JAMMU (PTH): Governor of Kashmir General (Reid) K.V.Krishna Rao on July 14 Challenged Muslim militants fighting for Secession in the valley to test their popularity among the masses by contesting elections.
The former chief of India’s armed forces however said at a public meeting in the border district of Rajouri on Tuesday that they would first have to bid farewell to arms through which they have terrorized the people.
He said it was Strange that those who Claimed to have mass support were afraid of the ballot and whenever moves were made to initiate political process and hold elections, militants and their mentors across the border thwarted the process by escalating violence.
Gen Rao said main reason for the militants to oppose the elections was that the people were not with them though they were trying to suppress popular voice with the gun.
“Thad during by visits to different areas of the stale come across the people who gave me accounts of their tales of woes and atrocities Committed by the militants at the behest of Pakistan,” he said. The people, he said, were demanding that the militants should be rooted out from the Valley, which was known for peace, love and communal harmony in accordance with the teachings of great “Sufis and Saints.”
He assured people that if militants did not surrender or leave the path of violence, death or jail awaited them.
Earlier, talking to various political delegations in Noweshra town, the governor said that after elections (o assembly, elections would be held for local bodies and Panchayats.
Reiterating his announcement about holding early elections 10 the state assembly after restoring the normalcy in the state, he said “there is no substitute for democratic rule, which we are all striving for.
The northemmost state of Jammu and Kashmir, the only state in India with Muslim majority, has been the bone of contention between India and Pakistan ever since the ruler of the state, Maharaja Hari Singh, signed the instrument of accession after independence in 1947.
The rival countries have fought two wars over the picturesque valley.
Article extracted from this publication >> July 23, 1993
