29051968.......6 Mr. J.J. Singh s Report To India-Pakistan Conciliation Group in 1968  29th of May 1968.

29051968.......6 Mr. J.J. Singh s Report To India-Pakistan Conciliation Group in 1968  29th of May 1968.

 

Taxi driver from the airport to the hotel: When asked who the Kashmiris think is their leader, he was reticent in giving straight-forward answers. He ended by saying that all kinds of people pose as leaders but the oldest leader is Sheikh Abdullah.

 

A well to-do shop-keeper on the Bund: When told that newspapers have carried reports that Sheikh Sahib is not getting good audiences, he scoffed at the reports and said that Sheikh sahib is still the most popular leader and related the incident that a day previous, Sheikh Sahib had come the Bund and several hundred people flocked there making his exit difficult. Regarding the tourist trade, he said that there was "quantity but not quality".

 

Our tailor on the Bund: He is an outspoken man and does not exaggerate one way or the other. He thought that Sadiq should be removed because he is not a popular leader. He did not know why Sadiq is so shy and does not meet the people. He, too, thought that Sheikh Sahib was the outstanding leader. When asked if any police persecution was going on in the city, he said that there was none now. In an indirect way, he even praised the outside police, like the C.R.P., etc. He thought that they were out to keep law and order and were quite fair in their treatment.

 

The hotel electrician-a Pundit: He volunteered the information that since the Pundit agitation, a lot of Pundits had left the valley.

 

30th of May 1968.

 

The Military Public Relations Officer-a Lt. Col. from Bihar: He was absolutely certain that the only leader in Kashmir was Sheikh Abdullah. He volunteered the information that three days ago at some meeting near Kokernag, Sadiq had an audience of about 10,000 people. He said that 4 or 5 people had told him about this meeting and each one had mentioned the same figure. He added the it came as a surprise to him because usually Sadiq draws an audience of 1,000 to 2,000 people.

 

Sheikh Sahib and Beg Sahib came to see us. Sheikh Sahib wanted me to come with him to a meeting he was going to address but unfortunately I was not feeling up to it.

 

Khwaja Inaytullah of Baramulla: When told that one hears that Sheikh Sahib is not drawing big audiences he said. If people refuse to see daylight and say it is dark, what can you do with people like that? When asked why was the Plebiscite Front not willing to fight the by-elections, his answer was that because they considered the elections will not be fair, just as, it was proven at the last elections When told that by-elections can be watched by outsider with a reasonable chance of controlling any malpractices, he asked, "Are you going to talk to Sheikh Sahib and Beg Sahib about this?" I said, "Yes'',

31th of May 1968.

 

About, noon, Dina Nath, Manager of the hotel, told us that trouble had broken out in the Engineering College and that it had been gutted." He was very apprehensive that this may lead to trouble. He thought that if trouble broke out, tourists will not come and those that are already here will probably leave. He said that traffic had been stopped from going to Hazratbal which is very near the Engineering College. That evening we drove out to the College which was being guarded by armed police. We were informed that three wooden dormitories had been burnt and in the clash several people had been injured.

 

1st of June 1968.

 

Bakshi Ghulam Mohammed dropped in and told us that there had been some trouble and that Sheikh Sahib had rushed there and calmed down the people and addressed a meeting at Hazratbal. He did not mention that the trouble was bet ween Hindu and Sikh students on one side and Muslim stu dents on the other. After he gone......

 

Shamim Ahmed Shamim, M.L.V., came and told us it was a communal fracas. It had dangerous potentialities and he added that the Sheikh Sahib had not gone to Hazratbal, there might have been ser bus trouble.

 

We talked about the round table conference of all parties that Sheikh Sahib is planning to call.

 

We discussed the general situation in Kashmir. He said that on some issues he agreed with Sheikh Sahib and on others he did not. He further said that though Sheikh Sahib was still the most popular leader, in his opinion Sheikh Sahib could not start any movement in defiance of the authorities here because the movement will not last "even a week". He also said that people were tired of agitations and suffering. Shamim was of the opinion that if Sheikh Sahib agreed to a settlement within the Union of India, the Government of India would give autonomy to the state. I told him that the Government of India was not ready to do any such thing and that is why the Government of India had not sat down with Sheikh Abdullah. He was surprised to hear that because he was under the impression that it was Sheikh Abdullah who was adopting an uncompromising attitude.

 

Shamim was most critical of the present government in the state and had lost all faith in its fairness. This was due to what had happened to him at a public meeting where he was beaten up and yet the government representatives completely denied the charge and no action has been taken against those who assaulted him. He was of the opinion that if in the by elections 10 or 15 seats were won by the opposition it would encourage some others to defect from the Congress party..

 

Later that evening Begum Abdullah, Suraiya and Khalida dropped in to say 'hello' and gave us further details about how Sheikh Sahib had gone to Hazratbal and handled a crowd of 1500. This crowd wanted to go to the shrine and agitate the people along communal lines. Sheikh Sahib beat up some of the demonstrators and broke his stick while doing so. It must be noted that Sheikh Sahib showed a great deal of physical courage to face an excited mob of 1500 single-handed and even hit them. This crowd had a large number of pro-Pakistani elements and they could have easily assaulted him and inflicted grievous injury to him. The crowd took all this from him and dispersed after a while.

