A towering figure who strode Punjab’s landscape like a colossus during the peak days of militancy is no more.Patriot to the core, he frustrated the Pakistan ISI’s nefarious designs and struck the last nail in the coffin of Khalistan movement
Ajay Bhardwaj
He would rarely smile, but like a typical Jat loved twirling his moustache. Always seeped in literary works, but there was a macabre touch in his actions. But in his last days, the towering Jat Sikh, who loved donning a heavy “kada” (iron bracelet) in the glory of Guru Gobind Singh, surprised many of his peers by making Vrindavan his second home. His studies in Vaishanvism in the last days would startle any traditional pundit.
In his demise an era goes by. His epitaph cannot but read “The man who struck the last nail in the coffin of Khalistan movement”.
There might be some other contributing factors as well, but KPS Gill would always carry the crown for decisively
stamping out the secessionist movement in Punjab, which had kept the state numb and paralysed for almost a decade.
KPS Gill arrived on the Punjab scene in 1985 when he was handpicked from Assam to fight rising militancy in the state. In the aftermath of Operation Bluestar, Punjab was on the boil and the state police looked far too ill-equipped to meet the situation.
An Assam-cadre IPS officer, KPS Gill had already
distinguished himself in policing in Assam. After the then Rajiv Gandhi government requistioned his services for Punjab, he was moved to Punjab and appointed IG, Operations, to spearhead the offensive against militants.
In 1988 he was promoted to the rank of DGP, Punjab, and his real test came around soon after when the Operation Black Thunder was undertaken at the Golden Temple. The operation was necessitated as a large number of militants had made the Golden Temple their hideout once again after they were flushed out during the Operation Bluestar four years ago.
It was triggered by the militants’ attack on CRPF DIG SS Virk who was leading a team of security officials to demolish a wall militants had constructed on the compound of the Temple.
Gill took the lead and surrounded the entire Golden Temple premises. A curfew was imposed around 300-yard area around the Temple, while a team of NSG snipers was deployed to target militants inside the Temple.
The Operation lasted nine long days that saw more than 45 militants surrendering at the end, while about two dozen were killed.
The Operation won kudos to him, because unlike Operation Bluestar it did not cause any bloodshed and was conducted in full media glare. In 1989 Padma Shri was bestowed on him for this outstanding feat.
Gill introduced number of innovative steps to strengthen the police force. A good number of CRPF officers were inducted to the state police and appointed SP, Operations. Three new police districts, Majitha, Batala and Tarn Taran, were carved out to intensify police opertions in the Majha region of the state which had practically become the
nerve-centre of militancy.
A Village Defence Scheme (VDS), and a system of appointing Special Police Officers (SPOs) was devised with the objective was to arm volunteers in vulnerable villages.
As Pakistan’s role in training and arming militants became pronounced, Gill initiated a plan to raise barbed fence along the 543-km long Indo-Pak border in the state to check free crossing of militants.
It was around the time when Gill was caught in an unsavoury controversy about sexual harassment of a senior woman IAS officer. Soon he moved out of Punjab and was made DG, CRPF in 1990.
The situation in Punjab though kept
deteriorating fast as militants had acquired sophisticated weapons and explosive devices. They had also started running their writ in
villages, holding “panchayat” meetings and enforcing code of conduct for common man.
In 1991, as the Centre decided to hold the Assembly elections in the state, Gill was brought back to Punjab as DGP to ensure free and peaceful elections. In March 1992 the elections were held amid boycot call given by a number of militant organisations. Though the voters’ turn-out was abysmally poor, yet it
saw restoration of a democratically-elected government in the state.
The new Chief Minister Beant Singh gave a clear missive to him on militancy. Gill quickly got his acts together and evolved a new strategy to decimate militancy. He made sure that there was no political interference in the police
functioning and the ground-swell of information from villages helped strategise the war on militant.
The first major catch for the police was Sukhdev Babbar, chief of Babbar Khalsa, who was killed in an encounter. Soon, one after the other prominent militants, started falling to police bullets.
In order to check the activities of militants during night, Gill launched Operation Night Dominance which made the police hound for militants after the sunset.
Gill soon started organising cultural nights to infuse
confidence among people. He invited cine stars to Punjab and made people sing and dance till late evenings.
The psychological warfare unleashed by Gill went a long way in restoring confidence among the beleaguered people of the state who had never expected militancy to come to an end.
By the end of 1993 Punjab had started heaving a sigh of relief. It had started thinking of days beyond militancy. A new sunrise came around. The year 1994 saw almost no incident of militant attack.
Gill started consolidating the situation by organising series of militants’ surrender functions. Militants started laying down their arms in hordes. It was an incredible turnaround in the Punjab situation.
But the bombshell occurred in 1995 when a human bomb killed chief minister Beant Singh along with 17 others. Though soon after Gill was asked to pack up unceremoniously, but the last nail in the coffin of militancy had been struck.
As he hung his boots, and stacked his gun he took to pen and authored an indepth analysis of his experiences in the book, “Punjab, the Knights of Falsehood”. Along with, he also had an innings as a president of the Indian Hockey Federation.
Even after his retirement he remained the most sought-after security expert in the country. In 1997 the Assam government appointed him security adviser, but he could not take up the task due to his conviction in the case. In 2000 the Sri Lankan government invited him to evolve a counter terrorism strategy against the LTTE. But in 2002 the Gujarat government led by the then chief minister Narendra Modi engaged him as a security adviser in the wake of riots all over the state.In 2006 the Chattisgarh government took his services as a security adviser to combat Naxal problem.
A regular contributor to news columns on national security matters, his passion for writing remained unabated till his last days. He co-authored a new book, “Punjab-The Enemies Within”, with Sadhavi Khosla which was released last month.
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