commandos to Gujarat in view of several human right violation cases during the days of militancy in Punjab were pending against them and the Home Ministry view is that these commandos are trained only to deal with terrorists and as such they are not needed to hunt for terrorists in Gujarat.

Neither Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh nor his Chief Secretary and Home Secretary who are all in Delhi know anything about the reported Gill's request to provide him a battalion of 1000 commandos to handle the communal violence in Gujarat. They expressed surprise at reports that the Punjab Government had agreed to send the commandos. At least they should know if any such consent is granted.

Only Punjab Director-General of Police M S Bhullar in Chandigarh said he had been "sounded" by Gill for the need but he said the request should come from the Centre as Gill is nobody to requisition forces from the Punjab Police he once headed during the tumultuous days of militancy in Punjab.

Union Minister of State for Home I D Swami also denied any request coming from the Gujarat Government to provide the Punjab commandos. He said Gill had sought more central para-military forces from Home Minister Lal Krishna Advani during their meeting on Tuesday and as such about 2000 Central Reservce Police Force (CRPF) personnel, including about 200 commandos, to assist the state police in combating communal violence.

The Punjab Government decided on Thursday to make ti known officially through a Press note that it cannot spare its crack commandos for Gujarat. The Press note said: "Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has regretfully decided that no police force could be spared." It said the Punjab Police had just one battalion available in reserve while the rest were on duty in the areas adjoining Jammu and Kashmir and cannot be spared.

The Press note puts an end to the specualtion that Gill is taking to Gujarat the crack commandos of the India Reserve Battalion (IRB) raised during his tenure as the Punjab Police chief to fight the Punjab militants.

The Punjab crack commandos constitute the Indian Reserve Battalions headquarters in Patiala. There are five battalions of these commandos. The Centre bears half the expenditure of these commandos.

Inquiries with the IRP headquarters in Patiala also showed that no orders have been received to get these commandos ready for moving into Gujarat whenever requisitioned at a short notice. In fact, its personnel are getting vacation leave as usual which is otherwise suspended in the event of any demand to deploy them at any place. The IRB personnel are, however, always ready to get into action within four hours and have their own aircraft for movement.

Union Minister I D Swami affirms that the Centre has no information as of today about any demand for the Punjab commandos coming from the Gujarat Government. Moreover, he says the commandos are needed to fight against terrorists and not against the citizens provoked to indulge in riots. He said the Army and para-military troops are already positioned in Gujarat and hence he does not know what the commandos will do. There are no terrorists hiding in Gujarat that the commandos are requisitioned to hunt for them, he remarked.

Pointing out that even the demand for the para-military forces was made by Gill on behalf of Chief Minister Narendra Modi, Swami said Gill cannot approach the Punjab Government directly to requisition the commandos overriding the powers of the State Government. Gill is occupying an advisory post and cannot issue orders on his own, Swami added. END