 

2nd of June 1968

 

Sheikh Sahib sent me word that he is holding a press conference at 11 a.m. at Mujahid Manzil and he would like me to come there. I went to the press conference and Sheikh Sahib related in detail the happenings at the Engineering College. Everybody was agreed, even the hard boiled newspapermen that without Sheikh Sahib's prompt and courageous action, the incident might have taken a bad communal turn.

 

Sheikh Sahib said that he suspected there was some hand behind this incident. He went to the extent of saying that he, who considered every Sikh, Hindu, Muslim boy like his own son, was being accused of being a "communalist" by Mr. V.C.

 

Shukla, Minister of State of Home Affairs. He thought that the diabolical scheme may be to create communal disturbances in Srinagar and then put the blame on him giving them an excuse to arrest him again.

 

Later that evening Sheikh Sahib came over to see us and told us that he had sent workers of the Plebiscite Front out to different parts of the city to tell the people they must not make any agitation even though one Muslim boy who was seriously injured may die. The boy actually died about 6.00 p.m. and this information reached Sheikh Sahib after he left us. He immediately went to the hospital and made arrangements for the burial of the boy during the night so that no agents provocateur could take advantage of the situation, which they might have done if there were a funeral procession through the streets in the daytime.

 

3rd of June 1968

 

Early in the morning he sent word to all shopkeepers that they were not to close their shops. He threatened that he would go and break open the doors himself if any shop were closed.

 

Sati Sahni of UNI, Lakshmen of PTI and Khosla of the Times of India came to see me. They were all full of praise for the way Sheikh Sahib had handled the situation. They all said that nothing was done by the government.

 

Sati Sahni said that one may not agree with Sheikh sahib but no one can accuse him of being a communalist. He repeated it was Sheikh Sahib's bold action which stopped a dirty communal development.

 

Lakshman (PTI) said that the atmosphere here was very stifling. Nobody talked freely and openly. All newspaper men were working under disadvantage. He said his last assignment was in Nepal and even though there is an authoritarian regime there, and they had to be careful about what they wrote and what they said, the authorities seldom interfered with their 'copy'. He said that those of us who have teleprinters are not subject to censorship but questions are raised when the story appears and is not to the liking of the authorities. He asked me why there was no dialogue between the Central Government and Sheikh Abdullah. I told him that as he knew, and everybody else did, there was not much harmony among the top Indian leadership and no one wanted to take the risk of taking up a question which was a 'hot' one. I assured him that from what I know if our government leaders were to sit down with Sheikh Abdullah a solution could be found.

 

Mr. Khosla was somewhat critical of the statements made by Sheikh Abdullah such as India being in forcible occupation in Kashmir etc. But all the same he admitted that Sheikh Abdullah is the only one with whom he one can deal as a leader of the people of Kashmir. When asked about the rumours of there being a split between the three top men in the state government, namely, Sadiq, Mir Qasim and D.P. Dhar, he said that at one time Mir Qasim and D.P. Dhar were also not getting along very well but now they seemed to have joined forces. He agreed with me that Mir Qasim would like to be Chief Minister and D.P. Dhar would like to be once again Home Minister. Khosla also said that Hindu-Muslim riots in India have very bad repercussions here. He said that even men like Sadiq were greatly perturbed when the Ranchi incidents took place and here they all say that 200 people were killed but not a single arrest has been made. What kind of secularism is that? Khosla said that Hindus being the 'big brothers' should be more tolerant of the minorities such as the Muslims.

 

June 4th 1968.

 

We all-that is Malti, the boys and I-drove to Baramulla to get a first-hand feeling as to how Sheikh Sahib was received there, Several miles outside Baramulla, people at various places had put up arches and clusters of men, women and children were gathered near different villages. Many of them were singing.

 

As we found that Sheikh Sahib had gone to the house of a man whose son had been killed by the Indian Army during the Kashmiri Pandit agitation, we also stopped on the road said. A comment by Mubarak Shah caught up with us and led us to the Rest house at Baramulla, where Sheikh Sahib was to come and have lunch before going to the public meeting in the centre of the town. Without this car escorting us, I do not know if we could have got through the crowds gathered at different places-especially one group of students who were somewhat hostile. After lunch at the Rest House, Mubarak Shah and Inaytullah and all our family got into an open jeep just ahead of Sheikh Sahib's car. It was a sight to see when we reached the place of the meeting. All one could see was a sea of faces all round. It must give a lot of satisfaction to Sheikh Sahib to know how much his people love him. My estimate would be there were about a lakh of people gathered at the meeting place. Sheikh Sahib got on to the pandal but we did not stop to hear the speeches. With great difficulty we managed to get the jeep out of the swirling, excited and emotionally moved crowd and got back to the Rest House and got into our car and came back to Srinagar. I must say this was quite an exciting experience. Sheikh Sahib's popularity could well be compared to the popularity of Jawaharlal Nehru both before freedom and a few years thereafter.

 

Also we noticed that there was only one traffic police man, long before one reached the meeting place and there was no evidence of police anywhere else. The whole thing was managed by volunteers, perhaps, of the Plebiscite Front and other local organisations. Mirza Afzal Beg was with Sheikh Sahib. The Akali leader, Sant Singh Tegh, was at the Rest House and later on sat on the dais when Sheikh Sahib spoke.

 

5th of June 1968

 

A well-known Sikh dry fruit merchant: I casually asked him how conditions were. He said they were not good "for us." He did not think the State Government policies which represented the Government of India's policies were helpful. When asked to explain this he said it will require time to talk in detail. (I intend to talk to him and some other Sikhs later on). When I asked him what he thought of Sheikh Abdullah he said Sheikh Abdullah was not a communalist in the sense that he wanted any disturbances between the com muniuties but he was a "katta" muslim. That side of his character had some dangerous possibilities, he added.

