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Hawala Reveals Security Lapse

BETWEEN THE LINES

Kuldip Nayar writes from New Delhi
***What did the confessions sayf Which was the hand that fed militants and politicians at the same timet Why did government try to hush up the whole thing! The Solicitor General has admitted that 'unfortunately' there was a gap in the investigationsNOBODY Is more aware of security angle In the hawala than Prime Minister Narasimha Rao It was early 1991 when the first case Involving militant groups in Kashmir came to light The arrested reportedly admitted a series of foreign financed steps to disturb Jammu and Kashmir. Still Rao has not taken the nation into' confidence. Nor has parliament been told anything.
Understandably, the focus had to be on cases of corruption against ministers and others. But little has been heard about the militants whose confessions had led to the seizure of diaries and notebooks, listing the recipients of illegal money from London. In the wake of peo-. pie’s horror over the disclosures. the motive of those who sent money and those who received it has got pushed into the background.
One Ishfaque Hussain Lone of Srinagar, deputy chief of intelligence' of the Hizbul Mujahideen, a militant group in kashmir, was trapped in Delhi on March 25, 1991 after police was tipped off. Twenty three bank drafts drawn in favour of 22 persons — payable at the Jammu and Kashmir bank branches — and cash, all totalling Rs 16 lakh, was recovered from him. The startling information was that he turned out to be a conduit for money to various militant organisations. The three letters found from him revealed plans to increase militancy in Kashmir.
Two days later, on March 27. one Shahbuddin Ghauri, a student of the Jawaharlal Nehru University, at one time parading as a human rights activist, was arrested. He would collect money and give
it to Ishfaque Hussain for distribution among militants
Investigations showed that money was collected from Shambhu Dayal Sharma, a dealer in Bombay, who received large amounts through the haUala channels. The person in London who transmitted money was Dr Mohammed Ayub. He was the Ktron of Islamic Jamaat-i-iba (LIT) when he was liv Ing in Shopian. near Srlna gar. some years ago.
. Sharma's arrest led to the custody of four more persons: Moolchand SampatraJ Shah. Mohammed Shahid. Rais An war and Nand Kishore The Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI), which had by this time taken charge of the case. opposecT the ball of all the five. Yet the court let them off The government detained them under TADA.
They are the ones who blurted out the information, which led to the raids of the premises of Surinder Jain, his cousin and his manager. Janender Jain Two diaries and two notebooks were seized from one place. Those documents have turned out to be most disparaging
The entires in the diaries relate to the accounts maintained in the regular course of business. And the accounts show that between April 1988 and March 1991. nearly Rs 50 crore were brought by the frontmen of militants to India through hawala channels and paid to various Important people, as many as 151, including ministers and leaders of political parties
Probably, it was too hot a brick to hold. The govern ment closed the investigation in March 1991 after filing a chargeshret against Ishfaque Hussain Lone and Shahbuddin Ghauri. The others were shown as absconders. There was no mention of diaries and notebooks In the chargesheet
Ram Jethmalanl, a lawyer and a member of the Rajya Sabha, wrote to the Prime Minister on August 28. 1993, and 'Finance Minister Man-
mohan Singh on August 30. drawing their attention to the financing of militants in Kashmir and urging the two to disclose what was it all about He did not receive any reply from either of them Four days later, he held a press conference in Delhi where he demanded a thor ough probe The governrrtent still did not react However, on October 4. 1993, a writ £etltion was filed in the
upreme Court, thanks to the relentless pressure by two Journalists
After four years of wran gllng In the Supreme Court some cases have been filed and those too because the three-Judge bench took the CBI to task many a time One
typical remark made by Justice S P Barucha was The way the agency has func tloned in the matter does not • match with the facts of the case If there is any doubt in anybody's mind, then let it be clear that I am myself left with a feeling that a lot more should have been done in the matter."
It is obvious that left to Rao. he would have deferred the whole matter till after the polls. But the bench really pushed the CBI which, in
turn, reportedly told the prime minister s office that it could not delay the filing of cases any further Congress party spokesman V N Gadgil has admitted that the gov ernment was forced', who should be chargesheeted first was Rao's own decision and It is he who selected the three ministers and seven politi clans
Everyone is surprised how the name of V C Shukla came to be Included because he Is among the moat loyal persons to Rao. This was probably done to counter the charge that Rao had not Initiated ac tion against his own men While implCTnenting the Ka-maraj plan for cleansing poil-tlcs in 1962. Jawaharlal
Nehru changed most cabinet ministers and chief ministers. He also dropped his favourite. Lal Bahadur Shastri, to give the impression that he was making no distinction.
It is clear that those who passed on money to the Indian politicians were financing militants in Kashmir as well. This suggests some sort of link, it provides the nation with sufficient evidence that the funding of militants and the leading politicians was from the same source. This has serious ramifications. The very thought is disturbing. Since all those who made confessions are behind bars under TADA, any further in-formation is not possible.
What did the confessions say9 Which was the hand that fed militants and politicians at the same time? Why did government try to hush up the whole thing? The Solicitor General has admitted that unfortunately' there was a gap in the investigations between June 1991 and February 1993.
Those and many other questions are valid. The government must answer them. The nation is extremely perturbed that its elected representatives have been found receiving Illegal money from abroad. Still more disturbing is the fact that the money meant for militants was reaching politicians. Could there be a nexus between the two?
It Is the militants’ connection that has made foreign money coming to politicians tainted. Otherwise, they
have been accepting funds from foreign sources for a long time. The flow increases before the polls. The CBI has held in the past an Inquiry into the "nature and extent of foreign money received". It has found that many countries provide funds to political parties through "overt and covert" channels
The Home Ministry, too. examined the report. Its conclusion was that "several countries have been providing financial assistance for diverse activities " What was particularly noticed was that "financial assistance from Russian and American sources has been more sustained and much larger as compared to such assistance from other countries."
Some people fear lest the allegations against top politicians should weaken people’s faith in. the system. In tact, the effect is opposite. There is an added confidence in the system, which although reeking with corruption, has come to acquire a mechanism. which public spirited peesons. Journalists and others can activate to cleanse the stable.
The Prime Minister may have tried to make political capital out of corruption. But he Is hoisted on his own petrad. He has sacrificed Congress party and its men to cover up his own acts of omission and commission. The uproar against him is under stand able.
It is too early to say what will be the historians' verdict on him and his regime which is repfete with the examples of scandals and scams. However, the disconcerting part is that while trying to hide corruption, he has been covering’ up the security lapses as well.