M A I N   N E W S

Surrender policy for Sikh youth
Willing to look into demand: PC
Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 19
The government could mull a surrender policy for misguided Sikh youth, who ex-filtrated into Pakistan at the height of militancy in Punjab or took political protection in other countries.

A day after ruling out the application to Sikhs of the surrender policy being drafted for the Kashmiri youths in PoK, home minister P Chidambaram today went an extra mile along the road to say the government would be willing to take back misguided Sikh youth who renounce the demand for Khalistan to come back.

“I know there is a demand (from the Sikh youth). We will look into that,” he said, when asked why the amnesty, being planned for Kashmiri militants willing to abjure violence, should not be extended for Sikhs.

Referring to the statement he made in this respect in Jammu day before, Chidambaram said, “I said in Jammu that we had not yet applied our mind to the demand, but we are willing to consider it.” He was speaking to journalists during a special interaction at the Indian Women Pres Corps here.

The home minister further defended the government’s decision to offer a surrender policy to the Kashmiri youth in PoK, who are eager to return to India.

“Anyone who crossed over to the Pakistan occupied Kashmir and now wants to return will be allowed to do so. Earlier too, he would return via Bangladesh or Nepal and on false papers, integrate into the local population. What’s the harm in taking them back,” Chidambaram said, adding that anyone wanting to return would have to go through a proper identity check, screening and debriefing.

The government had earlier undertaken a similar exercise in 1997-98 when the CRPF recruited a whole battalion of surrendered militants. The BSF also recruited some 450 surrendered militants, Chidambaram said, adding that the government’s surrender policy for Kashmiris in PoK was not new.

“Even in the naxal-infested states, we are welcoming the surrendered naxals to join the police forces,” the home minister said.

As regards the Sikh youth, they have been seeking amnesty since the government adopted the policy of reintegrating surrendered extremists. Several Sikhs from the state - including four from Jammu division convicted in an 1984 plane hijack and Khalistan Zindabad Force chief Ranjit Singh Neeta - are abroad, as was reported in these columns yesterday. Many others from Punjab had also ex-filtrated after Operation Bluestar and anti-Sikh riots in 1984.