Ghost of 1988 haunts Punjab: When floods killed hundreds, led to an assassination

PUnjab is struggling with floods once over again, and a ghostwrite from 1988 is walking, again, among its people as they battle to pull through their fields and homes from angry rivers amid heavy monsoon rain. Thousands of acres of farmland with paddy (rice) mostly, besides hundreds of houses, across villages along the Sutlej, Beas and Ravi rivers are submerged or marooned. The 1988 flood comes up often as people speak about their current misery. There are those who were in that nightmare, and those with family history coloured by that event 37 years ago.“After decades, we are suffering from this situation again. As per my observation, the situation is worse now,” Gurnam Singh, former sarpanch of Dugri village near the Ravi in Gurdaspur district, told HT, alleging that the government is not doing enough.Similar statements could be heard two years ago, in 2018, and 15 years ago in particular. So far, the reported death toll remains in single digits in the Indian province of Punjab, while the region in Pakistan has seen over 200 deaths, caused by the same rivers. Himachal and J&K have seen major damage. In 1988, deaths in the Indian Punjab were estimated to be between 600, which was closer to the official figures, and 1,500. Gurdaspur is one of the worst-hit districts, besides Pathankot, Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala, Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Fazilka and Ferozepur. Ludhiana has seen flooding too. What happened in 1988 Punjab floods: Charges of ‘man-made disaster’ Allegations of mismanagement of the Pong and Bhakra dams, on rivers that flow in from the Himalayas, are being made. These two dams had reportedly come close to bursting back in 1988, after unprecedented rain hit the region.Reports from the time say the dam management had expected the catchment area to receive up to 120 mm rainfall that September, since monsoon is usually over in the North by that time. Between September 22 and 26, 1988, there was more than five times the forecasted rain. This led to flash floods that damaged around 75 per cent of what promised to be a record kharif (summer-sown, winter-harvested) crop in the districts that are now deluged, as per an India Today archive report. It put the death toll at 1,500. Nearly all villages of Punjab — and large parts of Himachal, J&K upstream, and Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi further down the Indo-Gangetic plains — were affected.Prominent Punjabi newspapers also reported that bodies flowed into the Punjab across the border, in Pakistan, which was also ravaged.Images of one such news report, which speaks of 1,300 bodies flowing across the border, is going viral on social media. Assassination in Chandigarh, and a killing in Pakistan 35 years laterIt was also midpoint peak of separatist militancy in Punjab that lasted from the 1980s to the mid ’90s. The opening of dam gates by the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) was painted as an act of conspiracy against the state. The board was led by Major General BN Kumar, who was killed in November 1988 near his home in Chandigarh. He was among the highest-ranked army officers to have been killed in that violent period that lasted from the 1980s to mid-'90s.He reportedly termed the massive rain and flash floods as a “once in a thousand years” phenomenon, and had said he was open to an inquiry into the opening of the floodgates at the reservoirs that serve major hydel power plants. The assassination returned to the headlines in 2023, when Khalistan Commando Force (KCF) chief Paramjit Singh Panjwar, wanted for this killing and others, was shot dead in a mysterious attack in Lahore, Pakistan. Panjwar, 63, was designated a terrorist by India under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.CM Bhagwant Mann says situation ‘unprecedented’ That violent period may long be over, but the misery of the deluge is a lasting scar. "I was a young boy during the 1988 floods and still remember the devastation. However, this time the situation is far worse, with over two dozen villages submerged and a serious threat posed to Ajnala," Manpreet Singh from a village in Amritsar told reporters.Chief minister Bhagwant Mann, who toured some of the flood-affected areas, has described the situation as unprecedented. On Thursday, he said deputy commissioners of flood-affected districts will further intensify the pace of relief and rescue.