NEW DELHI: The Janata Dal denied that the National Front government had pressurized the Farooq Abdullah government to release five men for securing the release of the daughter of home minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed.
Commenting on the Congress (1) president, Rajiv Gandhi’s statement that the Centre had put pressure on the state government to release the militants, the Janata Dal spokesman, S. Jaipal Reddy, told reporters here that Gandhi had no moral right to speak on the question of Kashmir.
The problem existing in Kashmir today had been created by the Rajiv Gandhi regime during the past five years, he said adding that the problem was not there five years back.
Five top militants belonging to the separatist Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front were freed last week in exchange for the release of Rubiya Sayeed, the home minister’s daughter.
Reddy termed as “ridiculous” the claim by Gandhi that, his government had brought Punjab near a solution. He said it showed that he had not learnt a lesson from the results of the just concluded elections.
During his five years’ tenure, the Punjab problem, had “aggravated terribly,” Reddy said adding “his policy of shortcut and quick fixes had got Punjab bogged down in the morass of deeper.
Article extracted from this publication >> December 29, 1989
