Jalandhar: Sant Harchand Singh Longowal, then Shiromani Akali Dal president, was assassinated on Aug 20, 1985, weeks after he signed the Punjab Accord with Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on Jul 24. An account by then Punjab DGP Kirpal Dhillon raises questions over alleged security lapses surrounding Longowal and the roles of senior police and security officials.In his 2013 memoir, ‘Time Present & Time Past: Memoirs of a Top Cop’, Dhillon wrote of “significant and deliberate lapses” in Longowal’s security and questioned the roles of senior officials, including then governor Arjun Singh.He suggested that the assassination was not solely the result of opposition to the Accord from militant elements, but that security failures had also contributed to it. “The studied manner in which I was excluded from the decision-making process at that crucial stage by the governor could not have been fortuitous,” he wrote.Dhillon said Longowal was provided extensive personal security despite his initial reluctance. IG (intelligence) M C Trikha, in consultation with other officers, had prepared a security plan, with SP-rank PAP officer Gurbachan Singh Mann placed in overall charge.According to Dhillon, Mann was replaced by Jit Singh by then IG (PAP) K P S Gill shortly after the security scheme was implemented, without consultation with IG (intelligence). Dhillon wrote that Jit Singh had recently faced a departmental inquiry over alleged militant links and that his dismissal had been recommended to the governor.“To assign such a crucial job to an officer whose very credentials were in serious doubt was a highly reckless act, to say the least,” Dhillon wrote. He added that neither the IG (intelligence) nor IG (PAP) could offer a “plausible explanation” for the change.Dhillon said he was kept informed neither about the change nor the circumstances surrounding it. He also questioned the delay in deciding Jit Singh’s departmental case, asking whether it was “a mere coincidence” given Arjun Singh’s contact with the intelligence chief.Dhillon further wrote that both the IG (intelligence) and IG (PAP) “could not escape the blame” for what had happened.After Longowal’s assassination, Dhillon said Arjun Singh made him a “fall guy” and repatriated him to his cadre state, Madhya Pradesh, in what he described as a “spiteful and malicious blow” to his self-esteem.An inquiry was conducted by retired Lt Gen Gowri Shankar, security adviser to the governor, within days of the assassination, but Dhillon noted that its report was never made public.A one-man inquiry commission headed by Justice Gurnam Singh was later set up by the Surjit Singh Barnala-led Akali govt. Dhillon claimed that authorities sought to “gloss over” revelations concerning the security arrangements.‘Forces in Centre determined to sabotage accord’In his 2012 autobiography, ‘A Grain of Sand in the Hourglass of Time’, published a year after his death, Arjun Singh did not address the security lapses alleged by Dhillon. He stated that Dhillon had not measured up to the job. However, he wrote that powerful forces within the central govt were determined to derail the accord after it was signed and were opposed to peace in Punjab and reconciliation between the Centre and Sikhs. The first time-bound clause in the accord provided for transfer of Chandigarh to Punjab on Jan 26, 1986. The Centre did not implement the provision. Longowal was no longer alive to press the issue.
