Interview with Ram Mohan Rao, former Public Information Officer and Advisor to the Jammu and Kashmir Government
Where does
Kashmir
stand in Indo-Pak relations in the aftermath of the
Agra
summit?
Agra
summit was a sincere effort made by the Indian government to see whether an agreement could be reached with
Pakistan
on a number of issues.
India
did make such efforts in the past - Shimla and
Lahore
– to engage
Pakistan
.
India
will continue the dialogue with
Pakistan
.
As far as
Kashmir
is concerned, the violence that is being witnessed is due to cross border terrorism.
Pakistan
is not indirectly involved in abetting the violence but directly. People of
Kashmir
lost faith in militancy by 1993-94, after which
Pakistan
started sending trained Pakistani and Afghan nationals who were called guest militants. The first round of these guest militants was unorganized, which did not make them popular among the people. As a result militancy declined in 1995-96.
Elections were held for the State Assembly of Jammu and
Kashmir
. After this period,
Pakistan
converted the militancy into a jehad. It made the Hizbul Mujahideen a front-line organization, but the Pakistani mercenaries do most of the actual fighting.
Militancy in
Kashmir
, in terms of targets and techniques, seems to have undergone a change. How to tackle militancy effectively? What measures need to be taken at the military level?
Today, the security forces are being primarily targeted. Besides, civilians who are against
Pakistan
, persons belonging to the Village Defence Committees, political leaders belonging to National Conference and the surrendered militants are also being targeted by the jehadis and pro-Pakistan militant groups. Most of the Kashmiris, who are aiding the militants, are doing so out of fear. This fear needs to be removed and we should take strong action, especially against the mercenaries.
The
Jammu and Kashmir
Police needs to be provided better training. One should remember that the police personnel are living in the towns and their families are exposed to mercenaries.
What efforts need to be taken at the political level to improve the situation in
Jammu and Kashmir
?
We should focus primarily on development projects in
Kashmir
. Education in the state is free upto university level. But there are no job opportunities for them. Job opportunities should be created. If adequate opportunities cannot be created inside the State, then efforts should be made to employ them outside the State.
On the administrative side – there are many dedicated young administrators in the state. A determined and sincere effort to improve the state administration, and provision for more resources would improve the situation considerably.
A number of solutions have been suggested – Regional autonomy, trifurcation, conversion of LoC into international border. What steps should the government adopt?
Trifurcation of the state is not acceptable to the people of the state. But within the state there is scope for devolution, which need to be given. More autonomy for
Jammu and Kashmir
will psychologically help the Kashmiris; hence the government should take steps in this direction. Conversion of LoC into international border is broadly accepted, and may become inevitabl
e.
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