Reconciliation with former Jamaat al Muslimeen insurrections who staged a bloody attempted takeover of the government in July 1990 is not necessary, acting Prime Minister Winston Dookeran says. Dookeran, also Finance Minister, made the revelation yesterday while giving evidence before the commission of enquiry into the attempted coup, at the Caribbean Court of Justice in Port-of-Spain. Dookeran was a member of the National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR) during the coup d'etat and one of the government ministers held hostage in the Red House by Muslimeen insurgents. The Muslimeen requested that he head an interim government (after they had overthrown the NAR) until free and fair elections could be held within 90 days.
Asked by the commission's lead counsel Avory Sinanan if the Government was ready to consider reconciliation with the Muslimeen, Dookeran replied that he did not think the situation in T&T could be related to conflicts in countries in the Middle East like Afghanistan where there are large terrorist groups.
"I don't see the Jamaat representing any fundamental cleavage in society...I saw it (the uprising) as a simple event," he said. "I never ascribed any strong idealogical views to the Jamaat. Reconciliation is not necessary."