The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Saturday, April 21, 2001,
Chandigarh, India

THE TRIBUNE SPECIALS

50 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE

TERCENTENARY CELEBRATIONS

M A I N N E W S

TRIBUNE EXCLUSIVE
We were ISI puppets: Zaffarwal
Prabhjot Singh and Varinder Walia
Tribune News Service

Baba Bakala, April 20
Long isolation, survival on a pittance and donations and the realisation that violence was no solution to any problem were the factors that forced Wassan Singh Zaffarwal, a once ruthless leader of the Khalistan Commando Force (Zaffarwal), to retract his stand on “Khalistan” and seek “a return to the mainstream”.

“I have always felt sorry for those innocent victims who fell to the bullets of militants during turbulence in Punjab. I wish I could go to the families of the victims of that ‘madness’ and explain to them how people like me were used as mere ‘puppets’ by the Pakistan-based ISI”, Wassan Singh Zaffarwal, one of the most wanted militants in the late 80s and early 90s, said here today.

“I feel that the age between 25 years and 40 years is the time when one has to channelise one’s energies in a positive way. It was this period of my life with which I wreaked havoc. I strayed on to a path of destruction and got into wrong hands. Once I was there I could not come out. It was like slush in which I had sunk myself deeper and deeper to reach a stage of no return”, he said when The Tribune team caught with him while he was being brought here from the place of his detention for extension of police remand.

Mr S.S. Dhaliwal, Additional Civil Judge, extended his remand until April 23. Earlier, he was medically examined at the Civil Hospital here.

“Once I openly opposed the plans given to us for execution in Punjab. The result was that I was sent to solitary confinement for six months. Otherwise we always had a ‘munshi’ supervising our activities in the ‘kothis’ we stayed in Pakistan”, he said disclosing that he went to Pakistan thrice with the last visit in 1987 extending till July, 1996, when he finally left that country for “good” for greener pastures in Switzerland.

But once there he was reduced to being a parasite living on the doles of the Swiss Government and donations from the UK-based Council of Khalistan”.

After his visit to Pakistan in 1984, which lasted a month, he returned and announced “Khalistan” from Akal Takht. He returned to Pakistan in 1986 for a fortnight and then went back in 1987.

It was between 1984 and 1991 that Zaffarwal had 15 cases of murder, attempt to murder, secession, waging a war against the nation and other criminal acts registered against him.

Of the eight cases in which he was registered a proclaimed offender, the first one attempt to murder was registered against him at Dasuya when militants opened fire at a medical hall, seriously injuring the two brothers running the shop.

Another case of murder and attempt to murder was registered against him on January 25 the following year when a group of militants opened indiscriminate fire at Dasuya, killing two persons besides injuring eight.

Yet another case of indiscriminate firing three persons lost their lives at Dhariwal on May 6, 1985. He was one of five suspects named in the case. In the same year in the month of November, Zaffarwal and Tarsem Singh Kohar were named in an FIR after the Sarpanch of Udoke Kalan was shot and one of his accomplice injured in a shootout.

In February, 1986, Zaffarwal was named in another case of murder and attempt to murder when four persons were killed in indiscriminate firing. The last case of murder and attempt to murder was registered against him in 1991 when Balwinder Singh was dragged out of his house and shot in the jurisdiction of the Amritsar Sadar police station.

Zaffarwal denies his presence or involvement in any of these cases. Besides, there are two cases of sedition registered against him in Amritsar in 1986 and 1989.

“We were under our Pakistan bosses. They would tell us to write letters and issue directions to our men in the field. These were sent through special couriers. Our operations were mainly funded through money coming from our sources in Europe and North America. The money was transferred in the name of certain shopkeepers of Lahore or Sialkot and we would draw cash from them. The ISI provided us well-furnished kothis. Some of us were provided cars like Toyota Corolla but we had to seek permission for every outing.

“I did attend some of the training camps, including those in handling explosives and firearms. I can fire a rocket and use an AK-47. We had the maximum recruitment in 1988-89. I may have provided firearms to 300-odd members of my organisation, besides getting 65 to 70 of them trained in the use of firearms.

“We used to get copies of Indian newspapers, including Punjabi Tribune, at our ‘kothis’. I used to feel bad for the killing of innocent persons. Dr Jagjit Singh Chauhan also always opposed killings of innocents. Others who opposed these were Tejinder Singh, I.S. Bal and D.S. Sandhu.

“Since we were under their control, whenever we opposed such a move we were threatened that we would be dropped at the border. Under threat we kept quiet,” he said, maintaining that such actions also led to rumblings within militant organisations.

“In one case, two youngsters — Pal Singh and “Nihang” were shot in their sleep by the leader of their group, a veterinary doctor (P.S. Sekhon). His accomplices left him and joined the Paramjit Singh Panjwar’s group there. This led to another clash between Sekhon’s group and Panjwar’s group. Paramjit Singh Panjwar, whose family has now got political asylum in Germany, was the most ruthless.”

“While I was in Pakistan, others who were living in kothis like me included Paramjit Singh Panjwar, Wadhawa Singh Babbar, Mahil Singh Babbar, Gajinder Singh, Lakhbir Singh Rode, P.S. Sekhon and Balbir Singh Sandhu. Mahil Singh has his family in Canada now while Wadhawa Singh Babbar lives with his wife, son and a daughter in Pakistan. His second daughter has been married to someone in Germany,” Zaffarwal disclosed.

Talking about his initiation into militancy, he said he made friends with Tarsem Singh Kohar without realising that he was a militant. “One of his friends, Madan Lal Maddi, was arrested by the police. He named me. For fear of police arrest and harassment, I left my home and never returned. My brother was taken into custody. My mother was detained. My father remained with the police for eight years. Once I left home, I got into the hands of the ISI. Initially, I felt uncomfortable but once I got into the Damdami Taksal fold, I started feeling safe.

“Under the circumstances, I had no choice but to oblige my masters. I could not return home for fear of the Army and the police. We never claimed responsibility. But mostly these were our men in the field who made these claims. But I can tell you I was never involved any killing,” he said.

“I want to be back with my people, with my family, in my own country. I had been desperate to return home. I am ready to face the consequences for my actions. To be honest, I wanted to be back last year. In February, I went to Rome and used photocopies of the passport of another Indian, Charanjit Singh, to obtain an Emergency Travel Certificate from the Indian Embassy in Rome. I put my picture and changed the date of birth from 1976 to 1956.