M A I N   N E W S

Punjab panel on violence unlikely
Prabhjot Singh
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 25
Now when the main Opposition party, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), has agreed to a debate in the Vidhan Sabha on the turbulence witnessed by the state in the 80s and 90s, the move of the Punjab government on setting up a commission on the issue may not take off.

While the state government wanted to appoint a retired judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court to head the commission, the Opposition, including the SAD and the BJP, insisted on a sitting judge of the Supreme Court to head it.

The Congress high command, sources reveal, was not impressed much by the idea of a commission under the Commission of Inquiry Act as it was felt that it would not only revive sad memories of the turmoil the state had undergone but could also vitiate the peaceful atmosphere.

A debate on the floor of the state legislature was enough. The SAD, which had been initially insisting that the Nanavati Commission report should also be made a part of the agenda of the Vidhan Sabha debate, appears to have accepted the challenge of the Chief Minister to a debate on any aspect of the secessionist violence that claimed more than 20,000 lives in the state.

A number of senior Congress leaders also felt that entrusting a probe to a commission was like reopening wounds which time had healed. Further, they felt that there was no provocation to go back to the tragic chapter in the history of the state in which many might not come out clean.

They felt that after the apology by the Prime Minister in Parliament and his promise to take action against those “found guilty” by the Nanavati Commission had sent a positive signal to the Sikh community worldwide. Further, the UPA government also wants the speedy rehabilitation of and compensation for the 1984 riot victims. Any further debate on the commission report on which time-bound action had been ordered would serve no useful purpose other than reviving painful memories.

The decision of the Akalis to participate in a debate on the floor of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha may have provided a reprieve to the ruling Congress as it was not easy for it either to find a suitable or acceptable judge, serving or retired, to head the commission on a sensitive issue like the secessionist or militant violence in the state.

Sources in the Punjab government reveal that the initial enthusiasm of handing over the probe to a commission is now waning and instead the focus is on the next Vidhan Sabha session for which both the ruling party and the SAD may have to do a lot of research and homework to avoid blame for the trauma that the state underwent.