 

6th of June 1968.

 

Governor Bhagwan Sahay: I had about two hours with Bhagwan Sahay, at the Raj Bhavan. He said that as we are old friends, he will talk to me as explicitly as possible but this. conversation was to be treated as confidential. Therefore I cannot record here my talks with him. I can add this much that last year when I saw him he had only recently arrived in Srinagar to take up his new assignment. At that time he did not know much about the conditions prevailing here. This time I found him well-informed and with definite opinions.

 

7th of June 1968

 

I again had a talk with our tailor on the Bund. He was full of praise for Sheikh Sahib's role in controlling the crowds at Hazratbal on the day of the fracas between Hindu and Sikh students and Muslim students. He, too, said, like many others, that if Sheikh Sahib had not taken this definite stand, God alone knows how many houses would have been burned and how many people killed. It was interesting to not that he was very much disturbed at the shooting of Senator Robert Kennedy because he feared somebody might get the same idea here and shoot Sheikh Sahib.

 

8th of June 1968

 

G.M. Karra, President of the Political Conference, came and had tea with us. On Sheikh Sahib's return from Delhi after his release, G M. Karra joined others and stated publicly that he would support Sheikh Abdullah. Since then it would appear he has not been in touch with Sheikh Sahib because no effort has been made by Sheikh Sahib to involve him in his movement.

 

Karra said that, in his opinion, Sheikh Sahib was quite confused in his stand. He added that the Government of India's stand was also confusing.

 

When I asked him where was the idea of his keeping on saying that his group is pro-Pakistan when he knew very will that Kashmir has to and will remain a part of India, his answer was that if one could see a way out as a result of the Government of India's position, he could also think in new terms. He said that he did not accept the Indian Constitution or the Kashmir Constitution. He brought out the point that the Indian Constitution was signed by Sheikh Sahib, Beg Sahib, Maulana Masoodi, and perhaps, one other person whose name he could recall, on behalf of Kashmir. He said that all these people were recognised leaders, but they had not been constitutionally elected to represent the people of Kashmir. He said the signatories from other parts of India were duly elected representatives, but not these Kashmiris. Similarly, he had not accepted the Kashmir Constitution because the Constituent Assembly which was elected in the time of the Prime Ministership of Sheikh Abdullah was not a duly elected body. There is perhaps only one person who stood against Sheikh's party and the rest were all elected without there being any polling worth the name. He felt that the same unrepresentative character of the Constituent Assembly continued even after Bakshi Ghulam Mohammed became the Prime Minister and it was this Assembly which ratified the accession. Therefore he did not recognise it. He added that though corruption was to be found in other parts of India, corruption in Kashmir had become a way of life and it had started way back during the Maharaja's rule, and has continued to grow through all the different regimes. He kept on saying he has very pessimistic about the future of the state. He did not see a way out.

 

He made another point: Sheikh Sahib, on the one hand, wants popularity and on the other hand he wants power and money. He added you cannot have all these three things. He also said that all politicians here, including Sheikh Sahib, listen to what Radio Pakistan has to say and Pakistan's pronouncements have influence on Sheikh Sahib's attitudes.

 

9th of June 1968

 

We went to Ganderbal to See Maulana Masoodi, but unfortunately he was not there. He had gone to Hazratbal in connection with the Prophet's birthday.

 

10th of June 1968

 

Maulana Syeed Masoodi, having learnt that we had gone to see him, took the trouble of coming to see us even though he is in pretty poor health. Though we had been told that Sheikh Sahib has not been in touch with Maulana Sahib, yet, I did not find him to be bitter or frustrated. He said that the hopes of the people here had been raised that after Sheikh Sahib's release the Government of India would sit down with him to find a solution to the Kashmir problem. So the people here were quite disappointed when nothing happened. Then when Sheikh Sahib announced that he will go to Delhi again, people thought that he was going there on the invitation of the Indian Government. They saw that he was ignored completely on his second trip, a great deal of frustration and disappointment set in Srinagar.

 

Masoodi Sahib told us in detail with what difficulty he had controlled the people before the Pakistani invaders came in and soon thereafter, too. And he willingly admitted that the position was becoming so difficult that they prayed they would be arrested and that is what happened. He agreed with me that the only way of solving this problem is for the Government of India to sit down with Sheikh Sahib. He felt a way could be found. I asked him if he agreed with me that the Plebiscite Front should fight the by elections. He said this has been his attitude all along. When I said to him that Chief Minister G.M. Sadiq had the reputation of being an honest man; he said that honesty was not restricted to money matters only. There should be political honesty and Sadiq Sahib should see that he was honest with the people around him.

 

Maulana Masdooi brought out a point which I had not heard from anyone else. He said that both in Jammu and in the Valley, certain people were propagating Mso's ideas. He said that though the affiliated body of the CPI (Marxist) in Jammu has disbanded, he suspected this was done to create a facade to mislead people In his opinion, two forces - Pakistan and China-were working in Kashmir and Jammu and he said he would not be surprised if at some stage they were to join hands together.

 

Dr. Miroslav Houstecky of the Czechoslovak News Agency has come to Srinagar to study the political problem here. I had a long talk with him. We covered the usual ground and finally he agreed with me that if the Government of India could come to some kind of a settlement with the Kashmiri leaders, Pakistan's case with regard to Kashmir will be greatly weakened in the eyes of the international world.

