People's Commission controversy
Empower rights panel: Badal

JALANDHAR, Nov 9 (TNS & PTI) — Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today said the government was ready to empower the state human rights commission to listen to old complaints of rights violations and there was no need for independent initiatives like the "People’s Commission".

"The state government was ready to amend the Punjab state Human Rights Commission Act which, in its current form does not take cognisance of more than one-year-old rights violation complaints," Mr Badal told PTI here.

He said notwithstanding the activities of fora such as "People’s Commission", the morale of the security forces in the state was very high.

Referring to Punjab Congress President Captain Amarinder Singh’s challenge to him for a live television debate on issues concerning the state, Mr Badal said, "Amarinder is small fry and Congress should field someone else for such a debate."

He said Congressmen have no locus standi to talk about Punjab’s problems as the party’s past was replete with instances of step-motherly treatment of the state’s demands.

Pooh-poohing Capt Amarinder Singh’s demand for sacking Lokpal Harbans Singh Rai for his reported "closeness" to Mr Badal, the Chief Minister said Congressmen were raking up the issue now as a number of former Punjab ministers were facing corruption charges.

"It is a known fact that a number of Congressmen, including the party's past presidents and even a Prime Minister are involved in several corruption cases, and would make any allegation to ward off action from the courts," he said.

The Chief Minister also denied any shortage of DAP fertiliser in the state and said certain lacunae in distribution have occurred because wheat sowing started relatively early due to unexpected rains.

"I have met the Director, Agriculture and Managing Director of Markfed only today and have been assured of adequate stocks of DAP," he said.
Mr Badal said he was pursuing the Centre the case for compensation to farmers following assessment of losses by a central team.

He said most of problems "facing not just Punjab but the entire country" were a legacy of the Congress which has presented "a classic model of mis-governance keeping large segments of the population illiterate, malnourished and backward."

He said most major ventures in Punjab had come through only under Akali Dal governments, be it the 16,000 crore refinery at Bathinda, the fertiliser plant at Sangrur, Thein Dam or the Bathinda thermal power plant.

In a related development the 'People's Commission' convener said it has issued summons to 524 persons, including police personnel in 87 cases.

Briefing the media here today, Mr Ram Narayan Kumar, convener of the People's Commission said here today that the Director General, Police, Mr P.C. Dogra has asked the commission for more information on cases being investigated.

Speaking on the constitution of the 'People's Commission' he said that it was legally valid under Article 19, which gave the People's Commission the right to get to the truth of mass cremations by the Punjab Police.

Though its findings will not be binding on the guilty the commission can suggest to the government what measures should be taken to improve and acknowledge that every individual be counted in the state.

The People's Commission is organising a seminar in Jalandhar on November 15 to create awareness understanding and comprehension on issues in which truth, justice and possibilities of reforms do not get sacrificed on the altar of prejudice, sectarianism and a totalitarian view of the state in which rights of the people do not count, he said.

The People's Commission is investigating state terrorism during militancy in Punjab. Mass cremations by the Punjab Police are being considered police excesses. The Supreme Court had ordered a CBI inquiry into the matter on the basis of two writ petitions.

A writ petition by the Committee for Information and Initiative on Punjab sought comprehensive remedial measures for the outrage and a habeas corpus petition was moved by Jaswant Singh Khalra's wife. Khalra who moved the original petition, was abducted by the police in September 1995 and remains untraced. He had unearthed clinching evidence between extra judicial killings by the police and the disposal of those killed through 'unclaimed' cremations.

The reports filed by the CBI disclosed, according to the Supreme Court "a flagrant violation of human rights on a mass scale". The Supreme Court on 12.12.1996 passed an order referring the whole matter to the National Human Rights Commission: "the appropriate body for the purpose". The Supreme Court had also directed the CBI to continue investigations with a view to prosecute the guilty officials.

The change in Punjab from a Congress to an Akali government has not led to any significant change in the governments' stand on the issue of human rights violations. The People's Commission alleges that the states' intransigence in the face of convincing proof of its violations is proof of its compulsive need to defend the misdeeds of its agents and a singular lack of will to protect its subjects from abuse and indignity has now hardened into a principle of governance.

The convener, Mr Kumar said that any bona fide government would wish for a proper inquiry into such 'extraordinary events'. Either way, whether the government is exonerated or its violations established, such an inquiry should be vital to the health of the polity.

The seminar will be attended by eminent human rights workers, Justice (retd) Rambhushan Malhotra, Mr Kishan Patnayak, Prof Satish Jain, Mr Tapan Bose, Mr Colin Gonsalvez, Mr Aurobindo Ghosh, Dr Anup Saraya, Mr Rajinder Puri, Mrs Indira Jaisingh, Ms Nitya Ramiakrishanan and Mr Ashok Aggarwal.