NEW DELHI: In a curiously timed interview which is sure to send shockwaves through the official and diplomatic establishment here, Pakistan’s High Commissioner to India Riaz Khokhar has accused the Indian Government of intending to rig the forthcoming polls in Kashmir.
“All elections (in Kashmir) in the past have been rigged, the present elections will be rigged and all future elections will be rigged,” he declared in the interview. Debunking the electoral process in the State as a” ‘complete fraud” which would “complicate matters further” between the two countries, Khokhar questioned the credibility of the poll exercise when “you have 600,000 troops in place and you cordon it (the State) off and bring people at gun point and not even allow international observers. “It would be a lot easier and would save the Government of a lot of money…if it were to stuff the ballot boxes in Delhi and announce any results it wants to announce,” ho declared.
He also ridiculed the Narasimha Rao Government’s policy towards his country, saying, “I a.m. not sure what your foreign policy is all about. I am sure you have a foreign policy but I haven’t discovered it.”
Coming as they do in the midst of the Indian general elections, Khokhur’s \utterances are likely to snowball into ‘4 major poll issue for the three chief contenders the Congress, the BJP and the NFLF to bandy about as campaigning reaches feverish heights in the last few days before voting.
All will be completed to react to his comments and the BJP, which has long accused Rao of reacting weakly to Pakistan’s provocations on Kashmir, can be expected to seize this opportunity to attack the Government with renewed vigor. Comparatively milder remarks by the US Ambassador to India, Frank ‘Wisner, on the fragility of the next Government, raised hackles here and political parties unanimously demanded an apology from the envoy for daring to express an opinion on the country’s internal affairs. Diplomatic observers see a ploy in Khokhar’s decision to break his unusual silence of the past several months at this time and revert to his penchant for India bashing. Khokhar was not available for comment.
According to diplomatic sources, with his tenure in New Delhi nearing completion, the Pakistan High Commissioner seems intent on bowing out with his guns blazing by sowing the seeds of confusion within the establishment here over the pending Kashmir polls, thereby putting a spoke in its wheel or at least trying to do so.
Intelligence sources point out that Pakistan has been observing the start of the electoral process in Kashmir with growing unease, a successful election in the State would spoil its game plan of getting Kashmir away from India.
Article extracted from this publication >>May 1, 1996
