ADVANI'S ABOUTTURN ON J&K GOVT CONSULTING IB

From Jal Khambata

NEW DELHI, Nov 26: Within 24 hours of stout denial, Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani sought to admit indirectly that the Jammu and Kashmir Government certainly consulted the central intelligence agency before releasing certain persons.

The admission came from him at the closed-door meeting of the BJP MPs, chaired by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, here Tuesday morning. He, however, sought to stress that these were "informal" (anopcharik) discussions and such discussions "did not mean consultation with the Central Government."

As such in a way he was right in asserting in Parliament on Monday that the State Government had held no talks with the Centre with regard to releasing of terrorists and other decisions, Advani said while pointing out that anyone saying that the Centre's consent was obtained was totally wrong.

He was quoted by party spokesman Prof. Vijay Kumar Malhotra stressing that informal discussions that the government holds with the intelligence agencies should not be made public as the Congress had tried to do quoting the chief minister to score points.

Advani said the intelligence agencies had, in fact, alerted the Centre about the Mufti Government's move to set free errorits and as such the Union Home Secretary had shot off a letter to the state government not to take any steps in haste. He said some persons were released despite the intelligence agency suggesting not to do so.

He said he had also publicly suggested that a screening committee be set up by the J&K Government to review the cases and release only those against whom no serious charges were levelled.

Pointing out that the Centre is ever ready to help the state government in stopping the cross-border terrorism, Advani said it did not mean the Centre want to interfere in the state administration in any way but it would certainly like the Chief Minister to take care (savdhani barte).

Prof. Malhotra, who briefed the Media after the BJP Parliamentary Party meeting, said MPs pointed out at the meeting that a fear psychosis has gripped the security personnel from the declaration of Chief Minister Mufti Mohd Sayeed that his government would institute probe into all human right violations in the past.

Frightened that any steps they take against the terrorists may in future be dubbed as human right violations, the security agencies are not able to fight back terrorists effectively, Prof. Malhotra said.

He also took offence to Congress President Sonia Gandhi challenging the Centre with regard to release of some persons detained in Jammu and Kashmir. He claimed Sonia thrice challenged the Centre with words like "how dare" and said it only showed how "immature" she was in making such statements. END