The bombing in Bathinda and crude effort to incite communal violence at Baghapurana, near the ancestral village of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, are symptomatic of the ISI's renewed interest in Punjab. Apprehensions have been expressed about the exploitation of dormant Sikh militants in Punjab and the existence of arms caches in remote rural areas. The combined forces of Beant Singh, Gill and the Army had definitely routed the divided and criminalised terrorists.

But though the police and the state government claim to have totally destroyed the movement, they have not been able to give any convincing arithmetical account. Where did the fighters evaporate? A handful had surrendered, but the rank and file just melted away. They never abjured militancy, nor reneged on the ideology of Khalistan. About 5,000 weapons, including those of the AK series, are still buried somewhere. The arithmetic of weapons surrendered and recovered betrays bureaucratic jugglery. The claims are exaggerated and subterranean militancy lives on. The ragis and dhaddis still sing about the sacrifices of the martyrs and the excesses committed by Delhi. In several gurdwaras the Ardas still mentions Ghallughara. We are yet to hear the swan song of separatism, courtesy the undying torch of subversion kept lit by the ISI.

The Pakistani establishment does not have to seek out the separatist leaders. Important ISI guests include Lakhbir Singh Brar, a nephew of Bhindranwale, Swaran Singh Jaffarwal (KCF-J), Paramjit Panjwar (KCF-P) Mehal Singh, Wadhwa Singh (Babbar Khalsa International), Dr Sekhon, Balbir Singh Canada and Satinder Pal Singh Gill, besides the permanent Pakistani Khalistani Sikh Shyam Singh Sindhi. They are accommodated in guest houses and their bills are picked up by the agency. Lack of response from the Sikh youth from Punjab has not bothered the ISI. They are training diaspora Sikh youth of European and North American origin in two camps near Mianwali and Peshawar. The Pakistan-based militant leaders are used by the ISI for sending regular consignments of explosives through Gujarat, Rajasthan and Jammu borders. The Nepal conduit is also being intensively used. The highway of international terrorism passes through Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad and runs on to Kathmandu, Bangkok, Dubai, London, New York and Toronto.

Sikh and Kashmiri militants apart, the ISI is known to carry out sabotage and subversion through its own agents. Resident agents are not used by the S division of the Miscellaneous Indian Division of the ISI for carrying out bomb blasts and killings. These are carried out by itinerary agents. A good number of itinerary and resident ISI agents operate in Aligarh, Moradabad, Rampur, Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar and Delhi, besides other locations in Bihar, UP, Gujarat and Maharashtra.

The Dhaka connection is reported to have dried up and the ISI is said to be running a cover trading company somewhere 20 km south of Pattaya, Thailand, and in Phuket, where the Northeast rebels and the Sikh militants throng for arms. The ISI is diverting some of its Taliban to Kashmir before the passes close up and in Punjab, they are egging on their guests to resume sporadic violence and create communal discord. The Gujral doctrine has unnerved the establishment in Pakistan. Peace in Punjab, J&K, Assam and the Northeast would mean its defeat. Sources still in touch with overseas Sikh militants clearly indicate that in the coming months the ISI is likely to accelerate the process of destabilisation. The ISI's assessment of political instability in Delhi and the existence of several militant sympathisers in the main Akali Dal, and frenetic efforts by several Panthik Akali Dals to revive the ghosts of separatism, have given new ideas to the Pakistani establishment. Peace is anathema to these hawks, and this is the time to prick pins into the balloons of confidence-building measures initiated by the two countries.

We need to consolidate democratic gains in Punjab. Political expediency should take a back seat and those who are trying to fish in troubled water should remember the Frankenstein's monster they created. The state and central governments and their forward and counter-intelligence agencies should wake up and stand solidly behind the people of Punjab.

The writer is a former IPS officer with experience in intelligence

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.