Apr 17, 2011

The overall strategy of the Indian government and the Congress Party in Jammu and Kashmir has been ironically best summarized by a cable by the US Embassy in New Delhi to Washington dated 22 October 2009 revealed through Wikileaks and reproduced in the Hindu on 30 March (Page 11). The main arms of the strategy outlined in the cable are as follows- 

Confidence Building Measures (CBMs): ensure that dialogue with separatists achieves results; continue generous development spending; conduct panchayat (village council) elections at the earliest; release selected prisoners who are not hard core militants, do not today pose any serious threat, but have been incarcerated for years; release prisoners who have been incarcerated longer than the court-directed sentences; discontinue the practice of re-arresting accused militants who have been released by courts; stop the misuse of the Public Safety Act, which allows the government to detain anyone for two years without trial; repeal, selectively repeal or be more judicious in use of Armed Forces Special Powers Act and the Disturbed Areas Act, which gives the Army almost unchecked powers over the local population in the valley; prosecute transparently and publicly security force personnel involved in human rights violations; relocate security forces camps out of public facilities; more judicious use of house searches and road blockades by security forces; demilitarisation, gradual pullback, and pullout of the paramilitary and Army from visibility in the day-to-day life of Kashmiris; replacement of the paramilitary and Army by the Jammu & Kashmir police; empower the State Human Rights Commission so that it can make transparent inquiries and achieve some tangible results; stop the continued harassment of released/surrendered militants and their families even when these former militants no longer pose any threat; loosen further travel controls on separatist leaders; make the bus links across the Line of Control (LoC) more traveller friendly; ease travel restrictions on cross border travel, increase the number of transit points; open telephone lines across the LoC between ‘Azad Kashmir' and Jammu and Kashmir; encourage separatists to participate in future elections by providing them incentives — funding, security, press coverage; strengthen civil society by making it easier for NGOs to operate.

In line with this government initiatives are being taken from time to time. Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh highlighted these as he addressed 3rd Convocation of Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology in Jammu during the month. Keeping in view the youthful audience he underlined the plan recommended by the Rangarajan Committee thus, “The Rangarajan Committee has submitted its jobs plan for the State of Jammu and Kashmir . The Report brings out clearly the vast untapped potential for economic activity and employment generation in all three regions of the State. The plan they have suggested has the potential to reach out to nearly 1½ lakh youth over a three to five year period. This would be done through a two-pronged strategy: kick-starting the growth process in sectors having large employment potential, like information technology, tourism and micro, small and medium enterprises, and launching a human resource development initiative focused on improving skills through improved access to education and focused placement-oriented training”. 

The initiative of interlocutor for Jammu and Kashmir also falls within the same paradigm.  Ms Radha Kumar highlighted the deliberations of the team so far. “Being one of the interlocutors, I cannot comment on the contents of any of our reports, least so on our latest one on possible political contours, which we have yet to submit even to the Government of India. But I must stress that the report on political contours is intended to stimulate a discussion, not to make recommendations, unlike our previous reports which recommended slew of CBMs and improvements on the ground.  We do not seek to recommend a solution; we seek voices from Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh on what a lasting solution could be,” she said.

“Our mandate was to hold sustained political dialogue with all sections of public and political opinion in J&K”.   She also highlighted that the pace of reforms is very slow as the judicial process is not able to handle the many injunctions. “First, a grievance. The pace of reform is really too slow. Arrests continue to cause us grave concern.  The judicial process is unable to handle some of the issues regarding arrests, especially FIRs, which just hang over young boys’ heads, even though they are released. We do recognize that according to the police, not more than 200 are in detention. But the fact is that arrests and releases are always accompanied by FIRs which create problems for the boys to seek education, jobs and other opportunities. I deeply regret that is still happening,” she said.

Panchayat [local village and grass roots level] elections was also on the agenda of the government. Filing of nominations for Jammu and Kashmir's first panchayat elections in 10 years has begun. Polls are to be held from  13  April to 30 June with more than five million voters choosing 4,130 village heads and 29,719 panchayat members in 143 developmental blocks of the state. These elections will be held on a non-party basis.

A sustained improvement in the Jammu and Kashmir police is also being undertaken.  9,598 appointments have been made in the state's police department in the last two years to improve the police population ratio.  The police will also be using non lethal weapons for riot control as was indicated by the police chief with metal bodies in tear gas shells replaced by plastic, plastic bullets, non lethal grenades and colour on protestors and pepper pellets. "No live ammunition will be used incase there are protests this year. We are training our men to deal with the situation in best possible way," said Kuldeep Khoda, DG Police Jammu and Kashmir.