PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Yasin Abu Bakr still finds it difficult to say sorry to the Trinidad and Tobago population, but he welcomes the Commission of Inquiry that the new government has said will be held into the events surrounding the failed coup by members of his radical Jamat-al-Muslimeen group in 1990.
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| Yasin Abu Bakr still finds it difficult to say sorry to the Trinidad and Tobago population |
“If I am alive, God’s willing, I will be the first person to testify. It’s 20 years too late, but never too late,” he said on local radio on the eve of the 20th anniversary of the attempt to overthrow the ANR Robinson government on July 27, 1990.
“I think that is one of the very good things by the government, we waited 20 years and I wish it was done before because the entire population of Trinidad and Tobago needs to know the genesis of 1990, July 27.
“Everybody needs to know. I think once that happens that there will be an entire different situation where the Jamaat-al-Muslimeen is concerned,” he adds.
Bakr and his Jamaat al Muslimeen group of more than 100 stormed the Parliament and the lone television station in a coordinated attack on July 27, 1990, hoping to overthrow the Robinson administration.
At least 24 people, including one legislator, Leo Des Vignes, were killed during the six day insurrection that ended on August1. Bakr and his men were tried for treason, but the Court of Appeal upheld the amnesty offered to secure their surrender, and they were released.
However, The London-based Privy Council, the country’s highest court, later invalidated the amnesty, but the Muslimeen members were not re-arrested.
Now, 20 years later, Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar, who came to power following the May 24 general election this year, has announced that a Commission of Inquiry would probe the circumstances leading up to what Trinidadians refer to as “the darkest day in our history”.
She said that for several years calls have been made “by a generous percentage of our population for such an investigation” and that there is a general feeling that “this investigation is necessary for several reasons” including the need “to bring finality to this matter”.
“We also know and we feel that it is important for us to have this inquiry to find out what went wrong and why it happened so that we can take steps to avoid such a thing ever happening in this country again,” she said, adding that in 1990 “firearms were brought into the country to service the intents of the insurgents.
Robinson, who was also a former president of this twin-island republic, has welcomed the probe, adding that everything should be done to ensure that “fundamental and destructive elements” are not allowed to attack citizens in the future.
“It is absolutely necessary to show the facts on how such a daring and foolish group could burst into the Parliament while in session,” he said, adding that the inquiry should also seek to determine how arms and ammunition were brought here without the knowledge of the security forces.
Another person who backs the government’s decision is Wendell Eversley, who for the past 19 years has been staging a one-man protest calling for a public inquiry.
Eversley was among those taken hostage in the legislative chamber when the Muslim group stormed the Parliament.
“It was my first day at the Parliament Chamber. I was sitting in the public gallery listening to the debate. About 5.30pm, I started hearing sounds like fire crackers. The sounds came closer and closer to the Parliament Chamber, then I saw a group of men all dressed in black enter the Parliament Chamber.
“I said God, if I get out alive, I will not stop protesting until a Commission of Inquiry is called because a government was almost overthrown, a PM shot, an MP killed, and other innocent people murdered,” said Eversley, who adds that “every anniversary I get scared, I go into prayer and fasting”.
But not everyone is convinced that a Commission of Inquiry would bring closure, and instead are advocating for a South Africa type Truth and Reconciliation Commission that would allow all of the actors to speak freely on the matter.
“People may not want to come and give evidence unless they are subpoenaed and then again they may come and say they have forgotten what occurred,” said veteran trade unionist and social activist Clive Nunez.
“With a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, we may start to bring about the healing that is necessary,” he added, while Anthony Smart, who served as attorney general in the Robinson administration, said the University of the West Indies (UWI) could have been used to organise a debate that allowed all stakeholders to freely express themselves on the issue.
Raffique Shah, one of the three senior army officials who led a mutiny here in 1970, said that it would be difficult for the actors in the 1990 event to have a proper recollection of what transpired.
“I should add that with the passage of time, people’s memories fade. I know. As I write my account of the mutiny, I have encountered some glaring untruths, some published as facts and gross inconsistencies. The inquiry into 1990 could face similar challenges,” he wrote in a news paper column.
“I suspect the hype that always surrounds the anniversary date of the Muslimeen assault...may have prompted the PM and her colleagues to attempt to “put this matter to rest once and for all,” he added.
Journalist, Dennis Mc Comie, who was given a national award for the role he played in disseminating information to the public during the 1990 event, has just released a book detailing his personal account of the insurrection.
He said he believes that the upsurge in criminal activities started on July 27, 1990.
“There is a connection, today the country is witnessing the use of guns in all types of criminal activities,” he said.
Apart from announcing the probe into the 1990 events, the government has also said it would move to sell all properties owned by the Jamaat al Muslimeen on Tuesday, the same day of the 20th anniversary of the failed bloody insurrection.
“On July 27, 2010, the first advertisement in all three daily newspapers to put up for sale every single property owned by the Jamaat al Muslimeen... every single property owned by the Jamaat al Muslimeen is being put up for sale to compensate the State for the loss and damage suffered to the property of the State, during the 1990 attempted coup,” Attorney General Anand Ramlogan said.
“If those properties are not purchased by anyone, rest assured, the State has use for them.” Ramlogan said.
Bakr has criticised the move that follows the ruling made by the High Court last September in favour of the State.
"The auction is unlawful and illegal, this matter has been settled by the Privy Council already. It is madness. It is a clearly an unlawful act," Bakr said.
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