BJP Reprimands Bittu Over Questioning 25K Disappearances; Time for Truth Commission

July

2026

On 8 Jul, Union minister of state Ravneet Singh Bittu said, 'I specifically want to ask Hindu families, when will you stand up, and speak up? You lost 25K families.' Bittu also challenged the makers of the movie ‘Satluj' to provide evidence that 25K persons were cremated as unidentified by Panjab Police. Betraying an unease within the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) state unit over Bittu's claims, Panjab BJP leader Iqbal Singh Lalpura said Bittu 'should-remain-within-his-limit'. He added, ‘When Jaswant Singh Khalra—the human rights activist on whose trial and disappearance the film is based—spoke about the disappearances of 25K people, he gave a message. The claim was verified by the National Human Rights Commission.’ Another way of looking at police violence in the name of fighting militancy is to look at how many policemen were awarded under the policy of rewards and promotions for dealing with militants. According to human rights activist Inderjit Singh Jaijee's book The Legacy of Militancy in Punjab, former Indian National Congress Chief Minister Beant Singh of Panjab, had mentioned in the state Legislative Assembly that 41,684 Panjab policemen received monetary awards from 1991–92. Among them were 21 Superintendents of Police, 22 Deputy Superintendents of Police, 576 Inspectors, 1,365 Sub-Inspectors, 2,875 Assistant Sub-Inspectors, 8,589 Head Constables, and 23,245 Constables. The police force at the time was 75K strong and more than half of it was awarded for dealing with militancy, which shows their policing involved extrajudicial killings and exaggeration of numbers. Meanwhile, Sri Akal Takht Sahib (Eternal Throne) has asked the Sikh apex management body Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) to create an official archive of Sikhs who were killed, declared 'unclaimed', and cremated between 1982–95. The Akal Takht’s sphere of influence is over the Sikh community; hence, Akal Takht Jathedar (leader) Giani Kuldeep Singh Gargajj mentioned an archive of Sikhs. Such an archive should ideally count all Sikhs, Hindus, and those from other communities. Chairperson, Institute for Development and Communication, Pramod Kumar writes, 'Punjab now needs a Truth and Reconciliation Commission with an independent mandate to document the experiences of all victims—those killed by militants, those subjected to disappearances, and fake encounters, families of police personnel, public servants, and ordinary citizens... Democracies mature by confronting difficult histories rather than suppressing them' (earlier coverage).