 

Shri and Krishna Mulgaokar came for lunch. We fixed up an appointment to see Sheikh Sahib the next day.

 

Shri did not think it was proper for Sheikh Sahib to have been named D.P. Dhar and Mir Qasim as the two men behind the communal riots which took place at the Engineering College.

 

11th of June 1968

 

The Mulgaokars and all of us went to have lunch with Sheikh Sahib and his family. Mirza Afzal Beg was also there. After the lunch Shri, myself, Beg Sahib Sheikh Sahib and G.M. Shah went in and had about an hour's talk. As this talk covered some confidential points, I am not relating the same here.

 

12th of June 1968

 

Bakruddin Tyabji. He came and had lunch with us.

 

He said that Gajendragadkar was very much disappointed and upset that the Plebiscite Front was not only not going to submit any memorandum to the Commission but had attacked Gajendragadkar as being a prejudiced man. I told Tyabji about the talk I had with Sheikh Sahib and Beg Sahib in Delhi about this; and the reasons given by them for not wanting to have anything to do with the Commission. He said that Beg had told Gajendragadkar that if they were given more time they will prepare a statement and Gajendragadkar agreed to this. I told Tyabji that it appears that neither Sheikh Sahib noor Beg Sahib had read Gajendragadkar's Sardar Patel Memorial Lectures at that stage. And when they read them carefully, they came to the conclusion that Gajendragadkar was a committed man. Therefore neither appearance before the Com mission nor their submitting a memorandum would be useful.

 

Tyabji's son is posted here as a S.D.O at Sopore. Through him he has been able to learn in detail about some of the malpractices that are prevalent here. I had a feeling that Tyabji's impression was that the State Government was ineffective. Perhaps, President's Rule should be introduced to run the State for about five years in an effective manner. He kept saying that such a small area could be run very efficiently if an honest effort was made to do so. He said that Shiekh Sahib was concerned only with this little valley. He said he had all the potentialities of being an all-India leader, and he should work at an all-India level. I pointed out to Tyabji that unless Sheikh Sahib had a sound base in the valley, he could not be of any use at an all-India level because Kashmiris will resent his all-India activities when nothing is being done in the State itself, such as clean and effective government and measures for better economic conditions and the reduction of corruption.

 

Tyalji saw my point.

 

Chief Minister G.M. Sadiq: I spent a little more than an hour with him. I had a good talk with him. As this talk too was of a confidential nature and as he did not want to be quoted I am not recording my talk with him here. All I can state is that he did not sound unreasonable and agreed that Sheikh Abdullah has a role to play.

 

Mirza Afzal Beg: Beg Sahib dropped in unexpectedly. I think the main reason for his coming was that he thought we had not quite understood the spirit in which Sheikh Sahib had spoken to us the previous day. I want to take up with him the question of the Plebiscite Front fighting the by-elections as one of the constructive means or making some progress but as we had another appointment I had to cut short my talk with him.

 

13th of June 1968

 

Balraj Puri. He came to see me and said he felt very disappointed that Sheikh Sahib had condemned his autonomy forum movement for Jammu as inspired by Imperialists'. My impression as well as my information was that Puri was a front man for Dr. Karan Singh. But he said this was not the case and that he had his differences with Dr. Karan Singh because the latter would not come out openly and say that he had changed his position on the question of splitting up the state and Jammu becoming part of Himachal Pradesh and so on. I told Puri that the general impression was that Dr. Karan Singh was financially supporting his movement and was at his back.

 

The other thing he said was interesting: I told him that Karan Singh had told me once that the natural leader in the valley was Sheikh Abdullah, and that he was the natural leader on the other side of the Banihal, meaning all of Jammu including Doda District in the North and Poonch in the West. Puri said that was not the case and that Dr. Karan Singh was losing whatever following and popularity he had in Jammu state. He said that the Muslims in Doda and Poonch were against Dr. Karan Singh, so were the Jana Sangh and so were many other Hindu elements in Jammu. He did have a following amongst the Dogras. Puri seemed to me to be depressed as he was not getting anywhere.

 

Mohammad Farooq, Editor of AZAM. He came to have an interview with me. The AZAM is a weekly and is a sort of religious-cum-political paper. It is the mouthpiece of the Jamiat-e-Islami which I was told is like the RSS of the Jana Sangh.

 

He was terribly worried about the communal riots in India and wanted to know the causes of these outbursts and what steps India was taking to stop them. He also asked questions about Sheikh Abdullah and India's intentions towards Kashmir. When I told him Kashmir had to remain within the four corners of the Union, he wanted to know if that would be acceptable to Pakistan or to Sheikh Abdullah. I told him that Pakistan did not come into the picture and where Sheikh Abdullah was concerned he would have to see what is good for the people of Kashmir.

 

I asked him if I was right in assuming that barring politically alive people in some of the big towns the average Kashmiri in the villages cared not at all even understood what it meant for Kashmir to be within the Constitution of India. I asked whether or not the main worry facing the average Kashmiri was how to get more food, clothing and shelter and whether or not economic progress was more important to the poor Kashmiri than the question whether Kashmir was part of India or not. He grudgingly agreed that most people were more interested in improving their economic condition than in political issues.

