Operation WoodRose

Operation Woodrose was a military operation carried out by the Indira Gandhi-led Indian Government in the months after Operation Blue Star to "prevent the outbreak of widespread public protest" in the state of Punjab. The government arrested all prominent members of the largest Sikh political party, the Akali Dal, and banned the All India Sikh Students Federation, a large students' union. In addition, the Indian Army conducted operations in the countryside during which thousands of Sikhs, overwhelmingly young men, were detained for interrogation and subsequently tortured.After the operation, the central government was criticized for using "draconian legislation" to repress a minority community. The operation consisted of the rounding up of thousands of suspected Sikh militants, including several presumably innocent civilians, aimed at eradicating the presence of violent separatist groups in the state. According to estimates published by Inderjit Singh Jaijee, approximately 8000 individuals were reported as missing as a result of Army operations during this period. According to Dr.Sangat Singh, Joint Intelligence Committee, about 100000 youth had been taken into custody within first four to six weeks of the operation and he adds that many of them were not heard of again. He further adds about 20000 youth crossing over to Pakistan.

To allow for the legality of the operation, the states of Punjab and Chandigarh had been declared

 by the Indian government as 'disturbed areas' by the enactment of the Punjab Chandigarh Disturbed Area Act 1983, while the Army was given unprecedented powers to detain and arrest civilians by the enactment of the Armed Forces (Punjab and Chandigarh) Act 1983. The act empowered any commissioned, warrant or non-commissioned officer of the Army if "of opinion that it is necessary so to do for the maintenance of public order, after giving such due warning as he may consider necessary, fire upon or otherwise use forces, even to the causing of death". The act also allowed such an officer to "arrest, without warrant, any person who has committed a cognizable offence or against whom a reasonable suspicion exists that he has committed or is about to commit a cognizable offence".

Fast Track courts were set up under the Terrorist Affected Areas (Special Courts) Act 1984 to try and sentence suspected terrorists rapidly.

Punjab Chief of Police, K.P.S. Gill described the actions as "suffering from all the classical defects of army intervention in civil strife" and stated that the Indian Army had acted "blindly".

The army operations were overseen by General Jamwal, who was assigned the responsibility to seal the international border with Pakistan, in an attempt to control smuggling of arms and personnel, and by Gl R.S. Dayal, who was instructed to oversee the apprehension of militants in state of Punjab.

S. Darshan Singh Pheruman

Darshan Singh Pheruman was a political leader and a martyr. He was was born at the village of Pheruman in present-day Amritsar district, on 1 August 1885. His father's name was Chanda Singh and his mother's Raj Kaur. After passing his high school examination, he joined in 1912 the Indian army as a sepoy. Two years later, he resigned from the army and set up as a contractor at Hissar. He was doing well as a contractor, when a taunt from his mother, who was deeply religious, led him to give up his business and plunge into the Akali movement for the reform of Gurdwara management.
In 1921, he was arrested in the morcha launched by Sikhs for recovering from the British deputy commissioner of Amritsar keys of the Golden Temple treasury he had seized, and was imprisoned for one year. In December 1924, he led the 14th Shahidi jatha to Jaito, and was jailed for ten months. He also took part in the non-cooperation movement launched by the Indian National Congress, serving a 14-month term in jail. In 1926, he visited Malaya where he was detained by the British on the basis of his political record in India. While in jail, he went on a fast in protest against the orders forbidding the wearing of kachha or drawers, one of the five symbols of Khalsa discipline. He continued the fast for 21 days, ending it only when he had won his point.
Returning home, Darshan Singh joined the Civil Disobedience movement and courted imprisonment thrice. He took part in the Quit India campaign during the Second World War. For a number of years, he was a member of the Shiromani Gurdwara parbandhak Committee and its general secretary for two terms. He was elected a member of the Rajya Sabha as a nominee of the Indian National Congress and retained his seat up to 1964. In 1959, he severed his connection with the Congress and joined the Swatantra Party of which he was one of the founders.
In August 1969, Darshan Singh resolved to lay down his life to atone for what he termed as resilement on the part of some of the Sikh leaders from the solemn pledges they had taken at Sri Akal Takht and to have their default in not being able to secure the inclusion of Chandigarh and some other areas in the newly-demarcated Punjab redeemed. So determined, he went on a fast unto death inside the central Jail at Amritsar on 15 August. He stuck to his vow and stubbornly refused to have any nourishment until his demand for the amalgamation with the Punjab of the Punjabi-speaking areas kept out of the new Punjab was conceded. On 27th October 1969 which was his 74th day of his fasting, he died. For the supreme sacrifice he thus made to rewrite the sanctity of a Sikh's plighted word, his name is honoured among the martyrs of the Sikh faith.