* Efforts to wean away local youth from militancy
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Nov 7: Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today called for implementation of November 2003 ceasefire agreement reached between India and Pakistan to save lives and property of the border dwellers and blamed Pakistan for present escalation of tensions between the two countries saying the neighbour didn’t respond positively to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Lahore visit.
“Narendra Modi followed footsteps of his BJP predecessor Atal Behari Vajpayee and undertook visit to Lahore. However, Pakistan didn’t reciprocate positively,” she regretted.
Speaking to media persons on Day 1 of Civil Secretariat in Jammu, the winter capital of the State for six months, Mehbooba, flanked by Deputy Chief Minister Dr Nirmal Singh and other members of the Ministry, voiced concern over escalated tensions between India and Pakistan on both International Border (IB) and Line of Control (LoC) in which several civilian lives were lost recently, and called for implementation of November 2003 ceasefire agreement between India and Pakistan, which had worked well till 2008 with people working on the borders right up to the Zero Line.
“The people have suffered a lot on the borders due to hostilities between the two neighbours. Many of them have been rendered houseless. Schools are closed on LoC and IB, which was affecting career of the students. Hope the sense prevails and the two countries restore ceasefire agreement on the borders,” Mehbooba said.
Describing Narendra Modi as powerful leader, who was heading a strong Government at the Centre, which was evident from the patience being shown by the Government, she said this also showed that “you are able to take decisions”.
Blaming Pakistan for present stand-off between the two countries, she said Modi followed Vajpayee formula for peace between the two neighbours and went to Lahore just like Vajpayee did by travelling (to Lahore) in bus. However, it was Pakistan, which didn’t give positive response.
Replying to a question as to whether Modi is a difficult person to deal with in terms of Indo-Pak confidence building initiative, Mehbooba said, “I feel that the way the Vajpayee-ji took a bold step at that point of time even after they (Pak) engineered Kargil but he did not gave up his re-conciliatory initiative and agenda but called former Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf for Agra Summit. Even after that the Parliament attack took place. But Vajpayee went to Lahore.”
“It was in the similar way that Modi-ji invited them (Pakistani leadership) and then went to Lahore and tried his best and followed the footsteps of Vajpayee,” she said.
“At Lahore, it was decided that Pakistani soil will not be used against India (for terrorism & separatism),” she recalled and asserted that “there is no solution other than the formula of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. You can change your friends but you cannot change your neighbours. So we have to find some way out, we have to live together, this is the reality”.
Taking a swipe at Pakistan for repeated firing on the borders, the Chief Minister reminded the neighbouring nation that nothing has come out and nothing will come out of the firing on borders. “It’s time to stop firing on the borders and de-escalate tensions,” she said.
It may be mentioned here that Mehbooba Mufti had recently visited the border migrants at Nowshera and people living on the LoC at Manjakote and Poonch and called for cessation of hostilities between India and Pakistan so that the people return to their houses and live there peacefully.
Asserting that terrorism is always a matter of concern “whether they (the militants) were 5 or 250 in numbers”, the Chief Minister said efforts would be made to “de-motivate” newly recruited militants to restore them to their families so that they lead the normal life.
“Our focus is to wean away local youths from the militancy and restore them to their families, Efforts were on to “de-motivate” local youths, who have recently joined the militancy and handover them to their families,” she said.
At the same breath, she said the security forces were well-equipped and capable to deal with militancy in Jammu and Kashmir.
Referring to the surrender of militant Umar Khaliq Mir in Baramulla last week after five-hour-long efforts of the security forces, she said: “the boy, who came back, had joined militant ranks three months ago and he was not involved in any militancy-related incident.
“I am confident that they (security forces) are capable in dealing with the situation. There were presence of thousands of militants (during the beginning of militancy) and today there are 200-300 militants present in which some foreign mercenaries are there,” she said.
She said militancy was always a concern whether there are two or 50 militants present or 250-300 militants and that the endeavor would be to bring back them into national mainstream.
She said: “it is very unfortunate that there have been border firings and internal unrest for over three months in Kashmir…Our people are suffering and this is unfortunate on the part of our history that we are facing this situation for nearly 70 years.”
Describing education as “biggest casualty” of present four-month long unrest in the Kashmir valley, Mehbooba, however, said she was confident of a good news in the week’s time.
She decline to comment on a question regarding joint meeting called by the separatists in Srinagar tomorrow to discuss unrest amidst hopes of relaxation for the people in the Valley including educational institutions, which have been hit hard by their shutdown calendar.
Mehbooba said several people involved in burning down of schools in Kashmir have been arrested and those responsible for bringing education to a standstill will not be spared, “The authorities have already taken into custody some miscreants who were engaged in burning down of schools. They have been arrested and put behind bars,” she said.
“When everything started moving in Jammu and Kashmir, some miscreants burned down our schools which impacted the education system. We will not spare those who burned down our schools. I hope that in the coming week, there would be some good news (with regard to reopening of schools),” she said.
The Chief Minister said: “children (of Kashmir) have been coming here (in Jammu) for studies and unfortunately, some of our schools have burned down and education has come to a standstill in a way (in Kashmir).”
As many as 34 schools have been burned down and 110 Government buildings damaged in Kashmir valley since the ongoing unrest began following the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen divisional commander Burhan Wani in an encounter on July 8.
Out of the 110 Government buildings, 65 were either completely gutted or partially burnt down and 55 were damaged through “other means”.
Asked about the change of heart and stubborn attitude of the separatists with regard to the situation in Kashmir, she said, “You are posing a question to the wrong person. You should ask this question to them (separatists), what can I say?”
Meanwhile, the Civil Secretariat opened in Jammu, the State’s winter capital, today after functioning from Srinagar for the past six months.
As part of the biennial Darbar move, Raj Bhavan, Civil Secretariat and other State Government offices closed in Srinagar on October 27 and reopened here today. They will stay here till April end.
The Chief Minister was accorded traditional guard of honour upon her arrival at the Civil Secretariat by a contingent of Jammu and Kashmir Police.
She also inspected few offices in the Civil Secretariat and enquired from the Director Estates the allotment of residential and official accommodation.
Later, the Chief Minister chaired a meeting of the Council of Ministers at the Civil Secretariat in which she said the Government would work with the resolve to accomplish the agenda of peace, harmony and development in Jammu and Kashmir.
Addressing the meeting, Mehbooba said: “all of us need to put in our best efforts for the betterment of Jammu and Kashmir with sincerity, seriousness and honesty and reach out to the people and provide them the much-needed relief.
The Chief Minister said that high on the agenda of the Government is the focus on development, good governance, transparency and corruption-free administration.
Mehbooba stressed on greater coordination between departments and underscored the importance of speedy delivery of services. The feedback from the Ministers with regard to functioning of various departments was also discussed in the meeting.
During the meeting various initiatives for holistic development in all the three regions of the State were discussed especially the measures to be taken to compensate for the lost time for development in the Kashmir valley.
The Chief Minister called for removal of bottlenecks in procedural formalities and hassle-free processes like for the issuance of tenders, etc.
She emphasized on better implementation of various welfare schemes launched under the State sector and Centrally Sponsored Schemes.
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