NEW DELHI: The Center is trying to persuade sections of the All ‘Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) to participate in the proposed elections to the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, Union Home Minister S.B.Chavan said on Oct.10. Mr.Chavan also advised former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah not to persist in his threats to boycott polls unless autonomy was #ranted, saying that Dr. Abdullah Would otherwise end up out in the Cold like the Akali Dal after the 1992 Punjab elections. The Home Minister, in addition, disclosed that it was unlikely that instantly International and the International Committee of the Red Cross (CRG) would be allowed a Visit the Valley till after the polls were over. 4 I’m not opposed to allowing Amnesty into the Valley provided they’ll report objectively,” the Home Minister, “That situation, however, is not there.”
He was also willing to allow the TERG visit the Valley so long as their reports were not published, At the moment, the Home Minister was not certain of the ICRC’s motives “It’s all right to study prison conditions, but when you ‘want to interview a particular detained..,””
In an interview, Mr. Chavan said that the Center was “hoping that a few members of the Hurriyat would be amenable to participating by the time the dates (to the polls) are announced.” The Home Minister, however, admitted that for the time being, the Center did not have any commitment from any of the Hurriyat members on participating in the political process.
Article extracted from this publication >> October 14, 1994
