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When
the Singhs were being hunted down and killed, one of the
Sikhs' most bitter enemies, Kazi Noor Mohammed was forced to
write in his memoirs,
"Do not call the Sikhs 'dogs'. They are in fact lions: in
the battle-field they are courageous like bold lions. How
could a warrior who joins the battle roaring like a lion, be
compared with a dog? If you wish to be proficient in learning
their manner of fighting it is such that one and all praise
them for it. O swordsman, if you wish to learn the art of war,
learn it from them, as they face the enemy like heroes and
also get out of the scene of action safely."
In a repeat of history, the Delhi Police Commissioner, Ved
Marwah in his memoirs wrote the following about Bhai Harjinder
Singh Jinda and his commitment to Khalistan...
 Harcharan
Singh (sic) alias Jinda who was convicted and later hanged for
the murder of the former Army Chief, General A.S. Vaidya was
no ordinary man. He was arrested twice by the Delhi Police
during my tenure as Commissioner of Police, Delhi. This
self-confessed killer was not just a ruthless killer. He had
another side to his personality: he could be charming and
humorous even when injured and battling for his life. When I
met him after his arrest by the Delhi Police he seemed
anything but a psychopath. He had psychological traits which
made him and extraordinary person, but these did not make him
mentally unsound.
First Arrest
Jinda was first arrested by the Delhi police in 1985, more by
chance than owing to any previous knowledge that he was an
active terrorist. A spate of bank robberies had taken place in
Delhi and the Delhi Police was under criticism for its
inability to stop them. I was daily being taken to task by the
Union Home Minister and the media. Till Jinda’s arrest there
was no evidence about any possible link between these bank
robberies and terrorism in Punjab. Jinda fell into the police
net on the basis of a low-grade information about the theft of
a car. Only on the day after his arrest when during
interrogation, Jinda started speaking about Pakistani plans
for shootouts at public places and killings of Hindus to
create Hindu-Sikh riots, that that the police realized that
they had a big catch in their hands. The acting Additional
Commissioner of Police Crime, RK Sharma rang me up in my house
on a Sunday morning to inform me about his arrest.
Interrogation
I decided to go to the Crime Branch Interrogation Centre to
talk to this very ordinary looking man for over one hour and
was fascinated by not only what he told me but the way he
narrated his story. He had no fear and no remorse. He rather
enjoyed talking about his many escapades in which the police,
like in the Bombay films, did not come out very well. Here a
young man from Amritsar had actually succeeded in getting the
better of the entire Delhi Police force and that was something
which gave him tremendous satisfaction. He underplayed his
role as a terrorist in the cause of achieving Khalistan,
perhaps intentionally but had no hesitation in boasting about
his daring bank robberies in broad daylight in the heart of
Delhi. He insisted on calling Delhi “Rajdhani” and obviously
derived immense satisfaction from taking on the police in
Delhi. Even at that stage though we did not know much about
his terrorist antecedents, he talked in terms of “them” and
“us”. It struck me even then that he was more forthcoming and
almost friendly with me, because here he was talking to a head
of the Delhi Police on an equal footing. He had no hesitation
in telling me about his unhappy childhood and his petty crimes
in Amritsar.
He was later transferred to Gujarat from where he escaped
while being escorted from the jail to the trail court. After
his escape he started committing even more daring acts of
terrorism. He became a feared terrorist and was well-known
both in Delhi and Punjab. We learnt about his involvement in
the killing of Lalit Makan the Congress MP and Arjun Dass, a
close Sanjay Gandhi associate.
Second
Meeting
He was arrested for the second time by the Delhi Police in
August 1987, in an encounter in the Civil Lines area in which
he was seriously injured. He was taken to the Civil Lines
Police Station before the arrival of an ambulance. This time
there was no doubt that the Delhi Police had scored a major
success. His capture was the result of close cooperation
between the Delhi Police and the Intelligence Bureau. I learnt
about the encounter on my wireless set and rushed to the
Police Station within a few minutes. Jinda was being moved
into the ambulance on a stretcher when he saw me. He
immediately recognized me and greeted me with a big smile. He
must have been in terrible agony, but that did not stop him
from joking. “Mubaraq ho. Ab to app ko bahut bari taraqui
milegi. Delhi Police ne mujhe pakar liya hai”
 (Congratulations.
Now you will get a promotion-Delhi Police has been able to
arrest me). Here was a man almost on his deathbed and yet he
had the audacity to poke fun and laugh. I could see that he
was enjoying the thought of not only making the supreme
sacrifice for the cause in which he believed, but of being
able to be one up on the Commissioner of the Delhi Police.
He was take to the Army Hospital in the cantonment, because of
security considerations, and miraculously, he responded to the
treatment after a successful operation. I went to see him
along with DCP Crime, this time not to interrogate him but to
see someone who had earned my respect. I must confess that
then my feelings for this man were not that of professional
police officer for an outlaw but were mixed with some warmth
and admiration.
Ideology
It is important at this point to say something about our
system. Here was a known killer of the former Army Chief being
treated by the army doctors, who performed nothing short of a
miracle in saving his life. When I entered his room he was
lying on the bed as the lower portion of his body was
completely paralysed. The doctors could not say at that time
whether he would ever be able to use his legs again. On seeing
me he again greeted warmly and apologized for not being able
to get up. He thanked me for coming to see him. He behaved as
if he was talking to an old friend. He was in a talkative mood
and this time told me all about the terrorist movement in
Punjab and their ultimate goal of Khalistan with Pakistani
help. He bragged about his escape from Ahmedabad and had
absolutely no fear of death. He was certain that his end was
not too far off and tauntingly told me that this time the
Delhi Police would not make the mistake of handing him over to
the Gujarat Police. When I told him that we would not hand him
over to the Punjab Police as he suspected but to the
Maharashtra Police to face a trial, he could not believe it.
We later did hand him over to the Maharashtra Police. He was
tried in the Pune Jail for a protracted trial and later
hanged.
 Terrorism
gave Jinda a cause to live for. There was no question of
diverting him from the path which he had chosen for himself.
He justified the most heinous of his crimes in the name of the
“Panth”. It is the combination of political factors and such
traits in their personality that attracts people like Jinda to
the terrorist movement. The sole aim of his life became
commission of terrorist acts, which he firmly believed would
in the end succeed in achieving their goal of “Khalistan”.
There is no scope for any negotiations with such men. But such
personality traits are seen only among the hard-core
terrorists. There are of course other types of person among
terrorist their supporter and sympathizers who are more
amenable to negotiations and compromise.
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