The Price of Patriotism

The Price of Patriotism

It was another normal day for me. I started my cup of tea with the
morning newspaper. US peace efforts in the middle east amidst rising
Israeli-Palestine stand-off, rising tension in the far east over North
Korea's nuclearisation, terrorist killings in Jammu &; Kashmir,
filled up the page one. Page two and three did not attract my
attention. It was a small news item on the left column of the page four
of "Metropolitan Times" that however made me sit back and take
notice.
"A highly decorated former police officer Amarjeet Singh commits
suicide. He is survived by his wife and two teenaged daughters, Sarah
and Shania."
The name struck me immediately. Amarjeet Singh, popularly known as Amar
to his friends, was one of the brightest, if somewhat reserved, guys in
our group. Brilliant, hardworking and with a never-say-die-attitude, he
was one of our 'heroes'. Studied hard, he made it to the Indian Police
Service and I have had the opportunity to share with him fond memories
of his training days at the National Police Academy ay Hyderabad.
Meanwhile, I joined one of the leading PR companies and moved over to
Bangalore while he started his stint with a posting in Assam and later
on went to Punjab, one of the north-western Indian states.
The state at that time was passing through one of the worst phases of
terrorism. The so-called Khalistan movement was at its peak. People
were getting killed each day and the administration was virtually
helpless. In essence, there were areas where the writ of the state was
being challenged in a big way by the terrorists. The state at that time
was living under the shadows of gun and stories of terrorist strikes
against common civilians; government and police officials were the rule
of the day. Common people were hapless victims of excesses from
terrorists as well as security forces, who were under tremendous
pressure from their political masters to 'show results'.
Under such a scenario, he was sent to Gurdaspur, one of the worst
terrorist-infested districts in the state. Meanwhile, I got busy with
my work and he too, with his own. I was out of touch with him for quite
some time but came to know of his transfer to Punjab from other common
friends. Feeling concerned, I wrote a letter to him and waited for a
reply. It was however, only after another six months that I could get a
reply.
Apologising about the delay, he wrote about those "really difficult"
days at length. The state was virtually burning and the morale of the
police force at a low. Then there was a leadership change at the top
level and with that came changes in tactics, strategies. A series of
'encounters' followed and the top and middle level of terrorist
leadership was eliminated. In his letter, he admitted that excesses
were committed but hoped that I would see them from a practical point
of view. There were times when he did not know if he was going to
return to home in late evenings from his office at all. He and his
numerous colleagues had two-three hours sleep on a number of days. He
personally had a close shave on three occasions and saw the death of
his numerous colleagues from terrorist bullets and bombs. He had to
leave his family in New Delhi so as not to make them vulnerable to
terrorist threats. Chilly winters made their task even more difficult
while there was pressure from the top police/political leadership to
produce results.
Amar also wrote with obvious pride that in spite of all those
difficulties, they finally were able to crush terrorism. He was also
awarded the prestigious President's Police Medal. The state government
too, honoured him for his 'valiant fight against terrorism'.
I was happy to read his reply and felt proud of him. A couple of years
passed by and life again became 'normal'. Later on I read in the
newspapers that several of the police officers that were in the
forefront of anti-terrorist operations, have been named by one of the
prominent international human rights organization, as responsible for
the killings of innocents in Punjab. Their Indian counterparts lost no
time and a series of high-profile press conferences were organized.
Television interviews were given and discussions took place on the
issue and within a fortnight, the 'human rights' became the buzzword.
Newspaper editorials criticized the government for not acting tough
against the 'guilty' cops and politicians from all parties stressed on
the need for maintaining human rights of citizens. The government too
expressed its 'concern' on reported violation of human rights and spoke
of its 'unflinching commitment' to human rights.
Amar and a few other officers/ police personnel were suspended. He was
stripped of his Police Medal and other honours. A trail by media
followed and an enquiry found him guilty of letting his men kill a
couple of family members of a terrorist and using torture as means of
interrogation. A seven-years rigorous imprisonment was awarded to
him.
His conviction brought smiles to the face of human rights activists.
The 'decorated' officer had become a 'demon'. Front-paged photographs
of a handcuffed Amarjeet, going to jail, were splashed all over. TV
discussions, newspaper editorials hailed his conviction as a proof of
justice and respect for human rights in India. TV cameras followed him
up to the gates of the jail. All the while, he seemed quite and
remained awake in the jail the whole night. In the wee hours of next
morning, he hanged himself to death in his solitary cell.
I returned to page one. The Prime Minister was on a tour of Jammu &;
Kashmir, another Indian state facing the scourage of terrorism. While
addressing the police personnel there, he asked them to deal with
terrorists firmly and ruthlessly, without any fear as the whole nation,
the people, government and the media was with them.