The sub-title of Sarab Jit Singh's very readable book is a more apt description of the contents of his work than its title. For his study of the decade of violence in the Punjab covers a much wider canvas than merely the events and episodes commonly associated� with the police action of Operation Black Thunder. The Operation was conducted in two phases in the summer of 1988 to clear the Golden Temple at Amritsar of Sikh militants holed up there for several months. It was acclaimed as a successful manoeuvre that accomplished its objectives without unnecessary bloodshed and in unprecedented transparency. The Operation was able to achieve its primary goal of securing the surrender of scores of militants without causing any physical damage or sacrilege to the most sacred of Sikh shrines. It also exposed before the Sikh masses the true character of the ?holy warriors? as a band of criminals and extortionists indulging in nefarious pursuits under the guise of waging a militant struggle for the rights of the Sikh community. This ultimately led to the elimination of the scourge of terrorism from Punjab by seriously undermining the credibility and popularity of the militant movement among the Sikh people. Due to all these factors Black Thunder was viewed as a more competent and cleaner Operation as compared to Blue Star launched by the Indian army in 1984, which left lasting scars on the Sikh psyche.

There has been more than one version of Operation Black Thunder, which is not unexpected considering that several agencies were involved in planning and execution of the action. This reviewer is familiar with at least half a dozen different versions presented in the form of books or articles by various actors in the manoeuvre, each of them expectedly projecting his own individual reading of the action and highlighting the contribution of his particular agency in making it a success. As they say, success has many fathers, failure has none. The account given by Sarab Jit Singh is probably the only one by a key civilian administrator who was privy to many of the episodes and developments leading to the Operation.

As deputy commissioner of Amritsar, the nerve centre of the movement from its very inception, for a period of five long years between 1987 and 1992, the author is eminently qualified to deal with the subject in a more holistic manner than others, who have dealt with the subject. The district collector or deputy commissioner of a district in India has a very significant role to play in the administration of law and order. Naturally, therefore, the author is able bring a sense of perspective to his narration of the events. In works of this nature, it is probably inevitable that the author would tend to project his own role as central to the action and attach much more importance to it than what comes through in works by other writers. However, except in some minor details, the account given by Sarab Jit Singh is fairly objective and faithful.

�Among the exceptions could be mentioned his claim that the Operation was entirely conceived by him and its execution shaped by his individual logic and experience, apparently against the wishes of the central authorities and intelligence agencies. He makes out as if the Operation was a spontaneous and natural follow-up of the curfew imposed by him a day prior to the events which triggered it and not a meticulously planned police action in which several agencies and forces participated. It is evident from many other analytical studies that several organizations were, at some time or the other, involved in the planning and execution of this action.

The genesis of Sikh militancy in the Punjab and its systematic nurturing over a long period by the principal political party ruling at the Centre for several decades has now been well-documented. The manipulative style of politics pursued by some top Congress leaders in many parts of the country but particularly in the Punjab and Kashmir has been the subject matter of numerous studies by eminent sociologists and political thinkers. The overall objective of the country's oldest political party in the context of the Punjab was clearly to marginalize and ultimately finish off the authentic political voice of the Sikh community-the Akali party. This was considered necessary by the Congress leadership as the only easy route to monopolise political power in the Punjab in a scenario where the Akalis and the BJP seemed to be coming close to each other. To achieve this purpose, a small-time religious preacher was projected on the scene to countervail the moderate policies of the Akali party. How the Frankenstein's monster later on turned on its creators is now part of history and needs no reiteration.

Sarab Jit Singh has dealt with a number of other manipulations and maneuverings frequently practiced by senior Congress leaders, obviously under the guidance of the so-called party high command to gain its primary objective of elimination of any regional challenge to it in Punjab. While some of the senior Sikh Congress leaders indulged in grossly unethical practices in consolidating their own constituencies, Mrs. Gandhi sought to deal with the many minority questions in different parts of the country by openly resorting to non-political strategies to isolate and finally to neutralise them. She was reportedly advised by her aides that if she could put down the Sikhs, other minorities would by themselves come to heel. Sarab Jit Singh mentions all these and a number of other factors, which generated Sikh militancy in the first place and sustained it for an inordinately long time. In addition, he also refers to the dubious role played by the Central intelligence agencies in fishing in troubled waters to pursue their own individual agenda that may or may not serve national interest. In this, their manipulations made the restoration of peace in the Punjab even more difficult.

This is probably the only study on the subject of terrorism in the Punjab that deals with this complex phenomenon in a methodical and forthright manner, bringing out its varied dimensions in their frightening impact on civil society and the administrative fabric. As such, the author deserves to be commended for treating a difficult subject with insight and a fair degree of objectivity.