1989 kidnapping of Rubaiya Sayeed

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The 1989 kidnapping of Rubaiya Sayeed was an act carried out by members of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front,[1] a Kashmiri militant organization, on December 8, 1989 in Jammu and Kashmir. Rubaiya was the daughter of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, the then Home minister of India in the V. P. Singh government. The kidnappers demanded the release of five of their comrades in exchange for Rubaiya's release. The government accepted their demands and freed the jailed terrorists. Rubaiya was kidnapped within five days of her father becoming the Minister for Home Affairs (India).[2]

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[edit] Rubaiya

Rubaiya Sayeed, then 23 years old, was the unmarried third daughter of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. She was then a medical intern at Lal Ded Memorial Women’s Hospital.

[edit] Modus operandi

She was kidnapped at 3:45 p.m. on December 8, 1989, about 500 metres from her home at Nowgam when she was returning from the Lal Ded Memorial Women’s Hospital in a local mini bus. Four militants forced her out of the vehicle at gunpoint into a waiting maruti car and disappeared.

[edit] Demands of abductors and negotiations

The representatives of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front called the local newspaper Kashmir Times on phone at about 5:30 p.m. They said that their group’s mujahideen had kidnapped Dr Rubaiya Sayeed, and she would remain their hostage until the government released Sheikh Abdul Hameed, a JKLF “area commander” Ghulam Nabi Butt, younger brother of the late Maqbool Butt; Noor Muhammad Kalwal; Muhammed Altaf; and Javed Ahmed Zangar.

The editor Muhammad Sofi phoned both the Home Minister and the government to pass on the news. The chief minister Farooq Abdullah was holidaying in London. He cut short his holidays and returned to Delhi. Senior IB and police officials, including Ved Marwah, Director General of the National Security Guards, reached Srinagar before dawn the next day.

The kidnapping of a young, unmarried woman aroused great anger in Kashmir. The people thought the action was against Islam and against Kashmiriyat.

The negotiations opened through Zaffar Meraj of the Kashmir Times, while Shabnam Lone, daughter of A.B. Ghani Lone and Maulvi Abbas Ansari of the Muslim United Front were tapped as possible channels. Later, a judge of the Allahabad High Court, Moti Lal Bhat, entered the picture. A friend of Mufti, he began negotiating directly with the militants on behalf of the home minister.

At 3:30 a.m. on December 13, 1989, two Union Cabinet Ministers, Inder Kumar Gujral and Arif Mohammad Khan, personally flew into Srinagar believing that Farooq was coming in the way of a deal because Farooq held the view that abject surrender to the terrorists’ demands would open the floodgates.

But the government of V.P. Singh did not have the nerve to hold out. At 7:00 p.m. on December 13, 1989 Dr Rubaiya Sayeed was set free, two hours after the government released the five jailed militants. Thousands of young men gathered at Rajouri Kadal to take them out in a triumphant procession, but they quickly disappeared to their hideouts.

[edit] Investigation

In April 1989 the government claimed to have solved the case, after Ali Mohammad Mir, a senior government officer, was arrested and confessed during interrogation that the conspiracy was organized at the home of Mushtaq Ahmad Lone, in Chanpora; others allegedly involved included Yasin Malik, Ashfaq Majid Wani, Iqbal Gangroo and Salim nanaji.

Saleem had driven Rubaiya to Sopore where she was kept at the official residence of another government officer, Javed Iqbal Mir. After three days, she was moved to the home of Mohammad Yaqoob, owner of a plastic factory at Sopore.

[edit] Impact

The kidnapping set the stage for heightened militancy in the state. Many say the abduction was the watershed in the Kashmir insurgency. Releasing the militants was nothing short of a blunder. Had the V P Singh government not buckled down, things would have been different," they say, "The JKLF would not have harmed Rubaiya due to public sentiment.[1]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ "14 yrs down, JKLF admits Rubaiya kidnap", The Times of India, 2004-02-8. Retrieved on 2007-04-28. 
  2. ^ Praveen Swami. "A man of many parts - and parties", The Frontline Magazine, Volume 19 - Issue 23, The Hindu, 2002-11-9. Retrieved on 2007-04-28. 

[edit] Further reading