Brutal killing of Indian diplomat Ravindra Mhatre resurrects Kashmir issue once again

Ravindra MhatreSandwiched between two clothing stores at 86 New Street in Birmingham, the Indian consulate is not an easy place to find in this teeming industrial town. The only clues are the tricolour fluttering in the brisk February air from a second floor receptacle and a brass plate outside the doors that directs visitors upstairs.Nonetheless, it is conveniently enough situated for the city's large Asian immigrant population. (The Pakistan Consulate is just down the road and Air-India has a regular flight direct from India.)Friday, February 3, had been a quiet day at the consulate. Deputy Commissioner Baldev Kohli was away in London attending a farewell reception for Dr Syed Mohammed, the Indian high commissioner who was due to retire in a few days. The official in charge, Ravindra Mhatre, 49, assistant commissioner, was a man it was possible to set stopwatches by. A stern creature of habit, Mhatre clocked in and out of the office with metronomic exactness.Rigid Routine: This Friday was no different. At precisely 5 p.m., Mhatre, a red lunch box tucked under his arm, emerged from the glass doors of the consulate office just in time to catch the same bus he had taken every working evening for the 18 months he had been in Birmingham. It was a bare two-mile run to his destination in the suburb of Bartley Green from where he strolled the few hundred yards to his terraced house.(map inset below) photofit of the possible abductor of Mhatre: Victim of terrorismHe never got there. At 7 p.m., his anxious wife Shobha frantically dialled the consulate only to be told that her husband had left at his usual hour. In desperation, she then telephoned Kohli in London, who calmed her down and promised to look into the matter. But being familiar with Mhatre's fastidious ways, he knew something was seriously wrong.He waited till 9 p.m. and then alerted the Birmingham police. According to him, at first the Birmingham police took little notice. It was only on Saturday morning, when there was still no trace of the missing diplomat, that they started checking hospitals and lonely roads in case Mhatre had met with an accident.He had. But it was no accident. At 3 a.m. on Saturday, a sleepy night editor at the international news agency Reuters office in London vs Fleet Street was jerked into wakefulness by a hand-delivered message signed by a group calling itself the Kashmir Liberation Army (KLA). The message, riddled with grammatical errors, tersely stated that they had kidnapped an Indian diplomat and would kill him unless their demands were met.The demands included the release of Maqbool Butt, the "Azad Kashmir" extremist and agent provocateur awaiting the death sentence in Delhi's Tihar jail for murder, arson and anti-national activities; two of his accomplices guilty of hijacking an Indian Airlines aircraft to Lahore in 1971, and seven other Kashmiris arrested during the violence at last year's one-day cricket match in Srinagar against the West Indies. The third demand on the list was for a ransom of pound 1 million (Rs 1.5 crore). The deadline was 7 p.m. on Saturday - 16 hours away. Tragically, since the message did not specify which city or even country the kidnapping had taken place in, the connection with Mhatre's disappearance was not made till much later.Mhatre's office (left) and his Birmingham house: Numbing tragedyAmateur Methods: The Reuters man had every reason to dismiss the message as a crank letter: the bad English, the fact that the KLA had never been heard of, that no contact address or telephone number was given and no news of an Indian diplomat having been kidnapped had come in. Terrorists who make demands need instant communication channels to apply their peculiar brand of psychological pressure. In this case, the KLA either didn't know the rules or had no intention of negotiating.Despite the obvious amateurishness, the Reuters man was intrigued enough to contact Scotland Yard's Special Branch and pass on the contents of the message. Since the Birmingham 'missing man' report had still not come in, it was not till much later that morning that the manhunt was eventually launched. By then, the KLA had made their second contact.This time, they called Zubair Ansari, secretary-general of the Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) in Birmingham, one of the better known of the handful of fringe groups in Europe supposedly fighting for an independent Kashmir it is also known as the Jammu & Kashmir National Liberation Front (JKNLF). Butt, the man whose release was the first of their demands, was one of its co-founders. A rough-sounding voice asked Ansari how their demands were being responded to and authorised him to negotiate on their behalf. As before, they gave no contact number or address. Stalling Tactics: Ansari informed the police who put a tap on the phone. The kidnappers called twice again and as instructed by the police, Ansari, on one occasion, was able to push the deadline back by three hours, till 10 p.m., Saturday night, when Mhatre and his wife were meant to be quietly celebrating the 14th birthday of their only daughter, Asha.