 

Syed Mir Qasim, President of the Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress: I spent more than an hour with him. He is quite blunt in his statements. As was to be expected he was very annoyed with Sheikh Sahib for marrying him and D.P. Dhar for the communal trouble at the Engineering College. He thought it was ridiculous for Sheikh Sahib to think that they have to have communal trouble in the valley resulting in arson, violence and death just to arrest Sheikh Sahib. I asked him what was going on and what was the impact of Sheikh Sahib's presence in the valley.

 

He thought that everything was going on alright and Sheikh Sahib's impact on the daily life or on the question of law and order was pretty well nil. He thought that I fe in the valley will continue to be peaceful unless, of course, Sheikh Sahib wanted to start some kind of movement which may create a law and order problem. He was of the opinion that if Sheikh Sahib did that then naturally he would be arrested. There may be some trouble then for a week or so and stern measures against the trouble makers would have to be taken but that sort of thing would not last long.

 

He was of the opinion that Sheikh Sahib's popularity was somewhat less just now. He said that in Sonmarg and one or two other places, he had bigger audiences when he went to speak to the people than Sheikh Sahib had at the same places. This, of course, is complicated by others.

 

I told Mir Qasim that when we went to Baramulla there were almost a lakh of people present to see and hear Sheikh Sahib. His reply was that Sheikh Sahib went to Baramulla for the first time and therefore there was a natural curiosity to see him and hear him after all these years. He added that if Sheikh Sahib were to go again to Baramulla he would not get such a reception. He said that wherever Sheikh Sahib goes for the first time, he gets good reception because after all he is the best known leader. I told him that it is alleged that at his (Mir Qasim's) meetings and Sadiq Sahib's meetings, the government supplies buses and trucks to collect the people to make the meetings successful. His answer was that if the allegation is that we transport the same people to all these meetings, then it is wholly incorrect. But like other parties and leaders, we too supply transport facilities to the people in the nearby villages where the meeting is held by him or Sadiq Sahib.

 

We talked about the good role played by Sheikh Sahib at the Engineering College. He agreed that Sheikh Sahib played a good role. Then I asked him if he had any doubts. about Sheikh Sahib's being completely non-communal. He said this has to be explained. He explained that Sheikh Sahib would never advocate the killing of Hindus or Muslims. But his religious approach was not scientific. He mixed religion with politics. And he added that is why he has been criticizing Sheikh Sahib for using the mosques and religious shrines for his political pronouncements. Then he said why doesn't Sheikh Sahib meet Sadiq, and added it is because he thinks we are all stooges of the Indian Government? I told him that Sheikh Sahib thinks that all the heads of the Kashmir Government have been spokesmen of the Indian Government and therefore he does not think any useful purpose will be served by his talking to Sadiq Sahib. If there have to be any talks, the talks must be with the principals and not through the mouthpieces.

 

Mr. Qusim was quite resentful of Sheikh Sahib's attitude towards him and others if they were nobodies. He said we may not be as big as Sheikh Sahib but we too have some following and we resent his condescending attitude.

 

Finally I came to my favourite theme. I told him that he and Sadiq Sahib and other Kashmiri leaders should think in long-range terms. And if they were to do so, they will see that unless some serious efforts are made for the emotional integration of the Kashmiri people with the rest of India perhaps in five years or so, the situation will go out of hand which will bring misery and untold suffering to the people of Kashmir. I told him that if Kashmiri resentment took the form of violence, it will strengthen the hand of the reactionary elements in India and will give them an excuse to suppress the aspirations of the Kashmiri people. I said that to avoid such an eventuality Sheikh Abdullah's services. should be used immediately. I told him that Sadiq and he and some others had an important role to play. Because if they were to tell our Prime Minister and other Indian leaders that Sheikh Abdullah is a very important factor and is undoubtedly a leader of the people and therefore he should be brought into the picture by holding a serious and meaningful dialogue with him, I was sure that our leaders would listen to such advice. Then the deadlock that is at present existing between Sheikh Sahib and the Central Government may be broken which may in turn bring about a solution of the Kashmir problem. I even suggested that he should talk with Sadiq Sahib and both of them should approach Prime Minister Indira Gandhi during her forthcoming visit to Kashmir with a suggestion that a dialogue should be started with Sheikh Sahib. Much to my surprise he agreed with me and said he would talk to Sadiq Sahib.

 

14th of June 1968.

 

We went to Hazratble to attend the Friday prayers which were of unusual importance because the prophet's Hair was to be shown. First we had lunch with Beg Sahib and other Plebiscite Front leaders on a boat and then we went to Hazratbal. There must have been almost of lakhs of people at this gathering. Sheikh Sahib was chairing the function. As almost all speeches were made in Kashmiri we could not understand what was being said. I had heard from Bhagwan Sahay, the Governor, how Sheikh Sahib sways the masses. He had given a graphic description and said that Sheikh Sahib recites the Quran before the meeting starts and that brings the full attention of the people to him and that if he notices at any time that people in the audience are getting a little restive then again he goes back to reciting from the Koran which helps him in keeping their attention. It must be so because I was surprised to note that Sheikh Sahib has such a melodious and powerful voice and when he recites from the Koran even though one may not understand what he is reciting one is moved by his recitation. We could see the audience was greatly moved by his recitation Hazratbal. We noticed that men, women, and children in the audience joined him in prayerful attitudes.

 

15th of June 1968

 

Sheikh Sahib dropped in for a few minutes in the morning on his way to his office in the Majahid Manzil.

 

When I told him that I was surprised he had such a powerful and melodious voice and he could keep it up for such a long time he said "All politicians have to be actors, too." Sheikh Sahib casually mentioned about the meeting of the Integration Council in Srinagar and said he just did not think that with the Jana Sangh in it, it could reach any consensus that may effectively help the communal situation in India.

