The Central Government's Lost Opportunity In Kashmir telegraphindia.com

On May 7, 1965, with the anticipated return of Sheikh Abdullah from Saudi Arabia and other countries, the then deputy secretary of the government of India passed an order, under sub-rule (1) of Rule 30 of the Defence of India Rules, 1962, that as the Central government was satisfied that with “a view to preventing Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah from acting in any manner prejudicial to the defence of India and civil defence, the public safety and the maintenance of public order”, it was necessary to send him “to Ootacamund via Madras”. In the same order, it was stated that the travel arrangements, a flight to Madras and another flight from Madras to Bangalore and then a car journey to the final destination, that is, Ootacamund, were to be made by the Central government.

The order further stated that Sheikh Abdullah shall reside within the municipal limits of Ootacamund and he was also asked not to “communicate with any person except with the written permission of the collector of Nilgiris while residing within the municipal limits of Ootacamund”. A separate order under the same rules on the same date was also passed to prevent Begum Abdullah, wife of Sheikh Abdullah, from entering the state of Jammu and Kashmir. The orders were a consequence of some of the Sheikh’s engagements, considered apparently objectionable, during his travel abroad. He had originally travelled for Haj, although on return he made a detour to various other countries, including Algeria where he met with the Chinese premier, Zhou Enlai.