Punjab fears revival of Left wing extremism

Punjab, the border state which had been rocked by over a decade long Sikh militancy, now apprehends revival of Left wing extremism in the state.

This was evident from the demand made by Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal  for a special package to deal with such a situation at the Chief Ministers’ Conference in New Delhi on Monday.

Badal pleaded that state should be considered category in ‘A’ instead of category ‘B’ for this purpose keeping in view the historic roots of the Naxalite movement in Punjab during late 70s.

He suggested having separate state specific conference on quarterly basis, besides annual conference on Internal Security. It may be mentioned that Punjab had witnessed Left wing extremism in the late sixties and early seventies.

The Deputy Chief Minister also sought a special security package to tackle the challenges posed by hostile forces and combat narco-terrorism effectively.

He also made a forceful plea for higher allocation of funds for modernising police force in the next ten years. He also said there should be an increase in funds for this purpose from Rs 30 crore to Rs 150 crore, while making separate provision of Rs 50 crore for training and equipment of Special Security Group, allowing raising of one more Indian Reserve Battalion.

Badal, who also holds Home Ministry, underlined the threats to the state and sought national support to combat extremist elements. He said that Punjab was a sensitive a border state with 553 kilometer long international border with Pakistan. He further added that the matter gets further compounded with inter-state dynamics and national issues having bearing on the state matters besides socio-economic and politico-religious issues affecting the sensitive state.

He said that it should not be forgotten that that the state has passed through turbulent period of violence in 80s and early 90s in which 11,694 innocents including 262 family members of policemen and 1780 security personnel including 6 IPS officers were killed.