NEW DELHI: The coordination committee on Kashmir representing 16 organizations dubbed as “highly misleading and one-sided” the recent report of the Press Council of India on Kashmir which they said exonerated the army of all charges in the Poshpura outrage case.
Addressing a press conference here committee chairman Justice V.MTarkunde said the council’s report entitled “Kashmir crisis and credibility” consisted of “broad generalities on the basis of defective investigation into only two or three instances of excesses alleged to have been committed by army personnel”.
“Even that part of the Press Council committee’s report which deals with the alleged army excesses is heavily one-sided. It reads like a special pleading for the army” Tarkunde said.
He said his observation was based on a report of the sub-committee appointed by the coordination committee on Kashmir which consisted of persons who had visited Jammu and Kashmir after January 1990 on behalf of various human rights bodies.
Apart from Tarkunde on the other subcommittee members consisted of Amrik Singh Inder Mohan Dinesh Mohan and N.D-Pancholi.
The Delhi-based coordination committee on Kashmir has raised serious doubts about the credibility of the conclusions drawn by the Press Council of India in its recent report on Kashmir crisis.
The report was submitted by a three member committee at the behest of the Press Council of India. It consisted of noted journalist B.G. Verghese and Vikram Rao. The third member Jamuna Das Akhtar dropped out from the team.
At a press conference here the representatives of the coordination committee criticized council report for confining its terms of reference only to the armed forces. A number of human rights organizations in their report had attributed the majority of excesses to the paramilitary forces. Noted human rights activist Justice V.M.Tarkunde alleged that the press council committee simply ignored the existence of the earlier reports of these human rights organizations and refused even to meet or consult any of known activists who worked on these reports.
Justice Tarkunde also accused the press council committee for basing its conclusions on limited investigations. He said its main source of information was Govt agencies which could have twisted the facts to suit their convenience
He said the committee did not issue any public notice inviting information which could have been conducive to the fair conduct of the inquiry.
Article extracted from this publication >> September 6, 1991
