Excerpts from the interview:
You are a lawyer with a degree from the Harvard Law School, and you’ve worked with top law firms in the US and New Delhi. Your plunge into politics is a little surprising, isn’t it?
I grew up in a remote backward village and suffered the humiliation of poverty. When I was in college, I suffered the pain of being arrested. In 1964, I became the district president of Student Youth League. After the unfortunate and painful incident of the removal of the holy relic from Hazratbal, a mass movement followed and I became a part of it. We demanded independence. I was arrested in 1965 and again in 1966. I was detained under Defence of India Rules, similar to today’s Public Safety Act. I was tortured, and I still have the wound marks on various parts of my body from torture and physical brutality. I was released in December 1965, but I was again arrested in 1971 when the Indian plane was hijacked. So I had experienced the humiliation of poverty and the brutality of political suppression. To cut a long story short, when I was in the United States—very comfortably placed—I used to be haunted by the memories of the Kashmiri nation which was deprived of both economic development and a genuine political freedom. But by interacting with people from all over the world especially those from the conflict zones—Middle East, Europe, South America etc—my understanding of the Kashmir problem had evolved. With this renewed understanding I thought I should come back to Kashmir, join politics, and try to find a solution by rendering the LoC a bridge rather than a wall of separation between India and Pakistan. I participated in the 1979 parliamentary elections. I wrote the constitution of the Peoples’ Conference (led by Abdul Gani Lone).
It’s said you were closely associated with the pro-freedom camp, particularly with the Al-Fatah, an underground militant group of early ‘70s. Would you agree?
I was not associated with the Al-Fatah, though I was in favour of independence for Kashmir. But as I said my understanding of Kashmir had undergone a change on my return in 1979.
You were to fight the case of the JKLF co-founder Maqbool Bhat who was eventually hanged in New Delhi’s Tihar jail in February 1984. What was your experience of the case?
When I returned from the USA, there was a request from Amnesty International that Maqbool Bhat be treated as a political prisoner, arguing that nobody was providing him with any legal services. This was in 1982 or 83. Before he was hanged, late Pyare Lal Handoo had filed his Special Leave Petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court against his death sentence. The SC had said if the mercy petition filed by Maqbool Bhat’s family which was under the consideration of the President of India was rejected, it would entertain the SLP. Meanwhile, Amnesty International requested that I visit Tihar Jail and investigate the conditions Maqbool Bhat was in, since he had been denied the facilities a prisoner was entitled to.
During my visit to Tihar, I found that Maqbool Bhat had been put in a death cell in subhuman conditions, a claustrophobic space where he had to eat, sleep and defecate. With the help of another lawyer, Raja Tufail, and R C Pathak who was associated with the Communist Party, I filed an application in the Delhi High Court and got an order that Maqbool Bhat be removed from the death cell and treated as a common prisoner. Later on, when Mr Mahatre was kidnapped and killed by JKLF in London, in order to calm the public outrage, the government of India led by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi decided to hang Maqbool Bhat. I think the President rejected the mercy petition on the recommendation of the government of India.
I was in Srinagar when journalist Zafar Mehraj called me up from Jammu and informed me that the session judge who had passed the death sentence against Maqbool Bhat had signed the black warrant. I went to Delhi and prepared the SLP. I requested Kapil Sibal to present the case before the SC because I thought, being a Hindu, he might get a better hearing than a Muslim lawyer from Kashmir. He obliged me and appeared before the High Court with the SLP, but the SC would not be swayed. We even presented a certificate given by the registrar of the J&K High Court that they had not confirmed the death sentence of Maqbool Bhat, which was required by law. You cannot hang a person unless the death sentence is confirmed.
Do you mean Maqbool Bhat did not receive a fair trial?
No, he did not receive a fair hearing by the Supreme Court.
It’s alleged you had asked for a hefty sum from the London-based JKLF leadership against your services which you denied at the last minute even after accepting the money. How true is the allegation?
(Loses his cool). This is rubbish. With this kind of defamatory statement, if you give me the name of the person, I’ll follow him all the way to his grave. I’ll file a defamatory suit against this villain.
Many believe Indian intelligence agencies created PDP in order to cut the National Conference to size, because it is argued that it goes against the interests of New Delhi if Kashmir is ruled by a single regional party.
All I can say is that it would offend my dignity to respond to such a stupid and vicious campaign against PDP.
Your former colleague Ghulam Hassan Mir on his ouster from the party said the PDP was undemocratic, humorously calling it ‘Papa-Daughter Party’.
For as long as he was a minister, he enjoyed the privileges of the party. He made this statement when he was expelled from the party.
Former J&K Chief Minister Mir Qasim in his book, My Life and Times, says whenever New Delhi felt that a leader in Kashmir got too big for his boots ‘it employed Machiavellian means to cut him to size.’