(Clockwise from top left) JKLF's Ansari in his Birmingham office; Hamid Diwani in jail in Pakistan after the 1976 hijack and Hashim Qureshi: Links with KLA terrorists?The kidnappers, meanwhile, made their last known contact. Shortly after 10 p.m., the telephone rang again in the dilapidated house in an Asian area of Birmingham that serves as Ansari's office-cum-residence. "It looks as if you people have not taken it seriously," said the voice, "now you will have to face the consequences."The seriousness of that threat was brutally evident on Sunday evening. More than 48 hours after the kidnapping, Joyce Tallis turned into the drive of her farm in Hinckley, Leicestershire, some 40 miles from Birmingham, and braked sharply. Her headlights had picked out the body of an elderly man sprawled in the concrete driveway. He had been shot twice in the head and the body.Identification of the body as Mhatre was only a grim formality and earned him the dubious distinction of being the only Indian diplomat to be killed by terrorists. Shock Waves: Back in India, news of the slaying sent shock waves through South Block and the rest of the country. At first, it appeared that the Indian Government had bungled the whole affair by not treating it seriously enough. But later investigations revealed that the activity had indeed been considerable. Below is a reconstruction of the happenings in South Block after the news of Mhatre's kidnapping was received. Saturday 4 p.m. (IST): Telephone call from London High Commission to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) informing them of the missing diplomat. The message was given to Romesh Bhandari, the senior-most MEA official present (Foreign Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao and Foreign Secretary M.K. Rasgotra were out of Delhi as was Prime Minister Indira Gandhi).Saturday 4.15 p.m: Attempt made to inform prime minister who was in the air at the time en route to Gauhati. She was given the news when she landed.Saturday 4.20 p.m: Members of Crisis Management Group contacted and informed of the situation. The group included (apart from the prime minister, foreign minister and foreign secretary) Principal Secretary P.C. Alexander, Cabinet Secretary Krishnaswamy Rao Saheb, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee (for possible ransom demand), Intelligence Adviser R.N. Kao and the chiefs of raw and the Intelligence Bureau (IB). It was agreed to meet at 9.30 p.m that night. Saturday 5 p.m: Bhandari contacts the British High Commission in New Delhi for use of their communication channels to London and asks on behalf of the Government to convey to the British Home Office the seriousness of the situation. Amanullah Khan addressing JKLF meeting in BirminghamSaturday 9.30 p.m:Crisis Management Group meets and is given latest information. Decision taken to send MEA official Gauri Shankar and senior IB officer to London. Agreement reached that only alternative is to play for time. Intelligence heads report no information available on KLA but its links with JKLF is distinct possibility.Sunday 12.30 a.m: Meeting ends with decision to reassemble at 12.30 on Sunday afternoon. Indian high commissioner ordered to stay on in London and postpone his departure indefinitely.Sunday 12.30 p.m: Group meets again and given updated information and latest state of Scotland Yard investigations. Mhatre still untraced. IB reports from Kashmir offer no clues. Birmingham consulate and London high commission contacted. Since identity of kidnappers a mystery, no negotiations possible but decision taken that it would best be left to British authorities to track down kidnappers.Sunday 2 p.m: Meeting breaks up.Monday 7 a.m: News arrives that Mhatre has been shot and his body discovered.Monday 9 a.m: Crisis Group meets again and makes certain recommendations to prime minister including possibility of Pakistan involvement.Monday 10 a.m: Emergency meeting of Cabinet Committee for Political Affairs (CCPA) with Mrs Gandhi in the chair. Decision taken to hang Butt as soon as legally possible. Official dispatched to Calcutta to