[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Former director general of Punjab police KPS Gill played a unique role in eliminating Khalistani terrorism in the Punjab in the eighties and early nineties. He was brought to Punjab as Inspector General of Punjab Armed Police at a very difficult period but he won the admiration of the citizens with the success of Operation Black Thunder which freed the Golden Temple in Amritsar of militants. Speaking to Rashme Sehgal, his son-in-law Dr Ajai Sahni, executive director of the Institute of Conflict Management, reminiscences about this dynamic and controversial personality
What is the quality you remember most about KPS Gill?
What I remember most about him is the sheer intensity of his commitment and sense of purpose. Nothing detracted him from what he had set out to do. He had a tremendous ability to focus on his goals. He had clear ideas about the nature and origins of the terrorist challenge in the Punjab and also how it should be tackled. In that sense he was fearless because he spent no time worrying about his own security. When he was once asked whether he was apprehensive about him being attacked by terrorists, his reply was ‘that is Sharma’s concern’. (Sushil Sharma was the officer in charge of his security.) During the period of terrorism in the Punjab, he used to travel for 26-28 days in a month.
This is not to say that he was not a target of terrorist attack. He was targeted endlessly and once came within shooting distance of a group of terrorists who chickened out at the last minute. This is in contrast to both his predecessor and his successor as DG Punjab police. To cite one example, in 1990-91, Gill was transferred to the CRPF in Delhi. The officer who succeeded him was targeted in a bomb attack following which he is known never to have stepped out of his official place of residence during his remaining tenure.
He introduced the whole concept of Operation Night Dominance by which the Punjab police would move around at night patrolling as well as attacking militant. Earlier, the police would barricade themselves in their police station at night but Operation Night Dominance saw them gaining an upper hand against terrorists.
Gill did write about his experiences in tackling militancy in his book Knights of Falsehood and also wrote an extensive paper on this subject titled Endgame in Punjab?
Endgame in Punjab provides details about the overall strategy and tactical changes deployed to defeat militancy in Punjab. His book titled Knights of Falsehood exposes the false version of Sikkhism that was espoused by Akali Dal leaders such as Parkash Singh Badal, Gurucharan Singh Tohra, Bhindarwale and others. The role of the Akalis was shameful but has been largely forgotten today. Militancy spread in the Punjab because of them.
In the last interview Gill gave before his death, he regretted the fact that Indian institutions lacked institutional memory. For example, he highlighted how mistakes made in the 80s in tackling insurgency were being repeated today?
Yes indeed. The Khaslistani movement was brought to an end 22 years ago but the question is what has been the learning curve ? How should we apply principles of counter insurgency especially when this has been dealt with earlier. We need to understand the importance of routine policing and more important, we must also understand the dynamics of a conflict. Apart from a half-day conference on the Punjab experience organised by the Punjab police, not a single meet has been organised in these 22 years at the level of the National Police Academy on how this insurgency was tackled. Today, the theory doing the round is that the situation in Punjab was not so bad but people should not be allowed to forget how serious the situation in the Punjab was. We were close to losing Punjab. Senior politicians used to say we have lost the people and it is only a matter of time before we lose the land.
I must also highlight how the suicide of Ajit Singh Sandhu ( former SSP of Tarn Taran) and persecution of other Punjab police officers who fought insurgency saw him writing at length on this subject and how it was this police which helped to bring Punjab back from the brink.
Mr Gill was critical about the way Operation Blue Star had been conducted by the army?
He was written on this subject. I think for him it was not a question of the army or the police because they had been asked to respond to a political time table. The fact is that the army went in without the assistance of the local intelligence. We must not forget that following Operation Blue Star, militants crossed over and sought Pakistan’s help which they received and which helped start a proxy war that was spearheaded by Pakistan.
One of the reasons why he was able to combat this was because he brought about a unique model of co-operative command. He helped ensure that every officer of a particular rank in the police was in touch with his army counterpart so that there was complete intelligence sharing in a unified command system. They met on a daily basis and the aim of this exercise was very clear that they support each other. It helped construct a level of personal relationships which have not been replicated since. All control rooms were manned by police, army and CPRF officials- no one was kept out of the loop.
He believed the army was a national force and could not be seen fighting the people; the dirty work was left to the cops who had to conduct cordon and search operations. But look at the effect on the ground. No single village with more than three Hindu families was allowed to push these families out of their village. Orders were given to provide protection to the Hindu families and this was done. Militants always want an ethnic separation to occur, a polarisation of the population, because this helps to create greater discord. But this was not allowed to happen in the Punjab.
His greatest regret is that he was not allowed to handle Kashmir. I believe if he had been sent there, the issue would have been resolved by now. He took a demoralised Punjab police and helped to raise their morale. Punjab even during the period of the militancy, right up to the early 2000s remained the second most prosperous state of the country. After the recent Akali rule, it has climbed down to fourteenth position and its per capita income has plunged. Not even the Khalistanis did as much harm as the Akali rule.
Gill received praise for his handling of Operation Black Thunder?
The entire operation has been very well documents. He took two decisions against very strong opposition. The first was to allow the media to watch the entire operation unfold before their eyes. The second was to maintain it as a protracted siege by surrounding them and starving the militants off. Later, when they capitulated, the world got a chance to see just how they had desecrated Harmander Sahib. The terrorists were exposed completely.
I must mention that he was a virtual legend in Assam. He was called in to help quell the riots in Gujarat in 2002. He was called two months after the rioting had started in Gujarat. Before leaving, he asked Captain Amarinder Singh who was then chief minister of Punjab for a contingent of the Punjab police. Singh agreed but the request was turned down by the centre. Again, he had to deal with an extremely demoralised Gujarat police with some of them having colluded in the rioting. Within a week of his arrival, the rioting stopped.
He helped create confidence amongst the Muslims and mobs of petitioners used to be standing outside his office for hours on end. He published the phone numbers of the police officials and told the victims they should talk directly to him. He did not allow people to shirk responsibility. Some police officers who were known for their strong communal views were made in charge of getting the mosques cleaned.
He majored in English literature and had a great love of both English and Urdu poetry?
Yes. He had a phenomenal memory and could recite poems of both the great and minor poets. He thought it was his love of literature which helped provide him insights into human nature and helped him understand the wide range of responses on how people respond to different situations.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
