ONE MORE ALL-PARTY DELEGATION TO SRINAGAR- RECOLLECTIONS OF A COMMUNICATOR
By ANIThursday, September 16, 2010
NEW DELHI - It was decided at the all-party meeting convened by the Prime Minister at New Delhi on September 15, that an all-party delegation would visit the State to assess the ground situation and interact with all sections of people and all shades of opinion.
The feedback from the all-party delegation would be an important input in evolving response on various issues relating to the State. .
The all-party meeting was convened by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to arrive at a consensus on the removal of the controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act from some districts in the State, or ’soften’ its provisions. No decisions could be arrived at on the issue after six hours of debate, and there is also no likelihood of a consensus on the issue.
The Armed Forces have made it clear that they are not in favour of any change in the Act. To perform the task assigned to it, the Army would need the legal cover provided by the Armed Forces Special Powers Act. The visit to Srinagar by an all-party delegation will hardly give an answer to the question. .
In fact, the Army was not in favour of taking up counter-insurgency duties in the State two decades ago. When militancy erupted in the State following encouragement from across the border, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi appointed General (Retired) K. V Krishna Rao as the Governor and asked him in 1989 to give an assessment of the situation in the Kashmir Valley.
General Krishna Rao, with whom I had been interacting ever since I was the Defence Spokesman in the eighties, told me that he had indicated to Rajiv Gandhi that he would need a couple of battalions of the Reserve Police to tackle the militants. Then Home Minister Buta Singh suggested that he use the Army , as the police forces were required to ensure the smooth conduct of forthcoming general elections,
General Krishna Rao said he would not like the Army to be used for counter-insurgency work and would be willing to wait till the elections were over. In the general elections, the Congress lost power and Rajiv Gandhi was succeeded by V. P. Singh. V. P. Singh told me that he had appointed a Kashmiri Muslim - Mufti Mohammed Sayeed-as the Home Minister and expected an early solution to the problems in Kashmir.
General Krishna Rao resigned. and Jagmohan took over as the Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, following which Farooq Abdullah resigned as chief minister. The kidnapping of Rubiya Sayeed, Mufti’s daughter, and the release of militants in exchange for her freedom worsened the situation. To ’study the situation’, it was decided to send an all-party delegation to the State in 1990.
I accompanied the delegation that visited the State twenty years ago in January 1990. It was headed by the then Deputy Prime Minister of the Government of India, Chaudhury Devi Lal, and included Leader of Opposition, Rajiv Gandhi and others.
There was an eerie atmosphere in Srinagar as the plane carrying the delegation landed at the airport and drove through the city, through empty streets. Rajiv Gandhi was keen that the delegation should interact with various groups there, but hardly any one was willing to visit the Centaur Hotel on the banks of the Dal Lake to meet members of the delegation.
Governor Jagmohan and his advisors had great difficulty in getting a few ‘locals’ to meet members of delegation. George Fernandes, then Minister for Railways, went out to meet some leaders within the city. He was able to contact Moulvi Farooq, father of the present Mirwaiz. Moulvi Farooq was killed a few months later by terrorists as they suspected that he was willing to negotiate with the Centre.
After spending two days in Srinagar, the all-party delegation returned to Delhi and one of the suggestions was that Governor Jagmohan needed some ‘political advise’ and George Fernandes was made a Minister for Kashmir Affairs to give suggestions. It was a different matter that most of his suggestions were put in cold storage by the Home Ministry, then headed by Mufti Mohammed Sayeed.
The all-party delegation which would be visiting the State now will have to provide inputs for starting a dialogue, civil discourse and peaceful negotiations. The statement issued after the Cabinet Committee meeting on Security said that there exists ‘trust deficit’ and the ‘governance deficit’ in the State.
Has anyone gone into the question of ‘governance deficit’ in many parts of the country - particularly in Naxal-affected areas of Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Orissa, Bihar and Maharashtra? Or the militant affected areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur and Nagaland?
Will the visit of the delegation help in finding out details of the deficits?
The maximum number of casualties in the State occurred between September 13 and 15, after reports were disseminated in the State about the burning of the Quran in the United States. People in the rest of the country were asking how was the Jammu and Kashmir Government responsible for what was happening in New York or Washington?
It is not clear whether the all-party delegation would be visiting Srinagar only or would also visit Jammu and Ladakh. Any solution to the Jammu and Kashmir problem should also take into account the views of the people of these regions.
What was not expected was the support extended to besieged Chief Minister Omar Abdullah by Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi that he deserved all the support in discharging his task in the State.
In 1990, Rajiv Gandhi had helped the all-party delegation to rise above party differences. Will it happen now? Much would depend on the composition of the delegation and its itinerary.
The separatists have already indicated that they are not interested in meeting members of the delegation. Even a recognized political party like the PDP needed a call from Sonia Gandhi to attend the all-party meeting in Delhi.
Two decades ago what helped to restore normalcy in the State was the decision of Prime Minister Narasimha Rao to take strong steps to put down militancy and the passing of a resolution in Parliament that Jammu and Kashmir was an integral part of India.
Is history being repeated?
I.Ramamohan Rao is a former Principal Information Officer (PIO) of the Government of India.
E-mail: raoramamohan@hotmail.com.
By I. Ramamohan Rao(ANI)
