Punjab needs a truth and reconciliation commission |
Punjab has lived under the shadow of repeated historical ruptures for over four decades — Operation Blue Star, the assassination of Indira Gandhi, the anti-Sikh violence of November 1984, two decades of militancy and counterinsurgency, and more recently, the farmers’ movement, are interconnected chapters. Earlier generations endured Partition, the agitations surrounding the Punjabi Suba movement and the state’s reorganisation in the 1960s. Each left behind grievances and unresolved questions. Yet no comprehensive institutional effort has been made to bring closure through truth, accountability and reconciliation.
The release of Satluj should be viewed as an opportunity to learn to live with truth, initiate reconciliation and draw lessons from one of the darkest phases of Punjab’s history. Democracies mature by confronting difficult histories rather than suppressing them. The purpose is neither to glorify nor demonise any individual or institution, but to understand how democratic politics degenerated into extraordinary violence and how such conditions can be prevented from recurring.
Punjab witnessed a prolonged insurgency and an equally intense counterinsurgency. The........