The Hindu : International : `Sheikh Rashid was given hundreds of acres'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jun 16, 2005

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International

`Sheikh Rashid was given hundreds of acres'

B. Muralidhar Reddy

Pakistan People's Party demands a full-fledged probe into training of militants

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan People's Party (PPP) of the former Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto, has alleged that Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed was given hundreds of acres by the government for `training' Kashmiris.

Commenting on the `statement' by Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief Yasin Malik that when the armed struggle in Kashmir was raging Sheikh Rashid set up a camp for training armed militants, a PPP spokesman said that in 1989 the PPP Government learnt that the ISI, without clearance from the government, had given to the then opposition member Sheikh Rashid hundreds of acres of prime land in the suburban areas of the federal capital for support to the Kashmiri groups.

The spokesman said the PPP Government was however sceptical of the claim.

But as the military was under the President, there was little the Government of the day could do about it constitutionally.

The PPP said the training camp story was nothing more than a decoy to divert state funds to favoured political leaders to overthrow democracy, he said.

Call for inquiry

"Now that the beans have been spilled, a full-fledged inquiry should be held to know how much training of militants actually took place. If only a small part was spent on training and the bulk on other activities, it would make it clear that land was given for some collateral purposes," he said.

Former Interior Minister Naseerullah Babar said Sheikh Rashid was not speaking the truth in denying the "assertion" by Mr. Malik that he had been running training camps for militant Kashmiris.

Maj. Gen.Babar said that in 1989, Mr. Rashid had confessed to running a training-cum-refugee camp for the Kashmiris at Tarnol near here.

Mr. Rashid's press statement was on record, which was not denied to this day, he said.

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`Sheikh Rashid was given hundreds of acres'