Amritsar Sahib, Punjab (KP) - Revelations about former militant turned police informer, Sukhwinder Singh Sukhi, alias Harjit Singh Kahlon, has turned into a tricky issue for Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, the Punjab Police and the former Khalistani ideologue, Daljit Singh Bittu.
Amarinder Singh attempted to take pressure off from himself regarding the issue that an unknown innocent youth was killed in order to stage Sukhi’s death. At a press conference, Amarinder detailed that the individual in the photos depicting Sukhi’s death was no other than Sukhi himself, smudged with sauce (catsup) to mimic splattered blood. Then close relations of Sukhi were called to identify him in the photographs and declare that he had been killed.
Human Rights groups such as the Khalra Mission Committee (KMC), International Human Rights Organization (IHRO), and INSAAF, believe otherwise, and are questioning tactics used by the Punjab authorities in the late eighties and early nineties against the Sikh freedom fighters.
A website operated by INSAAF states: “In order to declare these militants dead, the police tagged their names on unidentified bodies. This raises the question of who the unidentified bodies were and how they were killed.”
The IHRO and the KMC also expressed similar concerns about the violations of human rights that have occurred under such police policies. The Punjab Police is being cautious and has not commented publicly on the issue of unidentified bodies and dead militants.
Caught on the opposite side of the crossfire is Daljit Singh Bittu, who joined issue with DGP Virk by stating though Sukhi was part of his group during the militancy movement, he (Sukhi) no longer had any association with either his Shiromani Khalsa Dal party or with the magazine `Sikh Shahadat`, as claimed by Sukhi two days ago. Initially Bittu had denied any links with Sukhi, but later admitted the fact that he had known Sukhi for many years and that Sukhi had even attended his recent wedding.
Nonetheless, Bittu charged DGP Virk with spreading `falsehoods’ with an aim to malign the movement and to defame him. "The Punjab police wants to crush us morally and physically, that is why they are indulging in such gimmicks," Bittu asserted during a press conference held in a city hotel.
On the contrary, a leading reporter from the Ajit Daily stated that according to an unnamed ‘hardliner’: “Sukhi was at Bittu’s marriage. He met everyone there. Everyone there knew it was Sukhi, who was at one time shown as dead, and is now living under a new identity. But what we did not know is that this would be such big news.”
Panthic Weekly staff then contacted the reporter. He reiterated and verified the above information to PW staff.
Panthic and Human Rights groups have also pressured the Punjab Government to disclose the names of several hundred other police ‘cats’ that have been `rehabilitated’ by the government. Neither the State government nor the Police have so far complied.
