SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir Governor Gen (retd) K.V.Krishan Rao believes that a peaceful solution to the Hazratbal crisis will be a major step towards the normalization of the Kashmir problem.
In an interview, Governor Rao said that he was against the storming of the shrine to flush out militants from the start. “If wanted, I would have launched it and the Operation would have been over in half an hour,” he said.
He had ruled it out from the beginning, that is, the night of Oct.15 when the BSF laid the cordon around the shrine complex on information that militants had broken two locks leading to the holy relic, and were tampering with a third, “Thad to take into consideration the psyche of the people,” he said. “In such an operation, damage (to the shrine) could have taken place, and it would have been very bad for us.”
Instead, he chose the soft option, “If I can do this peacefully, it’ll be of great advantage to us, and help our efforts.” He pointed out that one of the biggest problems in the Kashmir Valley was the lineation of the people from the Government, and that a settlement would help restore confidence in the authorities.
So far, he felt his decision had been correct. “I am satisfied with the people’s response,” he said, noting that the last two Fridays had passed off with only minor gathering taking place.
The Governor said that the crisis had arisen as part of the militants attempts to undermine the Government’s recent success in its efforts to break the back of militancy. He pointed out that during the last eight months in particular, the Government had intensified the pressure on the militants to the extent that they had become rattled.
He scotched rumors that his security adviser, Gen M.A Zaki, had resigned because of difference on how to tackle the situation.
Article extracted from this publication >> November 12, 1993