Well, there’s some truth in it, and there are historical events which show when Sheikh Abdullah had been projected as the leader in 1935 by the Congress, at that time he wasn’t the leader of the majority. The majority, comprised of more than 70 per cent Muslims, was obviously with the Muslim Conference. But the Congress decided to project Sheikh Abdullah as the leader of Jammu and Kashmir leading to the formation of National Conference. The Congress decided that Sheikh Abdullah should become the head of the administration after the independence and on their request Maharaja released Sheikh Abdullah and made him head of the Emergency Administration. He was made Prime Minister without any election; however when he began to become a larger than life, they got him arrested and put forth Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad. When Bakshi began to gain similar strength, they preferred Sadiq Sahab. When he also became too ambitious, they presented Mir Qasim, and when Mir Qasim too began to attract the spotlight, they brought back Sheikh Abdullah. Again they withdrew support from him. When Farooq Abdullah became a little unyielding, they brought his brother-in-law Ghulam Mohammad Shah; in turn when he became a little strong, they brought back Farooq Abdullah. Ah! How many examples should one give? <
When PDP withdrew its support to the Congress-led coalition government in 2008, former RAW chief A S Dullat forcefully advocated for Omar Abdullah to be the CM and at the same time the ex-IB head Ajit Doval publicly backed Mufti Mohammad Syed. Is it Indian intelligence agencies that decide who should occupy the CM’s chair in Kashmir?
One day when we were still in the government, I met Farooq Abdullah at the Srinagar airport, and in the presence of three more people he said the Indian army would never let us come back to power. When I asked the reason, he said we had asked for demilitarization and the Indian establishment will never let you come back to power. I don’t know, maybe he was right.
PDP says self-rule is its political bible, but many say it is as vague as separatists’ call for azadi. What actually is the concept of self-rule?
It’s not possible for me to talk about the issue at length here, but the self rule lays down a practical roadmap for a final and stable solution to the problem of Kashmir acceptable to Pakistan, Pakistan administered Kashmir, India and this Kashmir with its three regions. It differs from the NC’s autonomy formula which talks only about the relationship of this Kashmir with the Union of India.
Is PDP’s stand on accession of Kashmir to India any different from the NC which says it is full and final?
We accept accession as a fact of life.
Last year, in the Assembly you said Omar Abdullah “had lost moral authority to rule the state because he features in the sex scandal accused list.” What was the point you were trying to make when you presented a so-called CBI list of the sex scandal accused before the House?
During the investigation process, the J&K Police had prepared a list which the High Court referred to as the ‘shame list’ and it was handed over to the CBI. The court maintained that when it came to the less important people, the CBI carried on with their investigation but stopped short when it zeroed in on the high profile police officials, bureaucrats and politicians who decide the fates of millions of people. One judge said the investigation should continue under the directions of the High Court while the other said the process should continue under the directions of the Chief Judicial Magistrate. The matter is now before a full bench. The government and the CBI, instead of obeying the orders of the High Court, are contesting it. I have said that since the names of politicians are appearing in this, they must cooperate with it, and if the Chief Minister’s name appears in the list, he can’t sit in the chair. It’s an old principle of law that Caesar’s wife should not only be chaste she should appear to be chaste.
Nazir Gurezi, the legislator from Gurez, submitted his collection of allegations against you claiming that you had been consorting with different women in New Delhi, Jammu and Srinagar. Allegations, counter-allegations or what?
I was only referring to the judgment of the High Court. Regarding the MLA in question, any person can level any sort of allegations against anyone. It was a reaction. After what I had stated in the Assembly, what should I expect—praises, garlands, flowers or what? I had anticipated much worse, like they would come and burn my house, plot a bomb or kill members of my family. It was but natural that they would counter with something. They associated my name with a lady who is my rakhi sister.
Have you supported Omar Abdullah’s proposal of rehabilitating those who crossed over to other side of the LoC for arms training?
Yes, I’ve supported his proposal though I believe this can happen only when there’s an understanding between the governments of India and Pakistan. It’s not like you just bring people across the LoC; there have to be proper safeguards put in place.
But when Communist leader, M Y Tarigami proposed the same thing before the House in PDP rule, your government summarily rejected it. Why these double standards?
Certain things are to be left with governments only. If you table the bill in the Assembly and pass it, you’re putting an enormous pressure on the Central government. What happened to the NC’s autonomy resolution? Did the Central government not trash it? The Central government threw it in the dustbin. Tarigami tabled a resolution when Mufti Sahab was talking on the same issue with New Delhi. We supported the resolutions in the Working Groups constituted by the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Moreover, you can’t pass bills on the Centre-State subjects.
You’ve been criticizing NC for human rights violations, but during the PDP’s 3-year tenure, at least 175 people, according to the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons, were subjected to enforced disappearance, not to mention the ones killed by the troops.
We never justified it; rather we were ashamed of it. When two people were killed by the army in my constituency when they were coming out of a mosque late in the evening, I took the Corps Commander to their house and he touched the feet of their father. He apologized for the killings. He even touched their feet in front of the villagers. It doesn’t happen today. The Chief Minister, I and others tendered an apology in the Assembly.
