JAMMU: The Governor, Gen K.V. Krishna Rao, is said to have started befriending a former Kashmir Chief Minister, Dr. Farooq Abdullah, in order to mellow down the campaign against the Governor in Delhi’s corridors of power.
General Rao has kept the doors of Raj Bhawan open for Dr. Abdullah and whenever the National Conference President desires a meeting with the Governor it is granted within minutes. Informed sources say that the two, who had fallen out during the past one year, have renewed their friendship. This is apparent from the way Dr. Abdullah has toned down his criticism of the Governor in public and private circles, He is, no doubt, highly critical of the maladministration and corruption in the state but he has stopped blaming the Governor for it. Sources close to Dr. Abdullah say that the former Chief Minister has started accusing senior bureaucrats, including the Advisers to the Governor, of “misleading and misinforming” General Rao whom he describes as a gentleman. At a couple of recent meetings with the Governor, Dr. Abdullah is said to have told General Rao of the need for adopting a two point program. First. The security forces are told to intensify vigilance on the Line of Actual Control and develop a better mechanism for checking infiltration and arms smuggling from across the border. According to the National Conference circles, the party leadership has come as arms smuggling and infiltration of trained militants, including foreign mercenaries, from across the border continue insurgency is unlikely to be curbed.
Secondly, Dr. Abdullah has emphasized the need for revamping the entire administration so as to ensure that corrupt and antinational elements in the state are either weeded out or given innocuous posts.
General Rao, according to informed sources, has again requested the Center to send additional companies of the paramilitary forces to the state for’ intensifying ant insurgency operations. In this connection he has’ informed the Amy chief of the need for deployment of additional’ troops on the border with Pakistan for the specific purpose of checking infiltration and arms smuggling. The government has received reports that already over 1,000 Kashmiri youths had crossed over to Pakistan occupied Kashmin in recent weeks for arms training. They and other groups of militants, besides foreign mercenaries are to infiltrate into Jammu and Kashmir within the next two to three months. Dr. Abdullah has informed the Governor that unless the fear of the gun is removed in Kashmir the government cannot have a free and fair poll there. It is in this context that General Rao plans to ™count offensive on the militants during the winter months so that between March and May assembly elections could be ordered.
Article extracted from this publication >> December 16, 1994
