. On the frontline Time to reset clock to 21st century Arun joshi Last time, when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited Kashmir in June 2010, the Valley was celebrating the success of Faesal Shah who had topped the civil services list, and had become a household name overnight. A power-point presentation by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah about the development plans was praised by the Prime Minister. No one had any clue as to what was in store for the Valley in coming months. What followed was a tsumani of street protests and clashes between stone throwing protestors and police that left 120 dead. Kashmir saw one of the worst phases in its history. The trigger was killing of a Tufail Mattoo, a teenager, who was hit by a teargas shell. Thereafter, there was a cycle of violence and no one had any clue how to handle the situation. The Army had to be called into Srinagar, after a gap of 17 years to stage a flag march. The Army and the police’s strategy to fire at the protestors who were targeting police, paramilitary forces and setting afire the public property brought about a deceptive calm. But the wounds continue to fester till date. The year 2010 cannot be taken off the calendar. And now educated youth are taking to guns and grenades and their number is swelling. The Army’s statistics show that there are 325 militants and more are preparing to sneak in from across the Line of Control (LoC). This is an ominous sign. Prime Minister is visiting Kashmir on Tuesday. His hands are full with the developmental agenda, from laying of foundation stone of the 850-MW Rattle project to the flagging of Banihal-Qazigund railway track that would connect the Valley with the outside world. It is a bright chapter in the development history of Kashmir, as it is a big step forward towards “Naya” or new Kashmir vision of the Prime Minister that he had envisioned in 2004, when he had first visited the Valley as the Prime Minister. He had committed Rs 24,000 crore for the development of the state under the programme called Prime Minister’s Reconstruction Plan, in short the PMRP. This plan was to change Jammu and Kashmir’s landscape, but that has not happened. Most of the funds have been diverted, as is wont in this state to divert the plan funds to the non-plan sector. Now a different situation has come into play. The number of the unemployed youth has increased. The government has announced that it will employ 70,000 youth, whereas the number of the jobless is more than seven lakh. The recruitment too would be done with political agenda in mind. There are no prizes for guessing that the loyalists of the ruling elite would get these jobs. That apprehension has gripped the opposition in the state. This sense of trepidation has gripped the youth as well. This can easily translate into a series of protests. The Prime Minister would do a great job if he takes care of all these aspects, starting from the equal distribution of empowerment to one and all in Jammu and Kashmir. The selectivity, the agenda that has been written but held back till the time the Assembly polls are announced, would spell disaster. This fear is not unfounded, because the history has been repeating in Kashmir. The Prime Minister and UPA chairperson have always strived and also succeeded to a great extent in striking an emotional chord with the people of Kashmir. This has been amply demonstrated the way they have reached out to the people in Kashmir and shared its joys and sorrows. If the two were there to flag off “Karvan-e-Aman” or caravan of peace-start of the cross Line of Control bus service in April 2005, they were also there when a massive quake unleashed devastation in October that year. A bigger responsibility awaits them in Kashmir. They have to reset the political clock. It cannot be a mid-twentieth century clock but a digital version that is relevant in the 21st Century. They have a task at hand to assure that justice would be done to every resident of this state on the basis of merit and not because of the political considerations.
Posted on: Mon, 24 Jun 2013 05:26:25 +0000
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