All India Congress Committee (AICC) press release extracts.

“briefed the Congress Party in Parliament:

“The Congress President pointed out that while he fully accepted that there were a lot of weaknesses and problems with the previous Government, the fact was that terrorism in the Valley was under control, the administration was working, the police were cooperating with the administration, the Central and State Intelligence networks were working in tandem. In fact, it was the local police that had picked the terrorists who were released.

“In contrast, within the few weeks that have elapsed since the new Governor took over, the Governor himself described the present position as not the “collapse” of the administration but the “total take-over” of the administration. The Congress President asked how it has come about that an administration which till only the other day, had been keeping the terrorists at bay, shooting terrorists and arresting them, had suddenly reached a point of such total disarray. He said his conversations with Government officials, right up to the point just below the very top crust, of the J&K administration showed him that there is absolutely nobody who agrees with what the Governor is doing. The Governor’s plan of a total restructuring of the present administration in the present circumstances has only resulted in a total alienation of the entire local civil service and the local police and caused resentment in the Valley.

“The second element of the Governor’s plan for tackling the present situation in the Valley is based on the Governor’s assessment that the National Conference and the Congress are, in his words, ‘irrelevant’ in the Valley.

“The Governor went on to say that his plan was to keep the National Conference, and the Congress out, crush the Jamaat-e-Islami and build up the youth of the JKLF (which is demanding independence from both India and Pakistan) as a new force. The main rationale he advanced for dissolving the State Assembly was that, in his own words, he was offering JKLF youth their ‘Azadi’.

“The Congress President said he had asked the Governor to explain the basis on which he had made the determination that the elected state Assembly, which still had three years to run, had assumed an ‘unrepresentative character’. Instead of giving his reasons, the Governor insisted that this was a matter which fell entirely within his Constitutional discretion. Pressed further, he refused to discuss the matter, but alleged that some of the seats had been rigged in the March 1987 elections. The Congress President recalled that the Home Minister had made the same allegation, but, when pressed by the former Chief Minister, Farooq Abdullah, had admitted that not more than 4 to 5 seats were in dispute. The National Conference – Congress alliance is in a majority in 68 out of 76 (plus 2 nominated) in the dissolved State Assembly. The Congress President said that the Governor was simply playing into Pakistan’s hands by making such irresponsible allegations.

“The Congress President said that the Governor’s administration was seen in the Valley as a totally communal government, with no contact with the people, senior citizens, local dignitaries, local associations or any other representative spokesman of the people. The Governor himself has admitted his total lack of contact with any local association or body of people, even such well known organizations as the Low-Paid Employees’ Federation and the Kashmir Motor Drivers’ Association. He was unable to bring anyone – neither individuals nor representatives of local associations – to meet the delegation.

“Despite the J& K administration’s total failure to cooperate in the matter of facilitating contacts and communication between the delegation and the local people, the Congress President had met nearly 10 persons, representing different organizations, at the hotel in meetings that lasted till the early hours of the morning. These conversations showed that, as a result of the total isolation of the Governor from the people, and his having hurt local religious sentiment by such actions as obliging mosques to obtain the prior permission of the District Magistrate to even sound the Aazaan on loudspeakers, the Governor was locally described by the Kashmiri people as the ‘Turkman Gate Commander’, ‘Hitler’ and ‘General Dyer’.

“The extent of alienation from the present administration is totally alarming and dangerous. The focus of the complaint was the continuous curfew that has been imposed on the people since mid-December, with a break of only a few days. There is callousness and indifference towards the real problems of the people.

“The Congress President said that the main thrust of the previous Government policy had been very tough action against terrorists and secessionists, but widespread political action among the people. This administration had merely resorted to widespread police firing on innocents and killing a large number of ordinary people but hardly catching any terrorists. Normal life in the Valley had been totally disrupted, with Indian Airlines accepting no cargo, post offices accepting no packets, the telephone lines down, communication and transport links with the rest of India virtually snapped, no newspapers coming into the Valley, and even the Kashmiri-language news cast on Doordarshan coming from Delhi, not from Srinagar. The Congress President stressed that nothing can be of achieved without minimum revival of political activity which can only be undertaken by the National Conference and the Congress and other nationalist political forces in the Valley such as those commanded by Mirwaiz and Lone, also participating. He said no other valid option is open to the country.

“The Congress President stressed the revival of political activity as the basic requirement. The Congress and the National Conference delegation had gone so far as to suggest that they would support any political nominee of the National Front Government’s as Chief Minister of J & K.”

       [Extracted from the press release of the official Congress spokesman, 13.3.1990]”