Jat community: 'reservations'/ quotas for
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. |
Contents |
2016
Prakash Singh committee report
The Times of India, May 31 2016
Cops misled Army during Jat unrest?
Sukhbir Siwach Did local officials mislead the Army during the peak of the violence during Jat reservation protests in Haryana in February? The Prakash Singh committee report, accessed by TOI, talks of several instances where the force was either misled or underutilised. The committee also questioned the strength of the Army used to rein in mobs. It asked whether the state required 12 battalions to check the violence. The report said, “It is extremely unfortunate that Army had to be deployed on such a large scale to deal with internal disturbances“ and that the force was not properly used. It said the size of the Army deployment was so big that it was “enough to ward off a small scale attack in a sector by an invading army“.
The report refers to two videos of the violence. One shows an Army column in Hansi town of Hisar being piloted by a jeep which possibly had cops and the magistrate. The pilot sees rioters coming from the opposite direction but instead of alerting the Army column, makes a U-turn to avoid them, the report says. The pilot sees a group of rioters coming from the opposite direction. Where one would have expected it to alert the Army column and engage rioters, it takes a U-turn to avoid any confrontation with the approaching mob,“ the panel points out in the report.
The video also shows a police car coming from the same direction as the mob, joining the rest of the force at the Uturn and driving ahead. In the next minute or so, the video shows a scattered group of youngsters, very sparingly armed with lathis, batons and some with sharp-edged weapons, coming to the point from where the force took the U-turn, and indulging in “wanton acts of destruction and vandalism“. “It was a clear case of the force, com prising police and the Army , avoiding a small group of 4050 youths who could have been easily dispersed even with a mere show of force,“ the panel says. “The SDM and the DSP are squarely held responsible for this act which was partially cowardice and partially betrayed covert sympathy for the rioters.“
According to the panel, there were also “credible complaints“ that the Army was misled about the location of violence-hit Chhawani Colony in Jhajjar district “As a consequence, the Army took about three hours to reach the colony ,“ it says.
The trigger
The Times of India, Jun 01 2016
Police assault on students in Rohtak triggered Jat violence: Panel report
Sukhbir Siwach The Prakash Singh Committee has blamed a February 17 police assault on hostel students in Rohtak and two minor clashes between communities for triggering the violence that killed 30 people during the Jat agitation in Haryana. The panel has called the police action unwarranted and added that it inflamed the Jat anger. It noted that till then there was no violence despite protests and road blockades in some parts of Haryana for almost a week.
The committee has cited three incidents in quick suc cession in Rohtak on February 18 that precipitated the situation. In the first, around 25-30 Jat lawyers clashed with 150-200 anti-reservation protesters after they had blocked a road near Rohtak's court complex. The two sides stoned and threw plastic chairs at each other. Local market association chief Bittu Sachdeva had led the anti-re servation procession.
“While the agitating Jat advocates were at the receiving end, a group of around 200-250 students and advocates belonging to the Jat community arrived at the location under the leadership of Sudeep Kalkal, Youth State Head of ABJASS (Akhil Bharatiya Jat Arakshan Sangharsh SamitiHawa Singh Sangwan fac tion),“ said the panel in its report. The anti-reservation protesters set four motorcycles ablaze amid a rumour that Jat icon Sir Chhotu Ram's statue had been damaged.This was the second incident which added fuel to the fire.
The police used force to get blockades lifted after Jat students blocked traffic at four places in response to the beating of the lawyers. “Thereafter, Amit Dahiya, DSP , Rohtak, along with a posse of police force, entered the hostel premises of Neki Ram Government College and allegedly beat up some students in the hostel,“ said the panel. It added this was the last straw leading to explosion of Jat anger.
Lack of leadership, direction
The Times of India, May 31 2016
Robin David Juniors In The Field Felt Leaderless, Says Probe Panel
Guess the means used by the top officers in Haryana's home department to issue directions to juniors in districts hit by the violent Jat stir for reservation in February 2016 -WhatsApp. This has not gone down well with the Prakash Singh committee, set up by the state government to investigate the role of police and civil officers during the violence that killed 30 people.
“...The highest functionaries were almost paralysed, and the kind of guidance, direction and control one ex pected in such a situation was just not there,“ the panel notes in the report.
According to the report, WhatsApp messages replaced written instructions and orders, and there wasn't even a state control room to monitor the situation. What the panel, however, does not say is how officers on the ground were getting the WhatsApp messages given that the state government had shut down internet services for a month in the affected areas as a preventive measure. Sources said many of the officers may not have got these messages from Das when they needed them the most.
The panel says in the report, “...the home department should have played a more active role and given, from time to time, specific directions to the officers in the field... Social media is a useful channel. However, it is felt that it should be used to supplement the regular, time-tested, official channels and not to substitute it.“
Singal was singled out for not leading from the front. Although he was ill at the time, the panel says, “The DGP found time to visit the places affected by violence on 23 and 24 February (after it ended).It would have been better if he had visited by chopper at least the districts worst affected while the agitation was at its peak... A police chief is expected to lead from the front in a crisis situation. Sh. Yash Pal Singal unfortunately did not give that impression.“
Singal did not even let additional director general of police (law and order) Mohammed Akil visit the affected areas as he wanted his deputy by his side. “No wonder, officers in the field felt leaderless,“ the panel says.“The only smart move from the headquarters was the deputation of senior IAS IPS officers to some districts to assist the local officers.“
Vulnerability of Munak canal
The Times of India, May 31 2016
Sukhbir Siwach “If a group of agitators could stop an important source of water supply to the national capital, what could a determined group of terrorists do is rather discomforting to imagine.“ The Prakash Singh com mittee, set up to probe administrative lapses in February's explosive Jat protests, has raised the disturbing question in its report.
According to the panel, it has been rightly said that what happened to the Munak canal “points to a grave internal security threat to India's critical national infrastructure“. According to the panel's report, accessed by TOI, Munak canal was breached at Garhi Bindroli village on February 21. A huge mob gathered there, attacked the police, and even tried to snatch the weapon from a Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) trooper.
“The mob was leaderless and violent. The police force was left with no option but to open fire in self-defence, as a result of which one agitator was killed on the spot and another succumbed to his injuries later on,“ the panel says.
The next day (February 22), the agitators breached the canal wall at Khubru village in Sonepat, thereby cutting the water supply to Delhi Meanwhile, in view of the call to resume the Jat stir for reservation from June 5, the government is not taking any chances in taking preventive measures, and has already deployed three companies of paramilitary forces at western Jamuna canal (WJC) in Sonepat district.
