States: Punjab: Ominous Intent

With support of the ISI and overseas Sikh organisations defunct militant outfits regroup for fresh strikes.

New face of terrorism: Kulwinder, one of the four Babbar Khalsa members arrested recently, underwent trainning in Pakistan and was waiting for instructions to hit targets.

February 27: Police recover a powerful bomb, fitted with a timer device and containing 9.5 kg RDX, on the Amritsar-Delhi rail track near Shambhu in Patiala district.

February 8: An assembled time-bomb with 12 kg RDX detected on a rail bridge in Punjab on the Delhi-Chandigarh route.

January 24: The Punjab Police nabs a four-member gang of Babbar Khalsa militants alongwith 12 kg of RDX on the Delhi-Amritsar highway near Phillaur. Two of them, with no earlier police record, had recently returned from Pakistan after a two-month training to hit VIP targets.

For a state that has seen large-scale terrorist-related violence and bloodshed, these stray cases of militant activity may not cause much alarm. Yet they are an ominous pointer to the fact that terrorist outfits, lying dormant for the past few years, are now regrouping and rejuvenating themselves. With the ongoing internecine war within the ruling Akali Dal and the surcharged political atmosphere, the situation seems tailor-made for terrorist organisations to rouse themselves.

CAUSE FOR ALARM

ťThe Babbar Khalsa is spearheading the bid to revive dormant terrorist groups.
ťTerrorist leaders are inducting fresh blood by recruiting youth and kin of slain militants with no police record.
ťFunds for arms and explosives are coming from Sikh organisations abroad.
ťPakistan's ISI is again active in training young recruits.

On the face of it, 1998 was a year of zero terrorist crime. But the Punjab Police were singularly lucky in making such a claim. For, as many as 18 highly organised terrorist groups -- some of them raised with the backup support of Pakistan's intelligence agency, the ISI, and others by terrorists released from jails -- were neutralised last year. The recoveries included 3.5 quintal explosives and 130 assorted automatic weapons. "There are strong and disturbing undercurrents in the state which indicate that militants are regrouping," says the new Punjab DGP Sarabjit Singh. His predecessor P.C. Dogra, who handed over charge on February 16, concurs. "A stepped-up flow of explosives and weapons from Pakistan indicates that militants are up to mischief," he says.

Apart from arms and explosives being pushed into Punjab from across the border, some nearly defunct terrorist outfits have now begun inducting fresh blood into their ranks. A disquieting feature of the exercise is that they are targeting youngsters with no past criminal record -- making it difficult for the police to track them down. The new recruits are mainly religious zealots who are sent to Pakistan for training. Of the 125-odd suspected terrorists arrested in the past two years, one third had no criminal record, according to the police. "The militant strategy is to create a pool of fresh hitmen," says an intelligence official.

In the past year or so, the Babbar Khalsa, the outfit spearheading the revival of militancy, is reported to have pushed at least a dozen trained terrorists into Punjab. "Asla te barood da intezar kar rahe see (We were waiting for consignments of arms and explosives)," says Kulwinder Singh, one of the four members of the Babbar Khalsa arrested recently. "We were told to wait for instructions to strike," says the 27-year-old youth who worked as a granthi before being lured into militancy. Kulwinder, who has no past terrorist record, trained in Pakistan for three months before returning to Punjab last December. In the past two years, at least 20 such religious zealots were motivated to cross over to Pakistan for training, says a senior police official. "Militant ideologues now do not believe in numbers but in quality," says S.K. Goel, DIG, border range. Attempts are also being made to recruit kin of slain or absconding militants.

The Punjab Police handed over an intelligence note to the Union Home Ministry last October, saying that foreign militant organisations have a three-pronged strategy: select devout Sikhs from among illegal migrants and indoctrinate them, send them to India via Nepal or Pakistan and flush them with money. According to intelligence agencies, at least 500 expatriate Sikh youth had been trained in Pakistan and kept as a " reserve pool". "The pro-militant elements among the illegal immigrants constitute a major threat since there are no specific details on them," says the intelligence note. Adds DGP Sarabjit: "A serious threat to the current law and order situation Punjab comes from the pro-Khalistan ideologues in foreign countries over 4,000 Sikh youth staying abroad illegally.

"Even more worrying are intelligence reports that foreign-based pro-Khalistan leaders are trying to organise militants who had fled to the US and European countries after the crackdown on terrorism in the early '90s. Police records show that at least a dozen hardcore terrorists, some of them heading banned outfits, are currently in hiding in the US and Europe. Says a top state intelligence official: "The operational key to the attempt to reorganise Punjab militants is with pro-Khalistan ideologues in Europe and the ISI." That's where a major share of the funds comes from. The influence of the foreign Sikh organisations was evident in the refusal of Bhai Mohan Singh, the head priest of the Golden Temple, to accept the post of the new Akal Takht jathedar when incumbent Ranjit Singh was suspended in February. He is believed to have turned down the appointment following pressure from hardline groups abroad.

Following the Akal Takht fracas, some pro-Khalistan groups based abroad have put a price of Rs 5 crore on Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal's head. The reward was announced in a Toronto gurdwara last month, say the police. But Badal has dismissed the threat: "I am now on top of their hit list, but under no circumstances will I let them disturb peace in Punjab." The police are taking no chances and have beefed up his already Z-plus security.

Senior police officials say though militants have been trying to regroup for some time, the effort gathered momentum after the Akali Dal came to power in February 1997. The current power struggle between Badal and the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabhandak Committee chief G.S. Tohra is only making matters worse. The bitter political battle between them has led to a polarisation of moderate and hardline elements in the ruling Akali Dal, with Tohra last week warning of bloodshed if Badal continued in office.

The escalating tension between the two leaders poses a larger threat to peace in the state. In a situation where even moderate Akalis are dangerously turning to the religious arena to maximise their power base, militant politics is likely to resurface in Punjab. However, Badal discounts fears of revival of militancy in the state, possibly banking on the lack of any widespread public support for militant causes. Experts on Punjab concur. "The immense suffering of Sikh masses during the militancy phase are still fresh in their minds and constitutes the biggest guarantee against large-scale revival of militant activities," says Harish Puri, head of political science department in Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar.

Yet, as Dogra says, the "threat of selective terrorist strikes" looms large. And that could well be the new face of terrorism in Punjab -- targeted killings of politicians and police officers by trained and committed groups. Sarabjit's priority is the technological upgradation of the police force to meet this new challenge. "We have to be one up on militants," he says.

With the ongoing celebrations of the Khalsa Panth's tercentenary, religious fervour is likely to be whipped up by both the moderates and the hardliners. Add to this Badal's preoccupation with the infighting in the Akali Dal, his Government's inability to deliver and the plight of small farmers in the state and you have the perfect breeding ground for militants.