NEW DELHI, Jan 30 (1996): Nearly seven months after their abduction in Kashmir, authorities have made little progress in securing the release of four Western hostages who have become pawns in the hands of armed separatists challenging India’s rule.
After several reports that the hostages were about to be released, the media too is in the dark about the fate of Paul Wells and Keith Monigam of Britain, U.S. citizen Donald Fred Hutchings and German Dirk Hasert, all of whom are being held captive by Kashmiri militants.
Press reports today from Jammu and Kashmir quoted a senior state government official saying the hostages were somewhere in Doda district, south of the Kashmir valley, and in good health.
“Otherwise the captors would have sought the services of medical personnel as they did when they had problems earlier,” says the unnamed official who is part of the crisis management group set up to secure the captives’ release.
Though State authorities lost contact with the abductors in late November, they are keeping track of their movement through informers, he adds. For several weeks after the abduction, the militant abductors were speaking to government officials almost daily on telephone or over the radio.
A spokesperson for the British High Commission in New Delhi refused to say anything. “I’m afraid there is nothing we can say. We are not speaking to the media on this. It’s too dangerous. The German and U.S. embassies will tell you the same,” he said.
The three missions are working with state authorities and have even approached militant outfits to seek the release of their nationals. Most Kashmiri separatist groups have condemned the abduction and asked the captors to free the foreigners.
The four were among a group of foreign nationals taken captive in early July while they were on a trekking holiday in the picturesque Pahalgam region in the northwestern Kashmir Himalayas. The captors from the then little-known Al Faran separatist group demanded the release of 21 jailed militants.
Al Faran set free some women and a man in the group, while another captive escaped. But Norwegian Hans Christian Ostro was unlucky. His decapitated body was found a month later near a village. The abductors warned that the others would meet a similar fate unless their demand was met.
However, the barrage of criticism from Western nations and other separatist outfits after Ostro’s killing, made Al Faran extend successive deadlines and reduce its demands. The group is now ready to accept the release of a much smaller number of their jailed colleagues and is even said to have demanded a ransom from the governments of the captives.
Indian authorities, battling the violent Kashmiri insurgency for the past six years, refuse to meet the demand and say the Al Faran is backed by Pakistani intelligence agencies who want to sabotage efforts to bring peace to the state.
Kashmir, under central rule for more than five years, is due to elect a state government in the coming months. Political observers say this is necessary to put an end to the secessionist violence which has claimed more than 12,000 lives.
New Delhi is engaged in an elaborate exercise to assess the chances of holding the polls which were disallowed in mid-January by the national Election Commission.
Last week, top central government and poll panel officials meeting to fix dates for the Kashmir elections, failed to reach a decision, except to agree that elections would be held as early as possible.
The Indian government has convened a meeting of all national political parties this week to rally support for the polls in Jammu and Kashmir. Opposition parties had opposed elections in the state at a similar meeting last year.
Political analysts say the beleaguered ruling Congress party is keen to install an elected government in Kashmir before April when national polls are due. The ruling party hopes to gain an electoral edge over rivals by flaunting this achievement.
But this will not be easy. Most of the 150-odd separatist groups oppose polls and instead want a plebiscite to determine if Kashmiris want to be ruled by India. New Delhi’s offer last year of partial political autonomy in Kashmir failed to enthuse even the moderate National Conference party, a close Congress ally.
The Conference says it will take part in the polls only if New Delhi agrees to return Kashmir to its pre-1953 status when India had a say only in the state’s defense, foreign affairs and communications. The Conference has ruled the state for most of its years in the Indian Union and New Delhi’s plan cannot succeed unless it takes part.
Analysts say a solution to the hostage crisis as well as the insurgency is linked to the strained ties between India and Pakistan, which have gone to war twice over Kashmir. The abduction triggered off yet another round of diplomatic warfare with both countries trading charges on masterminding the incident.
Pakistan disputes Kashmir’s accession to India soon after the subcontinent’s partition by departing British rulers in 1947. New Delhi refused to hold a U.N.-advised plebiscite soon after, accusing Islamabad of not meeting agreed on conditions for this.
