Peace is essential for development Manoj Sinha s idea is pragmatic

On June 11 last, Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant   Governor Manoj Sinha made a pragmatic statement. He said: The security forces and administration are working to ensure development across the region, "but the road to development goes through peace.

When the sub-continent was bifurcated into two nations, the Kashmir region was the second poorest part of erstwhile India. After independence, the Central Indian Government pumped such huge funds into J&K that today, some percentage of people, below the poverty line, is the least, compared to all the regions of India and Pakistan. The funds per capita made available by the Union Government, for different areas, has been the highest for J&K. Yet the erstwhile state failed to create industrial and financial opportunities so that, like the states of Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat, it would depend more on itself than on the Central funds. The main difficulty, in this regard, was the unsteady nature of atmosphere and absence of material and psychological peace in Kashmir. 

In this connection, we interviewed some industrialists and entrepreneurs and asked them why they were not setting some establishments in Jammu and Kashmir. They informed us that they are ready to do that, provided the atmosphere, are such that the institutions set up and the people they employ in those are safe. They added that there is no guarantee of peace in the valley. On small matters, hartals are declared, traffic comes to standstill and work stops. Occasionally, even the running of rail coaches and wagons is threatened. In such an atmosphere, no entrepreneur would like to risk his funds and the life of his officials. They added: "Violence and progress are sworn enemies of each other."

We interviewed founder of Peoples Democratic Party Mufti Sayeed and asked him: "When will the exiled Kashmiri Pandits be able to go to Kashmir and live there peacefully?" He replied: "I do not know about Kashmiri Pandits, but even my grandchildren do not want to go to Kashmir. They are trying to settle themselves outside, some of them in America." We continued: "Sir, when Muslim children do not want to go to Kashmir, how can Kashmiri Pandits go?"

A decade back, Patron of National Conference, Dr. Farouq Abdullah, was addressing a public meeting in Kashmir. He said: "Kashmiri Pandits, although in exile, have tried to make their children engineers and doctors. We, in Kashmir, made our kids terrorists." The most important slogan, during his father's reign, Sheikh Mohammad Abdhullah, was: "Sher-e-Kashmir Kaa kya irshaad? Hindu, Muslim, Sikh itihaad." What is the instruction of the Lion of Kashmir? It is unity among Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs. Now, nobody raises such slogans which preach brotherhood among different communities. During the premiership of Bakhshi Ghulam Mohammad, there was no killing of Kashmiri Pandits. He became instrumental in laying roads in the length and breadth of the state, establishing hospitals and more schools. These developments became possible because of the prevailing peaceful conditions for all communities. However, after the Sheikh's passing away, many Kashmiri leaders, in cooperation with the Pak-trained terrorists, managed to murder thousands of Hindu and Sikh men, women and children. 

In such an ambiance, P.D.P. chief Mehbooba's appeal, on June 25 last, to Islamic clerics to preach brotherhood for non-Muslims is significant. She wanted that mauves should tell their audiences, in mosques, that Kashmiri Pandits have been assets of Muslims. She asked youths to stay away from militancy. Both the ideas need to be practised seriously. It has been found that Islamic clerics tell audiences, mostly, not to have friendly relations with non-Muslims. They add that Kashmir will progress if it has a polity like that of Pakistan. They hide the truth that Pakistan's emphasis on taking away the Kashmir region from India has made that country a failed state. It has got compelled to spend so much on defence that the International Monetary Fund finds it difficult to recover the loan it has given to Pakistan.

When the sub-continent was bifurcated, the value of Indian and Pakistan rupee was the same. Today, a dollar is equal to 79 Indian rupees, while the same dollar equals 212 Pakistani rupees. Indian rupees, relatively, command high respect in the international financial market. In the month of June, India's inflation rate was 7 percent. Pakistan's was 21.3 percent. This rate has been the highest, there, for the last 13 years.

In political and governance management, too, Pakistan has not blossomed into a modern democracy. In 971, its eastern wing had more members of Parliament. Still Mujib-ur-Rehman was not allowed to form the central Pakistan Government. That led to the separation of the eastern wing. In more than half of its history, Pakistan civilian government has been supervised by military. That is not a good omen for democratic functioning, which requires that the power to rule should lie with the civil authorities, elected by the masses.

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Courtesy:Jaganath Dhar Koshur Samachar 2022, July