Fayaz Bukhari
Srinagar, June 13: Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti, today said more trans-Line of Control (LoC) points will be opened in the State to facilitate greater movement of people and goods across the LoC and informed the House that Centre has agreed to set up banking and communication facility to boost the trans-LoC trade.
She said opening of these routes will consolidate peace and boost trade. “The Confidence Building Measures like opening of more cross-LoC points will not only help consolidate peace efforts but also boost local economy through increased tourism activities in these areas”, she said.
Mehbooba informed the Legislative Council that her Government has taken opening of more trans-LoC routes with the Centre and hoped for positive forward movement. “The State Government has taken up the matter regarding opening of more cross-LoC points with the Centre and I am sure there will be positive movement forward on the issue as serious discussions are on in this regard,” she said.
Chief Minister said during her recent meeting with the Union Home Minister, Rajnath Singh, she pitched for opening of Suchetgarh-Sialkote, Kargil-Skardu, Nowshera-Mirpur, Gurez-Astoor-Gilgit, Chhamb-Jourian and some other cross-LoC routes. “The Confidence Building Measures like opening of more cross-LoC points will not only help consolidate peace efforts but also boost local economy through increased tourism activities in these areas,” she said.
Mehbooba said the Centre has also agreed to facilitate banking facility for the cross-LoC trade to institutionalize the existing mechanism. “The trade that is going on in this is based on barter system. Now, a proposal has come from the Central Government that Reserve Bank of India is proposing to introduce banking facility in which trade will be done in dollars and perhaps neither our currency nor theirs,” she said.
Mehbooba said her father, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, had said that J-K has been shut after 1947. “The roads it had like Kargil-Skardu, the silk route through Leh, Muzaffarabad, Nowshera, Suchetgarh – all these routes were unfortunately closed after 1947,” said.
“I remember our former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had once said that borders cannot be changed, but we can make them irrelevant and taking that forward, the Muzaffarabad road was opened, then Rawlakote. This was done with the intention that not only the divided families (can meet), but that if anyone from Srinagar wished to break his fast there (in Muzaffarabad) or our brother from Jammu wanted that someone from there should come,” said Chief Minister.
Mehbooba said the buses running on the route are same which had been procured at the time of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed (in 2003). “Unfortunately, the buses were not changed during the last eight to 10 years. Now, we have bought nice, volvo buses, because we believe that when a passenger comes from there, he should feel that he has come to Jammu and Kashmir, into that nation which is very big in every respect and his eyes will open,” she said.
The Chief Minister said only way to clear the misconceptions between people of either sides is throwing open the roads. “I remember when the road opened for the first time and Sayeed went there to receive them, some people asked him if they could offer Namaz (prayers). He told them what they were asking. There is a mosque in every town here and there is no restriction on the prayer and you can offer them wherever you want”, she said.
Mehbooba said the State has recommended to the Government of India to legalize the Nepal route for the youths who want to return from Pakistan occupied Kashmir. “I recently had a meeting with the Home Minister in which we discussed the Nepal route through which people, from that Kashmir, who want to leave militancy and return, come here.”
“Some have come in the last few years, but as the route is illegal, they face a lot of difficulties afterwards. Their wives cannot go back. We discussed to legalise the route for them. We also discussed to have new routes including Kargil-Skardu, Jammu-Sialkot and Tortuk,” said the Chief Minister.
Mehbooba said she is hopeful that “one or two” routes would be opened at a time. “We have recommended them and I am hopeful that, if not at all a time, one or two at a time will be opened, so that we can send the Basmati from Jammu to there. Jammu has a hardware industry. Pakistan has no hardware industry and nothing is manufactured there. They import everything including big cars. From a needle to an airplane, they import everything. But if the road is opened, it will benefit us, she said.
Mehbooba said the Government is also planning to promote border tourism activity in the State in a big way. “Given the typical geographical advantage of Jammu and Kashmir, we have immense potential for developing and promoting border tourism activity in the State to attract high-spending tourists for an enriching experience,” she said and added that measures have already been taken to build requisite infrastructure for border tourism at Suchetgarh, Chamlyal, Salamabad and Chakan-da-Bagh. “We want to develop Suchetgarh as another Wagah and during my recent meeting with the Director General BSF, I flagged the issue of holding march past at the border point the way it is being done at Wagah in Punjab,” she said.
Earlier, while replying to a question regarding flood management raised by MLA, M Y Tarigami in the Legislative Assembly today, the Chief Minister said State Government would do everything possible to preserve State’s treasured water bodies. “The Government won’t allow encroachments in and around the water bodies and I urge the people to support us in this endeavor as otherwise we may be, God forbid, headed for more ferocious natural disasters than the devastating floods of September 2014,” she said.
Mehbooba said despite a fore-warning by the experts during 2011-12 about looming floods to hit Kashmir, their suggestions and recommendations were ignored which resulted in massive devastation in Valley by September 2014 deluge. “We witnessed 2014 floods because of the massive encroachment of our water bodies. Now we are having encroachments in Dal Lake, We have lost Wullar Lake to lakhs of trees and similarly encroachments alongside Jhelum are rampant,” she said.
Chief Minister said that Government is in the process of seeking technical and financial help from the Centre, to increase the carrying capacity of Wullar Lake, river Jhelum and its tributaries including Vaishaw and Rambiara nallahs in Kashmir and river Tawi and Chenab in Jammu.
“Unfortunately lakhs of plants which have come up in Wullar will take us years to clear them. However, we are in consultation with the experts to enhance the capacity of main water bodies and their tributaries. I assure the House that that we are going to clear the encroachments, however, it is going to take some time,” she maintained”, Mehbooba said.
The Chief Minister said a flood-management program is also under implementation for river Jhelum under Prime Minister’s Development Plan. She said while there was a massive water crisis looming across the country, J&K was mulling to adopt a comprehensive plan for rain water conservation. “We have a proper plan for the Rain Water Conservation and I have discussed the project with the Central Government as well,” she said.
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