Jammu & Kashmir - Articles

In its editorial, 'Bungling of government funds', Alsafa (22 October 2004) commented on the large-scale bungling being unearthed in various departments. "State police's crime branch has unearthed a scandal of 33 lakh in sales tax and in this connection, two former Deputy Commissioners of the department and three owners of Transport Company including 9 persons have been challaned. With the every passing day, the number of corrupt officials multiplies." It continued, "Corruption is deep rooted in administration as right from a peon to a high level official everybody is involved in it. Only recently, Vigilance organization and crime branch have reinforced investigations into the cases of corruption and misappropriation of funds but there is a need to show utmost commitment towards the eradication of this menace eating up the very vitals of our system." Summing up, it said, "Corruption is prevalent in many departments including Revenue, Health, Forest, Agriculture, Consumer Affairs and Distribution, Education, Roads and Buildings and the last but not the least Water Works Department. The government should do everything to up-root corruption so that ordinary people may not suffer ".

Apart from facing a stiff opposition from National Conference (NC), the Mufti led PDP government is facing the problem of ever growing unemployment and deteriorating law and order in the state, observed Aftab (31 October 2004). "The number of educated unemployed youth is swelling up and in the absence of private industrial units, the educated youth by and large rely on government jobs. Undoubtedly, every opposition party has the right to criticize the shortcomings of the ruling party." It continued, "No government is perfect and the fact is that though the PDP government has so far failed to live up to the expectations of people, it is struggling to deliver the goods, given the fact that unlike NC, it is a coalition type of government. And it has been able to overthrow the previous NC government especially on the human rights front". NC must look back into its bitter past before trying to obtain political mileage out of the negative role it is playing as an opposition party, it opined.

Srinagar Times (16 October 2004) in its editorial, 'Why devotees were stopped?', observed that Kashmiris were disappointed to learn that Pakistan did not allow a delegation of devotees to pay a visit to the holy shrine of Hazrat Noor din Wali in Srinagar. "It is a good gesture that after 56 years of hostility, India and Pakistan have come closer and it was for the first time that a delegation of Pakistani journalists during their 5 day visit observed the prevailing situation in the valley. Showing great deal of flexibility, India announced that Pakistani journalists can visit any Indian city without visa. It continued "It is expected that Pakistan too will announce similar kind of relaxation for Indian journalists intending to pay a visit to Pakistan. But it is very unfortunate that Pakistan Interior Ministry did not allow the devotees to cross over to the Indian side." This step has not only raised doubts in the minds of many but also hurt Kashmiris eagerly waiting to welcome Pakistani delegation, it concluded.

Like people in the rest of country, Kashmiris too want to live with peace and dignity and the growing relations between India and Pakistan over a couple of weeks now have raised a glimmer of hope amongst people in  the valley, commented Wadi Ki Awaz in its editorial (5 October 2004). "Whenever two countries take any step or hold talks, the people yearning for peace heave a sigh of relief. Kashmiris welcomed the government of India's step allowing Pakistani journalists to pay a visit to the valley for the first time since 1947. They denounce violence in all its manifestations." It continued, "The government should allow journalists to visit the length and breadth of the valley so that they may observe the ground situation in Kashmir." Summing up, it said, "When Indian based journalists will visit Pakistan, they will come to know that there are good people in Pakistan too who want to live with peace and dignity. However, miscreants who don't want peace to prevail exist everywhere and we should fight against them. We welcome the Pakistani journalists in the land of Kashmir".

Aftab (12 October 2004) in its editorial, 'The statements on Indo-Pak relations', observed that the relations between two countries are not reliable owing to the fact that there is still mistrust between the leadership of  the two countries. "Foreign Minister of India while talking to journalists of SAARC countries said that India was still fighting cross border terrorism as Pakistan, contrary to its promise, has failed to put an end to the cross border terrorism. Soon after the statement of Natwar Singh, a spokesman of the government said that Pakistan was actively involved in all terrorist activities in the region." It continued, "In such circumstances, nobody would accept that India and Pakistan are sincere enough to move forward in the direction of peace and improvement in bilateral relations. The fact of the matter is that there has not been a major change in the relations and policies of the two countries." India doesn't trust the statements issued by Pakistan and Pakistan continues to maintain that without the resolution of Kashmir, the bilateral issue could not be resolved., concluded the editorial.