obtain President Zail Singh's signature on rejection of Butt's mercy petition. Second official, Home Ministry trouble-shooter P.P. Nayyar, sent to Kashmir to clear legal obstacles and obtain black warrant. Intelligence heads agree that Mhatre's killing is not random and more such attacks can be expected. Party pamphlet (right) which carried a letter from the Pakistan ambassador: Anti-India crusadeInstructions sent to all diplomatic missions to tighten security. Decision taken to invite Akali leaders for talks to reduce possibility of Punjab extremists adopting similar tactics. Crackdown on Kashmir extremists to be intensified.On February 11, on a chilly winter morning in Delhi, Maqbool Butt took his final steps to the gallows and was hanged, a martyr to a questionable cause. But several vital questions still remained. Who or what is the KLA? Why Mhatre? And, more important, why now? It is perhaps too early for definite answers to any of the questions but there are pointers in plenty. For one, Mhatre was an ideal target. As a relatively junior diplomat, he was not entitled to personal police protection. As a man of fastidious habits, his movements were predictable to the minute.Two women, one a 26-year-old housewife and the other a football pools collector, have informed the police that a man answering Mhatre's description was grabbed by three men in a red car near the bus stop at Bartley Green at around 6 p.m on Friday. All indications point to the kidnappers being residents of Birmingham or at least familiar with the city. Birmingham serves as a base for a number of groups apart from the JKLF who are supporters of an independent Kashmir. (There are over 15,000 Kashmiris settled in Birmingham). IB files list six such groups, of which five are dismissed as "dormant", the sixth being the JKLF.Assistant Chief Constable Tom Meffin, who is heading the team of 100 detectives working on the case, said that the position of the body suggested that the car was travelling from Leicestershire to Birmingham rather than the other way around. Leicestershire also has a large Kashmiri population. Some confusion was added to the investigations when Mhatre's bus pass was found on the London to Sheffield railway line some 20 miles north of where his body was found which raised the unlikely possibility of Mhatre and his abductors having travelled by train.The Indian Government has not ruled out the possible involvement of the JKLF, or JKLF members acting on their own. JKLF President Amanullah Khan was picked up by Scotland Yard and held for questioning in the Mhatre case along with Hashim Qureshi, president of the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir branch of the organisation. JKLF anti-Indian demonstration in London's Hyde Park: Rabidly anti-IndianThough Khan and Qureshi were subsequently released, the latter's involvement is significant. He was one of the two JKLF men who hijacked an Indian Airlines aircraft to Lahore in 1971. Butt was at Lahore airport to receive them. The aircraft was blown up and the two hijackers were jailed.Significant Clues: Qureshi, according to Indian intelligence reports, was released in 1980. Significantly, he flew into London from Pakistan 10 days before the Mhatre murder and was staying with Amanullah Khan at his Luton residence. Reports from London indicate that he was seen in Birmingham around the time of Mhatre's abduction. There are also reports that another prominent JKLF activist, Abdul Hamid Diwani, one of the six Kashmiri youths who hijacked another Indian Airlines aircraft to Lahore in 1976, is also believed to have slipped into London.All this seems to suggest that the so-called KLA has closer links to the JKLF than either of them cared to admit. The JKLF was founded by Azad Kashmir immigrants in 1976 in Birmingham. Its membership combined that of two parent extremist groups, the Plebiscite Front and the Azad Kashmir Front. The JKLF was founded to give one single expression to the voice of independent Kashmir in Britain. However, Indian intelligence reports indicate that the JKLF has pro-Pakistan leanings and has offices in Islamabad, and Mirpur and Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir apart from its headquarters in Birmingham. Butt's connections with Pakistan's military intelligence are strongly established.The KLA and the JKLF share the same goal: independence for Kashmir or the integration of the entire state with Pakistan. Central to the JKLF's periodic demands and letters to the UN and Amnesty International has been the release of Maqbool Butt.Active Group: Of all the Kashmir extremist groups, the JKLF has been the most vociferous