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Kashmir : Release of detenus

	November 18, 2002

The newly installed PDP-Congress coalition Government’s steps to implement the poll promises have created a political furore. Even while the BJP has been critical of the J&K Government’s decision to release political detenus in an effort to apply the healing touch in the Valley, Prime Minister Vajpayee himself has suggested a systematic approach to the freeing of people from prison and not act in an ad hoc manner. Vajpayee told the People’s Democratic Party-led Government in Jammu and Kashmir that a committee should be appointed to screen cases against people under detention and not release them in an ad hoc manner. Commenting on the release of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front leader Yasin Malik and others from custody, the Prime Minister said these decisions related to the Mufti Mohammed Sayeed Government.

The Hurriyat Conference has alleged that the Mufti Government’s claim that JKLF vice-chairman Bashir Ahmad Bhat and Hurriyat leader Sheikh Abdul Rashid have been released is ‘false’. “The two leaders are lodged at the Joint Interrogation Centre at Talab Tillo in Jammu where they were brought after being released from Kot Balwal jail,” a Hurriyat spokesman claimed.

The spokesman also alleged that Syed Ali Shah Geelani’s son-in-law, Altaf Shah, was picked up on Friday night by the security agencies. The Hurriyat Conference condemns the re-arrest of people after being released by the courts. The Government’s claim that no one would be re-arrested after being released by courts has been exposed,” he said.

Even as Kashmiris eagerly await the fulfilment of the promise to humanise the Government - contained in the Congress-PDP’s common minimum programme (CMP) - there are reports in some media that a groundswell has begun within the Indian security establishment, bureaucracy and political Right to deny the new J&K Government any meaningful cooperation from the Centre.

The method chosen is to belittle Chief Minister Mufti Sayeed’s administrative capabilities, accuse him of wanting to follow a confused policy of appeasement and to warn the listener that the dismantling of the security and intelligence apparatus will sow disaster, writes a wellknown columnist. Persistent sniping has come from BJP spokesman Arun Jaitley and party president Venkaiah Naidu. Jaitley found the CMP “disturbing and distressing” and Mufti’s decision not to use the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) in J&K “terrorist-friendly”. Naidu cautioned Mufti against releasing long-term detenus on the grounds that a `unilateral’ release of militants will only encourage separatism. Many of the militants, he said, were Pakistani nationals. Letting them go would harm national interest.

State Government sources say, these criticisms are way off the mark. The third paragraph of the CMP spells out unambiguously that the Government will not tolerate cross-border terrorism. As for the POTA, while Mufti has forsworn its use, he has pointedly not repealed Kashmir’s Public Safety Act, which contains pretty much the same clauses. As for some detenus being Pakistani nationals, not only is their number very small, but no one has proposed a blanket release of all detenus irrespective of their origins and the charges against them.

Returning to the point made earlier, Mufti Sayeed is saying that the problem in Kashmir has to be dealt with not by bullet, but by talks. The approach, on the face of it, is unexceptionable. But it is one thing to be idealistic and quite another to be pragmatic. The signals from Jammu and Kashmir are disturbing, says a Kashmir watcher.

The PDP-Congress alliance has already, through its common minimum programme, announced that the personnel of the Special Operations Group (SOG) would be assimilated/relocated within the police establishment. This amounts to disbanding the SOG, which was in the forefront of police offensive against the militants. The CMP also talks of strengthening the State Human Rights Commission and investigating all cases of violations of human rights and punishing those responsible for them.

The debate on the release of political detenus by the Mufti Government in Kashmir has continued. Indications are that Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani is among the over 20 political detenus the Government has identified for release. The release of political prisoners, as we have seen, has been received, not surprisingly, with some scepticism in certain quarters, particularly the National Conference and the BJP. These sections are inclined to see this development and the new Government’s decision not to invoke the POTA in the State as a recipe for heightened insurgency, with some even darkly hinting at a ‘deal’ between the PDP and the secessionist forces, points out a political analyst.

What needs to be realised, according to Kashmir watchers, is that the rationale for these positive moves is rooted in the imperative of reaching out to the people, especially the alienated sections, by initiating a credible process of dialogue with a view to finding a political solution to the Kashmir imbroglio. After all, this precisely is what the popular mandate thrown up by the recent Assembly poll is all about. To be meaningful, such a dialogue has necessarily to be as broad-based and as inclusive as possible, not just confined to those elected to the new legislature.

The Hurriyat leadership is more than likely to find itself rather sharply divided in the new context of the PDP’s rise to power. It is for the new Government to move forward skilfully and come up with imaginative measures essential for setting a dialogue in motion, and the Centre, for its part, needs to extend its full and unreserved cooperation to such endeavours, concludes the analyst.



NC exodus to Congress

Meanwhile, following the ouster of the National Conference (NC) from power, an exodus has started from the party to the Congress. The NC workers in Baramulla and Kupwara districts expressed their willingness to join the Congress when party leader Saifuddin Soz visited his home constituency after getting elected unopposed as Rajya Sabha member. Soz, who has supporters in the NC, advised them to wait till he gets the nod from the party leadership in New Delhi. He told the gathering that his election to the Rajya Sabha was the victory of his principles. He said his not voting for the BJP Government three years ago was also a stand based on principles.

According to Soz, the Congress has promised that it would help in initiating dialogue with all three regions of the State, including separatist leaders, to resolve the Kashmir crisis.

The frequent killings of NC workers by militants has demoralised even staunch party workers. The inaccessibility of NC leaders and the distancing of bureaucrats from them have led to disillusionment among NC cadres.

Past friends of the NC in the bureaucracy have now started making the rounds of PDP leaders to convince them of their disagreement with the previous regime. The NC leadership accuses the new dispensation of withdrawing security cover to its workers despite increasing threat perception.

The NC has yet to decide the leader of its legislature party. Party sources say there is a tussle among three contenders, Abdul Rahim Rather, Gulam Mohiuddin Shah and Ali Sagar.