On Thursday, 60 widows of police personnel formed the Shaheed Parivar Sangarsh Samiti, under the leadership of Bharatiya Janata Party legislator Laxmi Kanta Chawla, to take on the commission. A resolution passed at the meeting of the samiti called upon the State Government to ban the commission, as its terms of reference ``did not include those families whose next of kin were shot dead by terrorists''.

The organisation has decided to hold demonstrations wherever the commission holds its lok adalats. The resolution expressed the fear that such commissions could give a boost to militant activity in the state.

The commission, brainchild of a human rights group headed by retired Supreme Court judge Kuldeep Singh, comprises retired High Court judges D S Tewatia, H Suresh, and Jaspal Singh. It held athree-day session in Chandigarh early this week and plans to hold similar sessions across the state. At the Chandigarh session, the commission issued as many as 70 notices to police officers and bureaucrats -- serving and retired -- and asked them to file their replies by the first week of October.

Kiranjit Kaur, member of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), whose mother Rajinder Kaur was shot dead by terrorists, has strongly condemned the formation of the widows' organisation.

In a press release issued here, Kiranjit Kaur said while the widows of police personnel deserved full sympathy and the State Government was looking after their needs, there were hundreds of such mothers who did not know whether their sons were dead or alive.