and active. Indian intelligence agencies say they have proof that the JKLF has been and still is funded by the Pakistan Government. Whatever the truth of that, it has received official verbal support from Pakistan on numerous occasions. One month before the Indian Airlines aircraft was hijacked to Lahore in 1976, Mumtaz Dultana, then Pakistan ambassador in London, sent an official letter to the JKLF expressing support for the "struggle of the people of Jammu and Kashmir for the full and final vindication of their rights".The current chain of events that climaxed in the Mhatre murder appears to have originated last September both in India and in the UK, though the events in the two countries were unrelated. In September, the Indian Government issued instructions to the IB in Kashmir to prepare dossiers and pinpoint the locations of all known extremists. In October, a number of them were arrested in connection with the disturbances during the India-West Indies cricket match. Significantly, one of those arrested was Iqbal Qureshi, younger brother of Hashim Qureshi. Then, on January 26, the Indian Government ordered a crackdown. Over the next few days, at least 60 people were arrested, all suspected leaders or key officials of extremist organisations. Hashim Qureshi arrived in London just after the arrests started. The arrests ended on February 2. On February 3, Mhatre was kidnapped.The coincidences stretch further. Six months ago, the JKLF in England split into two factions. The cause of the fissure is believed to be a dispute over whether the Front should get tougher in pursuit of its goals. Since then, the Amanullah faction has kept in the limelight.The other, led by Zabar Butt and referred to in Indian intelligence files as the "Bani" group, has kept a low profile.New Militancy: In early January, the Amanullah group issued another of its periodic demands for an independent Kashmir from its Luton office. But this time, the language and tone was more radical than it has been before. However, JKLF stoutly denies any links with the Mhatre killing. Last fortnight, Zubaid Ansari told India Today's Bonny Mukherjee: "I cannot say why our organisation's name was on the letter sent to Reuters. I am positive that none of our people are connected with this business."But the Zabar Butt group has remained silent. Informed sources in London say that the Butt group has objected to the autocratic behaviour of Amanullah Khan and Ansari and have accused them of misappropriating party funds.The most credible theory, and one that the Indian Government subscribes to, is that Mhatre was killed as a reaction to the recent crackdown on extremists in Kashmir by a militant splinter group of the JKLF wanting to capture headlines. Last year, four younger members of the JKLF with British passports travelled to the Hague shortly before the Indian chancery there was burnt down. They have used every occasion to raise anti-Indian propaganda. Further fuel could have been added by reports carried by the Daily Jung, a local Urdu newspaper, alleging that the Indian army in Kashmir was victimising and even killing Kashmiris. In November 1977, the JKLF sent the Indian high commissioner, N.G. Goray, a tape-recorded message threatening to kill him unless Butt was released. Constant Protests: Apart from the steady stream of memos and letters to the UN, Non-aligned meetings, Islamic summits and Amnesty International drawing attention to their cause, they staged an anti-India demonstration in 1982 when Mrs Gandhi was in Copenhagen and again in March 1982 in London when Mrs Gandhi arrived there for the Festival of India inauguration.The question of why Mhatre is also possibly linked to the fact that he was based in Birmingham and the character of the Kashmiri population in Britain. Over 90 per cent of the Kashmiri population are Azad Kashmiris, mainly from Mirpur in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Their sympathies over the Kashmir issue are strongly in favour of Pakistan and the kidnappers would be assured of support from the local Kashmiri population in Birmingham. The Kashmiri population in Britain is estimated at 1 lakh spread over Birmingham, Leicester, Coventry, Bradford and Bolton.In fact, after the murder of Mhatre, several Kashmiri organisations in Birmingham acclaimed the killers as heroes. Birmingham is also an ideal recruiting centre for activists. There is a high level of unemployment among young Asians in and around Birmingham and many of them have dropped out of school because of language problems. Most first generation immigrants have maintained close links with political organisations back home and many