Gill has also said that Naxalites are becoming active in the state.

Since the statements have come from the head of the state's police force, these need to be taken seriously. Take the issue of Khalistani terrorists.

The question whether there is any possibility of a full-scale revival of terrorism in Punjab needs to be examined in the light of the factors, both external and internal, that were primarily responsible for the eruption of terrorism in the eighties. Punjab's Intelligence agencies reports of the early eighties which I was able to access had said that the strategy of promoting terrorism was masterminded by the CIA and executed by the ISI for achieving their geopolitical goals in the region. The USA wanted to weaken and, if possible, dethrone Indira Gandhi who did not blindly toe the American line in international and economic arenas. Pakistan's objective was to have a weakened India and also to avenge India's role in the formation of Bangladesh. Their objectives, they believed, could be achieved by engineering Punjab's secession by promoting Khalistani terrorists. This very strategy was later adopted in Afghanistan where CIA and ISI first promoted jihadis to oust the Soviets from the country and then helping Taliban to ascend to power.

Their plans in Punjab failed but not before causing thousands of deaths and serious damage to Punjab's economy.

For its own reasons the US is no longer interested in seeing the terrorists gaining ground in Punjab and rest of India. But amid its flip-flop attitude on the peace process, Pakistan is again trying to use the remnant Khalistani elements in Punjab as a weapon to pressurize India on the Kashmir issue as evidenced by the arrests of many Khalistani terrorists, recovery of arms and attempts of infiltrations into Punjab..

With the three years extension of Pakistan's hardline Army chief Ashfaq Pervez Kayani who has now emerged as a power centre and was mainly responsible for the breakdown of the Foreign Ministers talks, there is a possibility of stepped-up militant activity in Punjab. But if the militants masters think that they will be able to revive full-scale terrorism in Punjab, they are living in a make-believe world. The people of Punjab who had suffered the 1980s holocaust would resolutely oppose such attempts. Besides, the might of the state would also take care of any such attempt.

There does not seem to be any possibility of eruption of Naxalite violence in Punjab. No doubt, old Naxalite elements have become active. But their activities, like those of political parties, are confined to mobilization of the deprived classes for fulfillment of their economic demands.

What is needed to meet any Pakistani-backed Sikh militants or Naxalites challenge is to remove the factors which create conditions conducive for the spread of separatist militancy and Naxalism. The factors include the widening disparities in incomes, deteriorating economic condition of the deprived classes, unemployment, bad law and order, corruption, and misgovernance. Punjab is the victim of these malaises.

That the state's economy is in bad shape and the economic condition of the deprived sections of the people has deteriorated is substantiated by the Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia's recent statement favouring a change in the list of the BIMARU (sick) states. He said that the acronym once coined in the 1980s to describe the backwardness of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh is no longer valid. These states have registered fast growth with Bihar expanding at an annual average of 11 per cent and UP 6.29 percent. On the other hand, the speed of growth in Punjab has decelerated making it as one the slowest growing states. There are also no ground-level signs of easing of unemployment.

It will make a long list if one draws the list of Punjab's Akali-BJP government's misgovernance and incidents of corruption. Newspapers are daily reporting scams of misappropriation of huge government funds for schemes like Rural Employment Guarantee, pensions for senior citizens, widows, the handicapped and the destitute and 'shagun'.

The worst instance of corruption and nongovernance is the corruption case against Assembly Speaker Nirmal Singh Kahlon. He has been charged with corruption involving huge amounts in the selection of 909 panchayat secretaries when he was Rural Development and Panchayats minister in the 1997-2002 Akali Dal government. The case registered in 2003 was referred to the CBI but the state government refused permission for Kahlon's prosecution. Responding to the demand for Kahlon's resignation the Akali leaders said there was no question of his resignation until he was convicted, the stand our politicians always take in defence of ruling leaders involved in corruption cases. The CBI has now filed a chargesheet against Kahlon claiming that under the High Court's March 2008 judgement permission for the prosecution of the Punjab Speaker is not required.

The prevailing faulty and listless functioning of the Akali-BJP government calls for a qualitative change. Failure of the Akali-BJP government to deliver will be detrimental for Punjab and also for the electoral prospects of the coalition partners in the Assembly elections due in 2012. A stitch in time, they say, saves nine. (IPA Service)