Satyaraj Hazarika, IPS
Deputy Inspector General of Police, Assam
Introduction
The Punjab division in 1947 war contrived as a reprieve to the growing clamour of partition of India by Muslim League. The man chosen by the British Government was an impassioned and staid, Cyrill Radcliffe a lawyer by profession who had never set foot in the Indian continent was given the chairmanship of the two boundary committees set up with the passing of the Indian Independence Act. He was given only 5 weeks to complete the job. The Communal Award (MacDonald Award) was created by the British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald on 16th August 1932. It was announced after the Round Table Conference (1930–32) and extended the separate electorate to depressed Classes (now known as the Scheduled Caste) and other minorities. There was a last ditch attempt by the British to divide the Hindus. More than anything else the Communal Award was instrumental in firming up the idea of a separate Sikh nation. The Award favoured the minorities over the Hindus causing consternation and eliciting anger from Gandhi. The division of Punjab into West and East Punjab triggered the exodus of Muslims leaving for West Punjab and Hindus crossing into East Punjab. The refugees started to stream out ahead of 16th Aug 1946 when Muslim League called for ‘Direct Action’ Day. As the retributive violence descended on Punjab as violence spiraled into a genocide, the political partition defied the causal link that tied the British into the vortex. But the forces on either side of border are too strongly entrenched in making the biggest migration in world history together with pogroms that left thousands dead. One to two million Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs perished in the mayhem of violence, and 12 million displaced from their homes. The division of Punjab and the integration of Punjab as an Indian state in 1947, precluded the idea of a Sikhistan State or a Sikh nation already in popular imagination since 1930s.In the reign of Mughal Emperor Jahangir (1605-27) Sikhs came into conflict with Mughals. Two prominent Sikh Guru Arjan Singh and Guru Tegh Bahadur was killed by Mughals. As the Sikhs militarised themselves under Maharaja Ranjit Singh (1792-1839) the Sikh empire included Peshawar of modern day Pakistan state.
After independence of India ‘Green Revolution’ ushered in great prosperity in late 1960s in Punjab and by 1970s the dream of a food self sufficiency was realised in India through the hardworking Sikhs farmers. Punjab state was re-organized in 1966 and it is fed by waters of Sutlej, Ravi and Beas. Haryana was created and as a successor state, it got the right of river water use. But the bone of contention arose due to Yamuna which flows through Haryana. Sharing Yamuna waters took Haryana to Supreme Court in 1979. Work of the Sutlej-Yamuna Canal that was supposed to carry Punjab’s water to Haryana was halted in 1990, due to militant attack on dam site. Insurgency develops due to a context of one or several factors. It is difficult to predict an insurgency or rebellion as the context keeps stoking the fire over which national or ethnic tensions keeps shimmering. For the Sikhs the colonial era injustice to run into post- independence as perceived wrongs like diversion of river water among a set of actual triggers. Insurgency or low intensity warfare are fought increasingly inside civilian areas, and an insurgent is like a fish in the civilian populated waters. The lines often get blurred, as guerrillas live off the land, gathers popular support and fights for a civilian cause. In Punjab beadabi or sacrilege related to Guru Granth Sahib is linked to the growth of religious nationalism. The clash between supporters of Akhanda Kirtani Jatha and Damdami Taksal with Nirankar is led by Baba Gurcharan Singh on 13 April 1978 ushered in the Khalistani movement.
On 1st June Indira Gandhi rejected the Anandpur Sahib resolution as talks failed and Army was given the go-ahead to storm the Golden Temple, the hideout of Jarnail Singh Bhindrawale and his Khalistan extremist. The Operation Blue Star was launched on 2nd June and went on till 8th June, 1984.Troops from India elite 9th Div ably supported by CRPF and Punjab Police fought for a week against 200 plus militants. Bhindrawale took up refuge in Golden Temple, the holiest of Sikh shrine since 1982.Violence by pro-Khalistani extremist groups were resorting to mindless killings of innocents and security forces claimed 21,532 lives-8,090 separatists, 11,696 civilians and 1,746 security personnel from 1980 to 1995. It is considered one of the violent Insurgencies of India. DIG Avtar Singh Atwal killed on 25th April 1983 was one of the many instances of gruesome killing of security forces by Bhindraneale’s men. On 31st Oct Indira Gandhi, serving PM of India was assassinated by two of her Sikh bodyguard. In Nov 1984 anti-Sikh riots swept North Indian towns in retaliation to the assassination of Indira Gandhi. As Punjab was gripped by violence of Khalistani groups Julio Riberio joins as DGP Punjab in March 1986 at the height of the Punjab terrorism and he could turn it around by a calibrated policy of ‘bullet for bullet’. It was Julio Riberio’s successor DGP Punjab KPS Gill an Assam cadre IPS officer could finally being the dreaded Punjab violent extremism to an end. By leading the officers from the front Riberio and later KPS Gill could reclaim the public space by acting tough on the extremists. For the actions of Julio Riberio he came under the extremists crosshairs. In early morning of 5th Oct 1986 six men disguised as policemen attacked Riberio inside Punjab PHQ. Riberio was injured with his wife who needed hospitalization. On 10th Aug 1986 Gen AS Vaidya who was Army Chief during Ops Blue star was killed by members of Khalistan Commando Force in Pune.In Aug 1991 Riberio then Ambassador to Romania was attacked and wounded in Bucharest capital of Romania. Since August 2019 there has been a steady smuggling of arms and narcotics into Punjab from across the border. On 10th Jan 2022 the US based Pro-khalistan Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) announced plans to raise 1 million dollars to ‘Raise Kesari Khalistan’ (Raise the Saffron Khalistani Flag). In the 38th year of Operation Blue Star the Khalistanis across the world tried to revive the spirit of the cataclysmic day when Indian troops stormed the extremist hide out in the Golden Temple. The SGPC (Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee), the apex religious body of the Sikhs displayed the bullet ridden ‘Saroop’ (volume) of the Guru Granth Sahib that was hit by bullets during Operation Blue Star, in a commemorating event in Golden Temple on 6th June 2022 to mark the 38th anniversary. Akal Takht the highest Sikh temporal seat whose jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh also spoke on reviving the martial tradition of the Sikhs and stand by the ardas’(vow) ‘Raj Karenga Khalsa’ (determination of sovereignty). Simranjit Singh Mann led Shiromami Akali Dal (Amritsar) participated as the commemorative event in the Golden Temple put out T-Shirts emblazoned with photos of Jarnail Singh Bhrindanwale and raising slogans of ‘Khalistan Zindabad’.
