Misguided youth and National mainstream :Rehabilitation of Militants-III :

General Amnesty to those who wage war against a Nation ( country) is not so simple a "gesture" as it may be seen by many. Waging a war against a Government by its own people could be (category i) a movement to change the government in place or the system of governance without out questioning the nationality of those in the government, (category ii) or could be a movement to change the government in place or the system of governance by questioning the Nationality of the Government and those in the Government . Where no questions on the nationality are involved the solution could be simple. The cases initiated against the agitators could be withdrawn , local governance systems could be modified , localized preferential programmes could be drawn and those who took the law in their hands could be taken in the mainstream. But where the challenges to Nationalities are thrown, the general amnesty does not simply rest in material rehabilitation. Where the terrorists / militants / insurgents from the main lands had been involved in activities challenging the Nationality of the government in place , the job of general amnesty is not that simple. The insurgents who express desires for returning to mainstream out of their having realized the truth being otherwise have to be tested before granting amnesty. A process has to be also simultaneously initiated for their ideological reconstruction. The ideological reconstruction requires hard work at the level of the government. The programme drawn out by Omar Abdullah lead J&K Government with the approval of GOI (for accepting the Kashmir youth from across LOC who have expressed desires to shed arms & separatist ideologies ) falls in the category (ii). The draft of the action plan being prepared by State government for submission to GOI will have to time tested. Its success will depend more on (i) how Government of Pakistan (POK) accepts officially the programme for the return from across the LOC / international (ii) how the identification of Kashmiri youth in POK is done (iii) by whom and how will the certification of intentions of repentant youth be done (iv) what programme is drawn to involve the social organizations / community leaders to undo the propaganda of the anti India elements and (v) the cadres of political parties , the academicians and the intelligentsia work on ground to defeat separatist ideologists ideologies so that the inland misinformed and misguided youth too are ideologically rehabilitated.

Kashmir like approach need be adopted in other parts of India too. In case such like demands come from other State governments also, it should be welcomed by Government of India. Rather GOI must come out with a Department or Commission to be installed in place for such work. The challenges of both category (i) and Category (ii) could be sensed in other areas also. Athough majority of the suffering Indian States suffer from challenges of category (i) only. But if not taken seriously the enemies of India can easily turn the local socio economic resentments to anti India ( separatist ) movements . The separatist movements may not appear succeeding immediately but would cost heavily on the peace and development of the people of the rural backward Indian people.

Indian State of Punjab has been the worst victim of the Separatist like movement in 1970s and 1980s. There have been instances where the separatist drafts promoted during 1947 days were attempted for cultivation. Designs did not succeed. But some seeds and grafts are still dormant . At occasions the leadership has attempted to agitate the Sikh sentiments. The operation blue star and the 1984 riots after Indira Gandhi was shot at have been used all these years by some to arouse the sentiments of Sikhs. The memories of the Punjab terrorism have again being made live by the Sikh leaders after GOI expressed agreement with J&K Chief Minister for granting amnesty to Kashmiri militant youth who may wish to return from POK. Demands have been made that similar approach should be adopted towards Sikh youth too. The Home Minister P. Chidambram should have immediately nodded to the suggestion but he did not. No time should be lost by GOI for extending similar offer to Sikh youth aswell . Any delay will provide more opportunities to the politicians for exploiting the innocent.

It was on 18th February that the Punjab Chief Minster Parkash Singh Badal had said that Government of India must have one national policy on one issue . Badal welcomed the Kashmir initiative as positive and demanded that the same be widened to include other similar cases like that of the Sikh youth. Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram had earlier had ruled out the possibility of allowing the affected Sikh youth to return to the country in the same manner as the Kashmiri youth would be. The Punjab Chief Minister also disclosed that state government had prepared a list of wanted Sikh Youth settled abroad and had many a times asked the Union Government to review the lists for amnesty. As per Mr. Badal the Sikh youth who had to leave the country under some kind of duress, repression or implication in false cases should also be considered for a similar opportunity ( amnesty ). The observation made by Parkash Singh Badal has laid serious accusation on the government of State and Union for having falsely implicated the youth in anti India activities. The way Badal has accused the Government for false implication of some youth would rather add to more doubts in the mind of Sikh youth about the Intentions of Union of India. Mr. Badal should immediately make public list of such falsely implicated youth and those Sikh youth who want to return to Indian main stream shedding the demands like that of Khalistan. Similarly SAD President / Dy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal claimed that is a large number of Sikh youth who had nothing to do with militancy but who had to flee the state because of police repression prevalent in the state at that time and many Sikh youths had taken political asylum in foreign countries including Pakistan in 1970s and 1080s. Any how one may ask that why did Sukhbir Singh Badal or Prakash Singh Badal raise this issue only after Omar Abdullah made some suggestions on February 7? .Mr. Badal did refer the demand of his party during his meeting with the Union Home Minister P Chidambaram while he was at Amritsar on February 20. Earlier on Februaray13 Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh too emphasized that the list of black listed Sikhs should be reviewed ( as per Mr. Singh there are nearly 200 innocent Sikhs who have been branded as black-listed merely for expressing the truth before visiting Indian leaders in foreign countries and now they want to return to main stream ). The Jathedar has advised such individuals for sending their representations mentioning the issues, resentments and problems to the Akal Takht . SGPC must prioritize this issue and provide the documents to Punjab Government. Since the suggestion has come from the highest temporal seat of Sikhs both center and state should address to the issue with commitment. Amrinder Singh Ex Punjab CM has accused that GOI is extending rehabilitation offer to those who are still engaged in militancy in J&K where it has shown reluctance for extending such offer to those ex Sikh insurgents who have since shunned arms long back ( a list of 50 odd youth from Canada duly cleared by the High Commission was carried back home when he was CM and he had taken up with Ministry of external affairs ). SGPC Chief Avtar Singh Makkar too has said that 100 such Sikhs had approached Akal Takht who had been denied the chance to visit their home although they have no criminal cases against them. As per Makkar the entire community ( Sikh) was angry about Operation Bluestar and many of them had held public protests ( Why should such reactions be held a charge against them , he has asked ).Punjab remained militancy affected for over 15 years . Many Sikhs were put on an ´adverse list´ (´black list´) . No doubt some Indian Kashmiri and some Indian Sikh youth had taken to militant ideology for waging war against India had taken asylum abroad . And now when some of them have realized their folly ( as claimed by Omar Abdullah and Badals ) and want to return to their home , there lies no logic in being selective for extending amnesty to only Kashmiri youth, and not to the Sikh youth. BJP Amritsar MP Navjot Sidhu has named it a discrimination with the people on the basis of their state and religion. So no opportunity should be given to any one to allege that Government of India is adopting discriminatory attitude against Sikhs. No doubt there has to be a serious, workable and reformist action plan for careful identification of the beneficiaries of the general amnesty. Union government must not waste more time in taking decision in this regard. No doubt law has to take its own course . Those who were involved in heinous acts of crime, could also be tried in the court of law and the rest should be given soft home coming. ( * Daya Sagar is a Sr coloumnist of Kashmir affairs and a social activist dayasagr45@yahoo.com)