Photo Source: Babushahi Bureau
Former Punjab Special CS writes to Amit Shah, seeks Truth Commission on militancy
Babushahi Bureau
Chandigarh, July 14: Retired IAS officer and former Punjab Special Chief Secretary KBS Sidhu has urged the Union Government to constitute a Truth Commission to examine the militancy period in Punjab between 1980 and 1997, saying the country needs a “credible, dignified and final account” of one of its most turbulent chapters.
In a representation addressed to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, with a copy marked to Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Sidhu proposed the formation of a Commission of Inquiry under the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1952, headed by a retired judge of the Supreme Court.
Sidhu, who served as Deputy Commissioner of Amritsar from 1992 to 1996 during the peak years of militancy and retired as Special Chief Secretary to the Punjab Government in 2021, said he was making the proposal purely in his capacity as a private citizen.
Union-Level Commission Needed
In his representation, Sidhu argued that only the Government of India could establish such a commission, as a state-level panel would lack jurisdiction over the Armed Forces and central paramilitary forces deployed in Punjab during the militancy years.
He also cited legal provisions under the Code of Criminal Procedure, noting that cases relating to periods when President’s Rule was in force fall under the Union Government’s jurisdiction, making a central commission essential for a comprehensive inquiry.
Proposed Scope of Inquiry
Sidhu proposed that the commission investigate events that occurred between January 1, 1980, and December 31, 1997, while also examining subsequent developments arising from those events, including convictions, appeals, mercy petitions and parole proceedings.
He further suggested that the commission’s jurisdiction should extend to the Union Territory of Chandigarh, given its connection to incidents during the militancy period, and recommended Chandigarh as the commission’s headquarters because of its neutral administrative status.
Four Key Functions Suggested
The retired bureaucrat recommended that the commission’s mandate include:
- Ensuring it does not interfere with ongoing court proceedings, except in cases involving witness intimidation.
- Ordering fresh investigations into unresolved cases, including forensic and DNA identification of unidentified cremated remains.
- Recommending a rehabilitation and compensation framework for families of all victims, regardless of their affiliation.
- Reviewing cases of long-incarcerated convicts, including police personnel and Sikh political prisoners, and making recommendations for remission, reprieve or pardon under Article 72 of the Constitution, wherever applicable.
- Sidhu said the objective of the proposed commission was neither to reopen old wounds nor assign blame, but to provide a comprehensive and impartial account of the militancy era.
“I do not write to reopen old wounds for their own sake, nor to assign blame to any community, force, or government. I write because I believe the time has come for the Union Government to do formally, and once, what individual courts, individual petitions, and individual families have been left to do piecemeal for thirty years,” he said in the representation.
He also offered to assist the proposed commission in an honorary capacity if the government considered the proposal worthy of implementation.