 

18th of June 1968

 

Maulana Farooq: I went to see him at the Mir Waiz Manzil. When I started the conversation that I had heard he had been badly treated when he was in jail, he was so full of what had happened to him he spent almost an hour giving me the gory details of his treatment at the Interrogation Centre. He told me that for 20 days they kept him awake and would not let him sleep. He almost went out of his mind and began to have hallucinations. They were all the time interrogating him to find out what role he played when the infiltrators came into Srinagar. They accused him of masterminding the infiltrators' movements and that the Mir Waiz Manzil was the headquarters for such activities. I can quite see how this kind of physical torture must have left a deep mark on a young man of 22 years. I must say that experience has brought about maturity in Maulvi Farooq. He said he had nothing to fear anymore because nothing worse could ever be done to him than was done that time. He was so unprepared for that kind of treatment. After all he was a religious leader with a certain following and he did not think that they would subject him to such cruelties. He had no idea of what an interrogation Centre was and how they went about their job of crushing a mains spirit. I was deeply shocked to hear his account and began to wonder why we adopt such inhuman methods to achieve our ends.

 

Mr. Lakshman of PTI came to have a talk with me. Apparently he had got some idea from somewhere about my efforts to enroll Sadiq's and Mir Qasim's help in breaking the deadlock between the Central Government and Sheikh Sahib. I told him that I would give him an idea of my talks with Sadiq and Mir Qasim but for background purposes only and I did not want anything to be published about my activities. Lakshman repeated that Sheikh Sahib was undoubtedly the outstanding leader here.

 

Khosla of Times of India: Mr. Khosla continues to be somewhat critical of Sheikh Abdullah. He would like him to always make pro-India statements. He seems to get annoyed whenever Sheikh Sahib makes critical references to India. He made one observation which was interesting: He said that the Kashmir police which is about 90% Muslim will not lathi charge a crowd when ordered to do so. And if for law and order purposes the outside police is called in then there is all kinds of hullabaloo about the cruelty of the police which is mostly Hindu and Sikh. I will try and verify this statement. At another stage he said that Sheikh Sahib does not have anything new to say and keeps on repeating the same arguments and therefore he has decided not to cover his meetings at least for the time being.

 

20th of June 1968

 

Goodie Oberoi came to have Lunch with us. Apparently the circle she is moving about with is pro-D.P. Dhar and Mir Qasim. She did not think that D.P. Dhar was as bad as he is painted. She gave us the idea that D.P. was going through a retrospective mood and was sorry for some of the things he has done. I wish I could believe all this.

 

She was of the opinion that Mirza Afzal Beg did not look kindly upon the Swatantra Forum. I do not think Beg has to worry much about the Swatantra Forum which is not even a party as yet, and is in the same kind of doldrums which the Swatantra Party itself is in. She was of the opinion that if the Forum was turned into a proper party, many people would join it. Of course she was worried about Minoo Masani's future role in the party as it was Minoo who encouraged Goodie to start the Swatantra Forum.

 

21st of June 1968

 

Mr. J.R. Sahni of the Gandhi Sewa Centre: Mr. Sahni came and had a cup of tea with us and brought me the letter from Jayaprakash Narayan. He also wanted me to fix up an appointment for him with Sheikh Sahib so he could deliver J.P.'s letter to Sheikh Sahib. This was done. He told us of the arrangements he was making for the delegation coming on behalf of the Sarva Seva Sangh.

 

He gave us some idea of the social work he was doing in the villages and confirmed what had been told by others that in the villages too, the recognised leader of the Kashmiri people was Sheikh Abdullah.

 

22nd of June 1968

 

Balraj Puri: He came to see me in the morning. He sounded very frustrated because notwithstanding his old association with Sheikh Sahib, Sheikh Sahib had treated him very coldly and indifferently. He repeated all that he had told me earlier. He also said again that whatever following Dr. Karan Singh might have had in Jammu had been greatly vitiated. (To some extent this was corroborated by press reports which indicated that in some parts of Jammu, Dr. Karan Singh's processions and meetings were disturbed). Balraj Puri has no role to play in the valley and whether or not his Autonomy Forum will go far in Jammu is to be seen.

 

Humayun Kabir: He is here participating in the National Integration Council meetings. He sat with us at dinner and told us that so far the NIC deliberations were quite satisfactory. He was sorry that Sheikh Abdullah had not been invited to the Council. He asked me about the role Shaikh Abdullah had played when the communal disturbances took place in the Engineering College resulting in the death of one Muslim student. I told him that the Government virtually abdicated in the vicinity of the college and Hazratbal and that everyone was agreed that but for Sheikh Sahib's taking charge of the situation and valiantly attacking a knob of 1500 to 2000 emotionally-aroused people, there would have been very serious trouble in the valley.

 

23rd of June 1968

 

Damhal-Hanjipora: We went to Damhal-Hanjipora, 55 miles away from Srinagar to attend a meeting which was originally to be addressed by Chief Minister G.M. Sadiq and Congress Pradesh President Syed Mir Qasim. But latter we were informed that the Home Minister Mr. Y.B. Chavan would also address the meeting.