You criticized the government’s failure to respond to the rape and murder of two young women in Shopian last year. But the PDP during its rule showed similar indifference to incidents such as these. For instance, when a woman and her daughter were allegedly raped by an Army Major, then Chief Minister Mufti Syed had said: ‘Beti ka rape nahin hua, maa ka hum dekh rahe hain’.
I’m not aware of this statement at all. I don’t even know if this is a correct statement.
PDP strongly criticized the nomination of Ghulam Mohammad Mir alias Momma Kanna’s nomination to Padma Shree, with your party spokesperson Naeem Akhtar taking a moral high ground. Writing in an article in Greater Kashmir, Akhtar said that New Delhi have had encouraged criminal elements in Kashmir. Kanna in an interview with this magazine said, “Mufti Syed is like my brother.” Kanna’s daughter contested municipal elections on a PDP ticket on the insistence of Mehbooba Mufti.
I don’t think Mufti Syed had anything to do with Momma Kanna or that Mehbooba Mufti would be involved in encouraging such elements. I can’t say anything about his daughter contesting elections on Mehbooba Mufti’s insistence. You better ask Mehbooba about this.
Why did PDP fail to gain support in Srinagar? It was Srinagar that proved a decisive factor in the government formation.
There was rigging in Srinagar, though we didn’t make any noise about it. We won the Sonwar seat twice. It was announced that our candidate had won the seat. After the announcement was made even in the media, they brought some 5o votes or so saying they had received migrant votes. Secondly there was a campaign against us on the urban-rural lines. Another issue that the NC Conference raked up was electricity. Farooq Sahab said it repeatedly: Metre Toudo, Heater Lagao (Break the meter and enjoy heater), and it was a popular slogan.
Apart from that we had some problems with the selection of candidates. By then, I think some agencies also had turned against us because we had made a statement after the Mumbai incident suggesting New Delhi was preparing some anti-terrorism law, and our leaders had said that Kashmir already had such laws in place. We had said if they made such a law, we would not apply it in Kashmir. This statement did not go well with the Central government. So I think some people were angry with us.
You had proposed shifting of the capital to a non-descript place, Parihaspora. What was the rationale behind such move?
How could the capital be shifted? We only said that downtown Srinagar should be saved, and in order to achieve this, it had to be depopulated. I have seen even five families living in a single house. There’s no toilet facility. It’s a shame that in the 21st century dogs and humans drink from the same water source. I had an occasion to discuss this with the Prime Minister. We wanted to turn this city into something like Venice or Paris where tourists would come and spend time in the city as well. So the idea was to offer opportunities to people to voluntarily move to colonies with all the facilities—schools, hospitals, parks, offices, courts etc—in just one place. Once it was done, we could construct big roads in the city. There was no question of shifting the capital to any other place. The media-hype destroyed all this. The Prime Minister had promised us 10,000 crores as an initial installment. It would have changed our fortune for good.
You’re talking about these lofty plans—Venice and Paris—but your commitment to environmental issues was non-existent. You could have, for instance, taken up the Amarnath Land row as an environmental issue.
Amarnath pilgrims have been coming here for the last 150 years and encamping at several places along the cave route. Whatever the consequences, I would rather speak openly that the order which has been passed now after 5 lakh people agitated is not as good as the earlier order passed by our government. We passed a simple license—to use arrangement order only, for which an amount of two crore and thirty lakh rupees had to be received from the Shrine Board for cleaning the area. The NC and Hurriyat misconstrued it as transfer order. It was Sheikh Abdullah who had allowed the construction of concrete structures there which Farooq Abdullah continued when he was the chief minister.
Why didn’t you have them demolished?
I was not the minister in question; I don’t know how it would be done. The concerned minister should have sent a demolition notice. May be it was not done because it would provoke communal tension in India. In February 2001 (I can show you the documents) Farooq Abdullah according to a written communication of the Governor S K Sinha agreed to transfer 3432 kanals of forestland to the Amarnath Shrine Board. The governor wrote to then Tourism Minister, Ghulam Hassan Mir to transfer the land. He did not reply. Sinha wrote to me to act on the transfer agreement. Since a Chief Minister had agreed to the land transfer, the matter would go to the cabinet. I didn’t take it to the cabinet and cancelled it then and there. I had the courage to reverse the decision of a Chief Minister. The concrete structures in question came to my attention after I sought information on the land transfer row. At most occasions, the concerned Deputy Commissioners during the NC rule had allowed the constructions to take place.
What about the hotels being constructed in green belt areas, such as the one at Kral Sangri close to your residence? It’s alleged that even your own house is built on prohibited land.
In the Master Plan, this area had been reserved for a hotel to be constructed. As for my house, if this falls in the green belt area, I’ll burn it myself.
The interview has appeared in the Mayissue of the Conveyor magazinewww.conveyormagazine.com being published for Srinagar, Kashmir.
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