New Delhi, November 21
The issue of granting more autonomy to Jammu and Kashmir should be “reviewed and discussed” and the dialogue process carried forward on “sustained basis” with all groups abjuring violence, Home Minister Shivraj Patil has recommended in a report to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
“The Centre is committed to carry forward the dialogue with all groups and with different shades of opinion in Jammu and Kashmir on sustained basis,” he said, listing a multi-pronged strategy to bring peace in the state in the report based on his visit to the Kashmir valley, Jammu and Leh earlier this month.
The government, he said, has repeatedly stated its willingness to hold talks on wide-ranging issues with all groups, leaders,
intelligentsia, mediapersons and elected representatives.
Efforts should be continued to bring the Hurriyat Conference to the table for talks, Mr Patil said, noting that emphasis should also be on strengthening mainstream political parties.
On the issue of security cover of the Chief Minister and top politicians in Jammu and Kashmir, he said it should be upgraded on the lines of the Prime Minister’s elite Special Protection Group (SPG).
The VIP security apparatus
should be synergised by bringing a senior and experienced office of the SPG in consultation with the state Chief Minister, Mr Patil said in the 70-page report presented to Dr Manmohan Singh last week.
The Home Minister was of the view that there should be augmentation of security cover for visible targets and senior politicians like Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, his daughter Mehbooba Mufti, former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah, his son and National Conference President Omar Abdullah, Deputy Chief Minister Mangat Ram Sharma and some other ministers and leaders.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, who is from Jammu and Kashmir, should be given security cover of the paramilitary ITBP, said Mr Patil, maintaining that security arrangements for visits of senior Union ministers to the state should be reviewed and upgraded. The suggestion to augment VIP security apparently comes in the wake of recent assassination attempts on top Kashmiri leaders, including the Abdullahs.
Informed sources said the recommendations of the Home Minister might require clearances from the Union Cabinet, Parliament and the Jammu and Kashmir Government.
Mr Patil further said the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Northern Command of the Army should be made the Principal Adviser of the Unified Headquarters, set up by the government in 1996.
To bring about synergies in efforts of security forces and intelligence agencies, there should be more frequent meetings of the Unified Headquarters, headed by the Chief Minister, he said.
The report said roads between Jammu and Sialkot in Pakistan, Srinagar and Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and Kargil and Skardu in Northern Areas, administered by Islamabad, should be opened to enhance people-to-people contacts.
In a bid to provide employment opportunities to jobless youths in the state, the Home Minister suggested that nine India Reserve Battalions and one CRPF battalion should be raised.
Giving details of the points of action, Mr Patil said all possible help should be rendered by the state government to hold elections to municipal corporations and district bodies, panchayats and cooperatives to bring about a sense of normalcy and people’s participation.
Observing that “good actionable” intelligence was the key to success of counter-terrorism operations, he said it was important to have improved coordination between security forces and intelligence agencies. This, he said, would be useful when public meetings were addressed by political leaders.
The intelligence agencies and security forces should be equipped with the latest communication equipment and gadgets and provided better training and skills to match the sophisticated devices and modern equipment used by the terrorists, he said.
To provide protection of remote villages with scattered dwellings in mountainous areas, local villagers should be encouraged to form village defence committees, he said, noting that adequate protection should be given to informers.
Outlining the successes in targeting the terrorist leadership, Mr Patil said 58 important leaders, including 10 chief and deputy chief commanders and 28 district commanders, had been killed this year.
— PTI
