Chandigarh: Indian Government decision to evacuate 10 kilo-meter area adjoining Pakistan border in Punjab has invited criticism from multiple quarters. Where as the affected population is slamming the government for harassing them under the garb of alleged threat of armed attack from the other side of no-men’s land, the experts (as per media reports) term Punjab border evacuation as ‘unwarranted’ and ‘premature’.
Some reports say that more people from around a thousand villages have been evacuated out of their houses by the administration leaving behind their live-stock.
Opponent political parties are also raising questions over Modi government’s decision at the central level and Badal government’s blind pursuit to follow the Centre in this matter.
Experts term Punjab border evacuation as ‘unwarranted’ and ‘premature’: media reports
Congress party’s state chief Capt. Amarinder Singh slammed the Modi government for allegedly creating war hysteria and tension along Punjab borders with an eye on Uttar Pradesh elections.
Capt Amarinder pointed out, the orders for evacuation had not come from the defence ministry, but the home ministry. He said, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal instead of meekly submitting to the centre’s diktats should have taken a stand against evacuation which is totally uncalled for.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has criticized the Central and State governments for spreading panic in Punjab. In a written statement issued on Saturday (Oct. 1). AAP’s state convenor Gurpreet Ghuggi raised a question that the states of Rajasthan and Gujarat too share border with Pakistan, but why only Punjabis were being forced migrate?
The Indian Express (IE) reported that a cross-section of senior retired defence officers, when asked to comment on mass evacuation exercise undertaken in Punjab’s border areas, were unanimous in saying that the decision to vacate the villages was not well thought of especially when the Army itself had not shown any signs of mobilisation and had not occupied the forward defences.
It is notable that the people of border belt of Punjab has dense population and people are largely dependent on agriculture. Affected people of Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Faridkot, Fazilka and Tarn Taran districts are concerned about their crops as the paddy-harvesting season is nearing.
A detailed report in the Sikh Siyasat News (in Punjabi) notes that on the one hand Punjab farmer are not allowed to look after their crops and fields located on east-Punjab side of the no-men’s land but on the other hand trade trucks carrying goods worth crores are routinely crossing the border at Attari based joint check post at India-Pakistan international border.
Border areas were visited by a local journalist associated with the Sikh Siyasat News today who found that most of the affected people have a common question that if there was a real threat of war with Pakistan, why the trade-trucks were still crossing the border? (READ MORE in Punjabi).
Talking to BBC Hindi Salvinder Singh (Watch Video Below), a resident of village Gilpan near Patti in Tarn Taran district, said that there was nothing like fear of war as there is no movement of army in the area till today. He said that he has witnessed 1971 India-Pakistan war and where there is some real apprehension of war it follows immediate mass movement of the Army and laying of field mines. He said that the evacuation in border areas seems to be an election stunt and the government was trying to fool the people.
The News India’s Decision to Displace Border-belt Population of Punjab under Criticism appeared first on Sikh Siyasat News.
from Sikh Siyasat News http://ift.tt/2dvTeAU
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