Evacuation may decide battle of ballots in Punjab

The Punjab government could have avoided the “knee-jerk reaction” to evacuate people living along the border areas as not all the villages in the six districts were in the immediate range of firing, according to former officials who have been involved in the border security issues in the state.

Satish Kumar Sharma, the former SSP of border town Dinanagar, believes that the “large-scale” evacuation was not necessary. “Since there was no major mobilisation by the Army in border areas, the state government could have limited the exercise to villages close to the border.

This being the peak harvest season for the paddy crop, the move was bound to be criticised by the farmers,” Mr Sharma said.

On Friday, the SAD-BJP coalition government revoked its September 29 evacuation order after facing criticism from the opposition parties, which accused the government of creating “war hysteria” and disregarding the concerns of farmers who had to leave behind their homes and crops unattended.

However, whether the decision would cost the SAD-BJP in the assembly elections next year would depend on how the Opposition parties “cash in on the issue”, political observers say.

“Lets see how smartly the two parties (Congress, AAP) cash in on the issue as elections are still about five months away.

During the campaigning, though, this will definitely become a controversy particularly in areas like Gurdaspur, Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Ferozepur, Pathankot and Fazilka which are close to the border and can impact the Akali rural votes,” said Tanmesh Chander Sangar, a former professor of political science at Punjab University.

State Congress chief Capt. Amarinder Singh and senior leader Pratap Singh Bajwa have made their intentions clear of raising the issue during the campaign.

Party’s units in border districts have been advised by the top leadership to mobilise public opinion against the evacuation order, sources said.

The SAD leadership, however, maintains that the decision was taken keeping the security of villagers in mind.

Party secretary Daljit Singh Cheema said it was “unfortunate” that opposition parties were linking a security issue to the election.

The state police, meanwhile, said that the directive did not have much impact on the ground as most of the farmers stayed back for the harvesting season.

“As many as 4 lakh villagers would have been affected in about 1,000 villages but less than 50,000 people moved out in the end,” a senior police official said, adding that all of them have now returned.

After the Army conducted surgical strikes on September 29 across the LoC to target terror launch pads operating in PoK, the Punjab Government cited an order from the Centre directing people from villages located within 10 km radius of the border to shift to camps set up by the government or to their relatives’ homes. The move, government sources said, was merely “preventive” as there were no specific intelligence inputs suggesting retaliation from across the border.