Gill rules out terror revival in state

Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 2

Former Punjab DGP KPS Gill said here today that Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale had been brought in by Rajiv Gandhi to counter the Akalis, even as he ruled out the revival of terrorism in the state.

Gill, who served as the DGP from 1988 to 1990 and then from 1991 till his retirement in 1995, spoke to The Tribune on the eve of the release of his book, ‘Punjab: The Enemies Within’, co-authored with Sadhavi Khosla.

The 1957-batch Assam-cadre IPS officer said the seeds of terrorism in the state had also been sown by the linguistic movement of the 1950s and 1960s, when efforts were made to promote Hindi as the dominant language by suppressing other languages.

Commenting on former President General Pervez Musharraf’s assertion that Pakistan could revive the Khalistan movement, Gill said: “Musharrraf will be proven wrong, just as he was mistaken in his assessment before the Kargil War (1999).” He also dismissed speculation that drug addicts in Punjab could be used as fidayeen (suicide bombers).

Khosla, who hails from Patiala, said the book also addressed contemporary issues such as drugs, low farm productivity and lack of jobs. “Let’s sort the problems collectively,” said the author, who has made a documentary on Punjab’s drug menace.