M A I N   N E W S

Pakistan MPs arrive with peace message
Varinder Walia and Ashok Sethi
Tribune News Service

Delegates from Pakistan arrive at Ambala Cantonment railway Station on their way to Delhi. — Photo Neeraj Chopra

Welcoming the initiative taken by the Indian Prime Minister, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and reciprocated by his counterpart in Pakistan, Mr Zafarullah Khan Jamali, he said dialogue should be held immediately for the re-union of families which were separated during Partition. Pointing towards the resumption of the rail and road traffic between India and Pakistan, he said these routes were adopted by the poor people.

Zia never supported ‘Khalistan’
Varinder Walia and Ashok Sethi

Wagah, May 8
“The then Pakistan President, Gen Zia-ul-Haq, who had a lot of sympathy with the Sikh youth who had crossed over to Pakistan during the peak of militancy in early eighties, had never supported the creation of Khalistan as its map had included territories of Pakistan”.

This revelation was made for the first time by the former Adviser to Gen Zia on minority affairs from 1982 to 1985, Mr MP Bhandara, now member of the National Assembly of Pakistan, in an exclusive interview with The Tribune here today. During his tenure as Adviser he was privy to the various significant decisions with regard to providing official support to Sikh militants.

Mr Bhandara had an opportunity to meet a number of militant leaders, including Dal Khalsa chief Gajinder Singh (whose name figures in India’s most wanted list), some of the hijackers of the Indian Airlines plane at that time. Asked about the whereabouts of India’s most wanted persons, he quipped that he had never met them for a long time. Mr Bhandara said it was true that Gen Zia-ul-Haq would give all moral and other support to Sikh hardliners but it was his standing order to all concerned to keep them under strict surveillance and hence they were kept under virtual house arrest for a long time. The General had also issued directions that they should not be allowed to wage their movement from the soil of Pakistan. When asked about the supply of sophisticated arms from a cross the border and running of training camps in Pakistan, Mr Bhandara refused to comment on the pretext that the ISI and other intelligence agencies never disclose their secret agendas to anybody.

Mr Bhandara admitted that he would meet the hijackers of the Indian Airlines plane in Lakhpat and other jails as part of his official assignment. Recalling his meeting with one of the hijackers, Pinka (who hails from Jammu), Mr Bhandara said he was impressed with the courage as he was preparing for his B.A. examination (from Lahore university) while lodged in the death cell of the jail. Though many Sikh leaders, including Ganga Singh Dhilon, Dr Jagjit Singh Chauhan would plead before General Zia-ul-Haq to give clemency to the hijackers but he (Gen Zia) never relented. It was during the regime of Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto that the death sentence was converted into life imprisonment. He, however, hastened to add that Gen Zia, who hailed from Jalandhar, had a lot of love and affection for Sikh militants and would regularly meet members of Sikh pilgrims during their visit to Pakistan. He said though his ministers would oppose any move to give facilities to Sikh pilgrims but General Zia would readily concede their each and every demand.

Expressing his personal views, Mr Bhandara said he would not mind if the ‘kar seva’ of Sikh shrines in Pakistan was given to the SGPC.

Asked about the status of minorities in Pakistan, Mr Bhandara claimed that Sikhs and Hindus were the ‘safest’ while the poor Christians were persecuted whenever there was any highhandedness by the USA against Muslims.