 

Our car was in the caravan which had four jeeps with police and security besides Chavan's and Mir Qasim's cars. Our car was 5th in the procession therefore when Chavan's car halted at some places where villagers had gathered, we were able to note the number of people present and their reactions. As would be expected, everywhere the cars stopped a certain number of people cheered. It was evident that to many of these villagers this was something out of the ordinary-the Chief Minister's presence and that of Chavan and other outsiders created a diversion from their daily chores of working in the paddy fields. In all these places there were quite a few women present and in one or two places they were singing. I noticed one incident which may be something or nothing at all. Three or four girls in the front row were clapping their hands when suddenly an elderly woman slapped the back of one of the girls as if to say, "Don't clap." And they stopped clapping. In other places curiosity was writ large on the faces of the people. Our impression was that the cheering etc., was of a passive nature and not full of enthusiasm as we had noticed when we had gone to Baramulla with Sheikh Sahib.

 

At Dhamal-Hajipura we were escorted to seats on the right side of the speakers' platform. My estimate would be that there were three to four thousand people at this meeting. Out of this, 300 or so, mostly young men seated on durries in front of the speakers platform were what may be called an organised group. This group had cheerleaders and when cheers were called such as "Chavan Zindabad'', "Sidiq Zindabad", "India Zindabad", "Indian National Congress Zindabad", these 300 responded quite vigorously. I did not notice any response from the rest of the crowd which did consist of men and women from adjoining villages.

 

In Mr. Chavan's speech said that many petitions had been handed to them when they were driving to the place, asking for water, electricity, schools and other amenities. He said this was a good sign because this is what people all over the country ask for. Apparently wherever the procession was stopped some petition was handed in.

 

I felt that the decision to support the Sadiq Government even more so than before had been made when Chavan pointing to Sadiq said that "We all must strengthen his hands.

 

After the meeting was over, Mr. Dhar, Secretary of Mr. Sadiq came over to us saying that the Chief Minister would like us to join them for a cup of tea at Arabal about 3 miles from Damhal-Hanjipora. As I was feeling tired, we declined the invitation and drove back to Srinagar.

 

24th of June 1968

 

Mirza Afzal Beg dropped in this morning and we fixed up to go to Anantnag for lunch with him on Sunday, June 30th (a) to see his home and (b) to have a long talk.

 

25th of June 1968

 

Mr. P.N. Haksar, Secretary to the Prime Minister sent a note to say he would come and see me at 6.00 p.m. but then a telephone call came cancelling the appointment. 27th of June 1968

 

We went to have lunch with Bakshi Ghulam Mohammed at his house in Nishat. Mr. M. Aleem, Vice-Chancellor of Aligarh University was also there. Amongst other things Bakshi Sahib brought out a pertinent point that the local government missed an excellent opportunity by not holding a public meeting so that leaders of the different political parties and the Ministers could address a large number of citizens of Srinagar. I also heard this criticism from other sources and the fact that the Pradesh Congress Party did not call a meeting of the workers and others to meet Mr. Nijalingappa, President of the Congress was particularly noted. Of course anti-Congress circles attributed this to the fear that Mir Qasim and others had that at a public Congress Party rally, demonstrations against Nijalingappa may take place. And they did not want to risk that.

 

28th of June 1968

 

We all went to Ganderbal to attend one of Sheikh Sahib's meetings. As Mr. K Rangaswamy of the HINDU could not get transport we took him along with us. As we all know he has been writing most critically about Sheikh Sahib. I had many discussions with him as he too was staying at Nando's. Let us hope that he has mellowed down a little bit. This meeting at Ganderbal was not a very big meeting. There were perhaps about 3,000 people present. Quite a few speakers preceded Sheikh Sahib as this was not a purely political meeting. It was a meeting held to celebrate the birthday of some saint. Sheikh Sahib spoke forcefully and for the benefit of some of the members of the Sarvoday and he spoke partly in Urdu especially those parts relating to India-Kashmir relations. All his references that Kashmir will never tolerate servility by whomever it may be imposed and his favourite slogan "This is our country; we will decide its fate," brought tremendous cheers from the audience. It was interesting to note that even his reference to his opposition to Pakistan if Pakistan wanted to inflict its authority on Kashmir also brought loud cheers.

 

Maulana Syeed Masoodi who is a wonderful speaker also spoke for a short while. He talked about the saint's teachings and did not touch on political matters.

 

29th of June 1968

 

We had lunch with Sardar Harbans Singh Azad, former minister for 11 years or so and who lost in the 1967 general elections. He is now chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir Khadi and Village Industries.

 

Sardar Harbans Singh was opposed by a National Conference candidate who won the election. It was surprising to learn from him that he considered that he lost the election because the Hindu-Muslim question was played on by the opposing side. According to him their approach was "do you want to vote for the Koran or for the Bhagavad Gita and Granth Sahib ?" When I suggested that how could the National Conference workers bring up this communal question when Bakshi Sahib was not only for continued relationship with India but also preached secularism, Sardar Harbans Singh said, "That is all talk. When it comes down to brass tacks, Muslims will vote for Muslims in the Valley." Harbans Singh seemed to be somewhat frustrated that he was out of politics.

 

He did not think there was much future for Hindus and Sikhs in the valley, an expression which is at some variance with what some of the Pandit business men feel even though many of them also think that perhaps it would be better for them to migrate to India.

 

30th of June 1968 We drove out to Anantnag and had lunch with Mirza Afzal Beg and his nephew Yakub Beg-a practicing lawyer at Anantnag.

