The Hindu : Gilani did not possess secret document: Army

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Dec 24, 2002

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Gilani did not possess secret document: Army

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI DEC. 23. The Government has been asked to state whether it believes it has a case against the Kashmir Times journalist, Iftikar Gilani or not. The Army, whose opinion was to be the deciding factor in the case against him, has said that the document, on the basis of which Mr. Gilani was arrested under the Official Secrets Act, was neither secret nor a threat to national security.

Today, the Director-General Military Intelligence, O.S. Lochab, confirmed in the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court here that the Army had given this opinion on Dec.12, 2002. It was communicated to the Police Commissioner of Delhi, R.S. Gupta, 10 days ago. But, the Home Ministry claimed in court that it had not received the letter. The court has directed the Government to clarify its position in the light of the Army clearance dated Dec. 12 and submit its report on January 3. The Home Ministry, which sanctioned Mr. Gilani's arrest, must now decide whether it has any basis to pursue its case.

Mr. Gilani has spent six months and two weeks in jail for possessing a document that his lawyers had shown the court was published in a journal, which was widely available in State-funded university and institutional libraries in the capital. Yet police maintained that it was ``secret''. The Army, too, responding to a Home Ministry query on the value of the document, said on June 14 last that it was the work of an enemy agent and that it posed a grave threat to national security. Its reconsidered opinion dated Dec. 12 describes the earlier assessment as ``erroneous''.

The manner in which the prosecution has pursued the case against Mr. Gilani has raised questions. At the last court hearing on Dec. 12, the prosecution produced a letter from the Home Ministry purporting to be the second opinion from the Army that the court had directed it to procure. It was, in fact, a reproduction of the adverse opinion given by the Army on June 14. The defence presented the court with a copy of the Army's revised opinion dated Dec. 12, which it had procured from the office of the Police Commissioner of Delhi.

On more than one occasion, the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, was petitioned by journalists about the ``trumped-up'' charges against Mr. Gilani. On more than one occasion, he assured them that Mr. Gilani's release was imminent. Senior Home Ministry officials also indicated, prior to the last hearing, that the Army's revised opinion proved that there was no case against Mr. Gilani. Yet, Mr. Gilani remains incarcerated.

Last week, during the Parliamentary debate on national security, the Rashtriya Janata Dal MP, Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, challenged Mr. Advani to deny that he had given such assurances. Mr. Singh said, ``The Home Minister had said we now know that he is innocent, he will get bail, we are giving instructions to that effect. He assured a delegation of journalists that `we are going to drop the case'. He is sitting in the House, will he deny that he did not meet journalists, that he did not give such assurances.'' Mr. Advani did not respond.

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