of their children, facing a sense of rejection in Britain, have channelled their frustrations into the politics of their parents' homeland, the only cause they can identify with. Added to this is the fact that Britain has now replaced Paris as the last refuge of exiles and dissident flotsam. The British Government has adopted the policy of allowing exiled dissident political groups to operate with the same freedom permitted political parties.Pakistani Reactions: In Pakistan itself, as India Today's Bhabani Sen Gupta reports from Islamabad, Butt's execution and the Mhatre murder created few visible ripples except among student groups and Kashmiris. In Karachi, the Indian Consulate has been stoned but the tightly-controlled press played down the events. Some protesters have been arrested including Javed Butt, son of Maqbool. Government officials have admitted to receiving a steady stream of telegrams, letters and petitions and even verbal pressure to take up the issue but the issue is obviously being kept low key. The Government has decided to let Abdul Rehman, president of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, express Kashmiri feelings.However, the Pakistani authorities are obviously in no mood to allow any kind of student activism at this stage. On February 10, a day before Butt was hanged, all student unions in Punjab and later Sind, were banned under a martial law ordinance. In addition, the ruling regime is not anxious to add to the current tensions in Indo-Pakistan relations. Officially, the Kashmir issue no longer excites the* Pakistanis. They are not prepared to accept the cease-fire line as legitimate. They realise for all practical purposes, the division of Kashmir is a fact of life.Last week, President Zia told Indian participants in a South Asia Regional Conference in Islamabad that a no-war pact between the two countries would not substitute or bypass the Simla Agreement which Pakistan continued to support. Perhaps for the first time Zia categorically stated that a no-war pact would apply as much to Jammu & Kashmir as to the rest of the Indo-Pakistan border. That does not mean that Pakistan recognised the cease-fire line and the line of actual control as legitimate but that India and Pakistan should avoid adding a warlike solution to the dispute.Official Views: That, however, is not how the Indian Government sees it. The present thinking in top circles in both the MEA and the Defence Ministry is that Pakistan may not be such an innocent bystander as Islamabad is trying to make it seem. There is suspicion in the minds of the people who matter in the Indian Government that Pakistan is possibly behind the recent trouble in Kashmir, Assam and Punjab - all sensitive border states.Along with the suspicion is the more disturbing talk of another war with Pakistan on the horizon. Senior officials in the MEA and the Defence Ministry are discussing just such an eventuality. For quite some time now, Mrs Gandhi has been talking about a "foreign hand" wanting to destablise India. Rajiv Gandhi's statement, just before the Mhatre killing, that Pakistan might attack India within a year is not just born out of political expediency but reflects what is currently being talked about in high-level government circles.Relations between India and Pakistan continue to be tense especially after the Mhatre murder. There are many pinpricks which can provoke either of them to resort to an extreme step. Which is good reason for great caution. The swiftness with which Maqbool Butt's fate was sealed following the Mhatre murder may have raised hackles in Kashmir. But it is suggestive of a new decisiveness that was seen to be lacking in Mrs Gandhi's actions in the recent past.The tribunals are getting down to work in Assam. The Government is resuming talks with the Akalis. Trouble-makers were promptly arrested in Jammu & Kashmir. It seems Mrs Gandhi is beginning to act at last. The strategy is clearly to neutralise the possible internal trouble spots like Assam, Punjab and Kashmir by softening the stand while at the same time taking quick and decisive action agair extremist activity. In Kashmir, that has begun and Punjab is the next target. If the strategy is successful even in some measure, Ravindra Mhatre will not have died in vain.- Dilip Bobb with Bonny Mukherjee in Birmingham, Karan Thapar in London and Bhabani Sen Gupta in IslamabadPublished By: AtMigration Published On: Feb 29, 1984 00:00 IST--- ENDS ---

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Brutal killing of Indian diplomat Ravindra Mhatre resurrects Kashmir issue once again

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