 

I gave a gist of my impressions to Beg Sahib. He agreed that there was very little they could do so long as the government of India was not in a mind to have a dialogue with Sheikh Sahib. He seemed to be very proud of the fact that the Plebiscite Front was attracting a lot of members and he said there were about 900,000 members of the Plebiscite Front. Even if there are only half of that number, still it is a notable achievement.

 

In my talk I laid great emphasis on their fighting the by elections, when they are held. I told Yakub Beg what I had told Beg Sahib and Sheikh Sahib earlier in Delhi. I told them it is easier to watch an election than to watch 1200 polling booths at one time in a general election. With regard to the other objection of signing the oath of allegiance to the Constitution of India I pointed out to them that the Indian Congress which was wedded to the overthrow of the British Empire, signed an oath of allegiance to the British Crown when they took office in 7 provinces in 1937. Also, though Sheikh Sahib was dedicated to the cause of "Quit Kashmir '' and wanted Dogra rule to be ended, he too signed an oath of allegiance to Maharaja Hari Singh when he became Prime Minister. I told them that this is conforming to certain rules and regulations, just as they obey traffic laws.

 

Later we all drove to Achabal and had tea there. 1st of July 1968

 

Sheikh Sahib and Beg Sahib accompanied by Tony Wright (Phd scholar from the National Australian University) came quite late to the Nedous dining room to have dinner after having spent the day addressing meetings in the Lolab valley area. We sat up until about 11.00 p.m. talking about various matters.

 

2nd of July 1968

 

I gave a press conference at 11.00 a.m. Copy of the points I made at the press conference is attached at the end of these narratives.

 

1.00 p.m Mr. and Mrs. Jan Schumacher came to have lunch with us. Mr. Schumacher is No. 2 at the United Nations Headquarters in Srinagar. I was interested to learn. from him that for several months the cease-fire line has been pretty quiet. He said that if there is some slight infringement the United Nations observers go and talk to the officers concerned on both sides of the CFL and almost always a settlement is reached without much fuss.

 

7.30 p.m. We had drinks with Mr. and Mrs. S.P. Sahni (of U.N.I.) at the Srinagar Club.

 

I asked Sati, who is a good friend of Bakshi Ghulam Mohammed, if the National Conference was breaking up. He did not think so. He said there have been some defections mostly in Jammu but nobody important in the valley has defected.

 

It is generally conceded that the Jammu and Kashmir High Court judgment in favour of Shaffi Qureshi (a Deputy Minister in the Central Government) in the case of Shyam Lal Saraf versus Shaffi Qureshi, has done a lot of damage to the National Conference. I heard from various people that it was a political judgment and not a judicial decision. This has created a feeling that even the local judges are being influenced which means to them that the election petitions most of which are being contested by the National Conference, will go against the latter. Therefore the desire on the part of many National Conference workers and others to quit the party.

 

I met Mr. Bhasin, the older brother of Prem Bhasin, General Secretary of the PSP, who had advocated the case of Sham Lal Saraf. He told me, "What are we doing here? What kind of an image is India putting befor Kashmir?" He said. that until 10.00 p.m. the night previous, he had been informed that the judgment was going to be in favour of Shamlal Saraf. But suddenly the whole thing changed and the judgment was given against him. A lot of people mentioned the fact that Minister Dinesh Singh's presence in Srinagar at that time had something to do with it. Another person told us that Ashok Sen who was appearing on behalf of Shaffi Qureshi had told quite a few people that he had "a weak case". I must confess that to me as a layman the judgment sounded very queer in which the judge had called the Assistant Returning Officer a "liar" and also admitted that this Returning Officer hampered the efforts of Shamlal Saraf to take the oath. And yet, because the oath was not taken, he gave the judgment against Saraf.

 

Sati Sahni told us about the differences that have come to exist between Sadiq on one side, and Mir Qusim and D.P. Dhar on the other side. The differences between Mir Qasim and Sadiq have, for the time being, been "ripped"-patched up.

 

3rd of July 1968.

 

We went to have lunch with Sheikh Sahib, which was being given for him by one of the Plebiscite Front workers, in his private home. Even though it was a private lunch in a private home; a lot of arches were erected, and the narrow little street was decorated. There were a lot of women and children present in and around the house who kept on chanting "Sher-e-Kashmir Zindabad ''. It was worthwhile noting the reverence and affection the people showed to Sheikh Sahib.

 

5.00 p.m. Sheikh Sahib, Begum Sahiba and Khalida came to say goodbye to us. Sheikh Sahib told me he was going the next day to a place near Ganderbal to hold a preparatory Committee meeting for the All Parties Conference in September. I again repeated what I had told Sheikh Sahib and Beg Sahib earlier as well as to Shamim Ahmed Shamim that irrespective of the fact that the Jana Sangh and the Congress Party point-of-view is known they should all the same be invited. If they did not come at least the organisers of the All Parties Conference will have done their duty.

 

Earlier Sheikh Sahib had raised the question of finding a consensus at this conference and had said that how could consensus be reached with Jana Sangh and the Congress in its likely answer was that though consensus is very desirable, the Jana Sangh and the Congress should be given the opportunity to state their case just as the others will state their case. I was glad to hear from Sheikh Sahib that he had decided to invite both the Jana Sangh and the Congress.

 

Sheikh Sahib and I talked about my press conference of which I will make a separate note.

 

4th of July 1968.

 

Beg Sahib, Shamim Ahmed Shamim and Prem Nath Bazaz came in the morning to wish us goodbye. We left by Caravelle plane at 12.40 p.m. for Delhi.

 

(ICWA: mimeographed).