The Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann’s letter to Governor Gulab Chand Kataria seeking a 10-day parole for jailed militant Jagtar Singh Hawara has surprised political pundits in the poll-bound state. Hawara is not an ordinary criminal.He represents two separate segments. For one, he orchestrated the assassination of Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh and 16 others outside the Punjab Civil Secretariat on August 31, 1995, and for another, he avenged the mysterious disappearance and killing of Sikh youngsters in alleged fake encounters. This is the segment that the panthic parties are eyeing to cash in on ahead of elections.The prole has been sought in the month when the assassination will complete 31 years. The incident is considered a turning point in Punjab politics that practically ended the two-decade-long dark era of militancy. Dilawar Singh acted as the suicide bomber, while several others played crucial roles in planning and execution.Broadly, Jagtar Singh Hawara, Balwant Singh Rajoana, Jagtar Singh Tara, Paramjit Singh Bheora, Lakwinder Singh, Shamsher Singh and Gurmeet Singh, all operatives of the Babbar Khalsa International, a proscribed Khalistani militant organisation, were arrested by the police during the investigation. Hawara, Tara and Bheora were also part of the country’s most sensational Burail jailbreak in 2004; however, all of them were later arrested.Jagtar Singh Hawara is regarded as one of the main conspirators and planners of the assassination. He directed Dilawar Singh to act as a human bomb.Hawara was sentenced to death in 2007, which was commuted to life imprisonment in 2010. He is currently lodged in Tihar Jail, New Delhi. In 2015, he was declared Jathedar of the Akal Takht by a Sarbat Khalsa, which put his supporters in direct conflict with the SGPC.Balwant Singh Rajoana, a former Punjab cop, served as the backup suicide bomber in case Dilawar failed. He openly admitted his role and refused legal defence. He is currently lodged in Patiala Central Jail, serving a death sentence that has been stayed. Tara is currently imprisoned in Burail Jail, Chandigarh; Bheora is in Tihar Jail; while Lakwinder Singh, Shamsher Singh and Gurmeet Singh are serving life terms in Burail Jail.The 2004 Burail Jailbreak remains one of India’s most sensational prison escapes. Hawara, Tara and Bheora dug an over 90-foot-long tunnel from inside Burail Jail and fled. Hawara was recaptured in Delhi in 2005, Bheora in 2006 and Tara in Thailand in 2015.