Journalist: Mr. Ambassador, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had proclaimed that solving Punjab problem would be top priority with him after the elections.
Ambassador: That’s right.
Journalist: After the elections, he started saying that there was no representative Sikh leadership with whom he could open dialogue as Akali leaders had lost their credibility with the Sikh masses.
Ambassador: Very correct.
Journalist: Now that Baba Joginder Singh has emerged as the undisputed leader and has nominated a nine member Committee headed by S. Simranjit Singh Mann, will the government release Sardar Mann and other members of the committee and start dialogue with it?
Ambassador: Not in national interest to disclose.
Journalist: Mr. Ambassador, freedom of press is the most important feature of a democracy.
Ambassador: That’s right.
Journalist: Major Indian Newspapers are not directly owned by the government. In fact the big industrial houses run most of the important newspapers.
Ambassador: Very correct.
Journalist: How is it that all these newspapers with the solitary exception of Indian Express invariably tow government line? Is it because government has given some monopoly rights in the field of production and trade to the industrial houses that own these papers?
Ambassador: Not in national interest to disclose.
Journalist: Mr. Ambassador, Mr. Qayyum’s All Jammu and Kashmir National Conference has emerged as the single largest party in the Azad Kashmir elections with 18 out of 40 seats and it claims the support of 4 independent members also.
Ambassador: That’s right.
Journalist: Mr. Qayyum has announced that the first task of his government would be to liberate the whole of Jammu and Kashmir from Indian occupation and integrate it with Pakistan. He has also said that they would do it through peaceful means.
Ambassador: Very correct.
Journalist: Since government of India considers Azad Kashmir as Indian territory, won’t it declare Mr. Qayyum and his party as terrorists and separatists and send the Indian Army to flush out these antinational elements from the Indian soil? Why is Parliament and press ignoring this open ‘revolt’? of Mr. Qayyum and instead wasting their energies in running down Sikhs and projecting their constitutional demands as antinational and their struggle as separatist?
Ambassador: Not in national interest to disclose
Article extracted from this publication >> May 24, 1985
