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Gill warns against random scaling down of security

Onkar Singh in New Delhi

Former director general of Punjab police, K P S Gill, believes if the government were to scale down the security of VVIPs, as it declared yesterday, it could pose a serious threat to some of them.

Congress leader Jagdish Tytler, who allegedly was involved in the anti-Sikh riots of 1984, is one such politician, Gill said.

He was critical of the way the home secretary went about holding a press conference to announce the government's decision. "It is a routine exercise and they should not have created such a fuss bout it,'' Gill said.

Former home minister Buta Singh said the review of the VVIP security smacked of political vendetta. "If you look at the names whose security cover is sought to be scaled down, most of them are Congressmen. Arjun Singh, (Maninderjit Singh) Bitta, (Jagdish) Tytler, Sajjan Kumar will all lose their security.''

He said all these leaders deserved the security cover because they had all contributed to the fight against militancy at one level or the other. ''Arjun Singh has handled a difficult situation in Punjab. Bitta has been raising his voice against militancy and openly criticising the ISI and Pakistan. I have played a role in curbing militancy not just in Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir, but also in the North-East.''

He said if anything untoward happened to anybody after the security was withdrawn, Home Minister L K Advani would alone be responsible for it.

He was also critical of some national dailies who carried names of politicians likely to lose their security. ''By printing the names you are telling terrorists that the man you have been looking for is out in the open now. Go, get him.''

Jagdish Tytler too is upset with the government's decision. "Two attempts have already been made on my life. Still, if they want to remove or scale down my security, I cannot do anything. Advani would be responsible for any consequences."

Though the many Congress leaders are putting up a brave front, many of them are likely to lodge their protest once the home minister comes back to the capital on February 11.

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