Kalianwala Khu: DNA tests yet to be done on remains of martyrs

 Perneet Singh

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, January 29

The DNA-testing of the martyrs of the 1857 mutiny, whose remains were dug out from historic Kalianwala Khu near Ajnala almost a year ago, is yet to start allegedly due to lack of financial support from the state government. The Cultural Affairs Department has denied there was any paucity of funds.

Talking to The Tribune, JS Sherawat, Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, Panjab University, Chandigarh, said, “We needed funds as well as adequate space to conduct tests on the remains, but we got neither in the past 10 months.”

Sherawat said they subsequently sought help from the people in India and abroad with whom they had collaborated in the past. “Our efforts bore fruit and experts are ready to work for us free of cost. We have forged tie-ups in Karnataka, the UK and Canada as DNA-testing requires latest techniques and expertise,” he said.

The official said Panjab University had last week finally provided them space at the Institute of Forensic Science. He said they had now approached the government’s Cultural Affairs Department to hand them over the remains, and also grant them permission to proceed with the work on DNA-profiling.  The DNA-testing is likely to establish age, gender and physique of the martyrs who laid down their lives during the uprising. 

Navjotpal Singh Randhawa, Director, Cultural Affairs, Museums, Archives and Archaeology, said there was no shortage of funds. He said the work got delayed as Panjab University had to forge collaboration for the DNA-testing. “It takes time to zero in on experts abroad,” he said. A committee comprising members of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), Punjab’s Cultural Affairs Department and Panjab University’s experts on forensic science and anthropology had visited Ajnala in April last to take the mortal remains into their possession. Local researcher Surinder Kochhar, who had helped the Gurdwara Shaheed Ganj Committee in the excavation work, said he was heading to Uttar Pradesh next month to locate the descendants of the martyrs. He said he would seek the help of the UP government as well as NGOs there to trace their families as most of the martyrs belonged to UP. 

On the other hand, the gurdwara committee led by its president Amarjit Singh Sarkaria today started the work on the memorial at the historic site.

Desh Bhagat Yadgar Hall Committee chief Darbara Singh Dhillon along with its members laid the foundation stone of the memorial in Ajnala. A blood donation camp was also organised to mark the occasion. 

Addressing the gathering, CPM Punjab’s state secretary Mangat Ram Pasla said by “ignoring” the martyrs of the country’s first freedom struggle, the government had “not only betrayed the people but also meted out a grave injustice to the martyrs”.