‘Our coalition with cong remains fine’
— Omar Abdullah, Chief Minister, Jammu & Kashmir

Omar Abdullah, who will complete four years as the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir in January, has just weathered a coalition crisis and looks confident of maintaining the calm in the sensitive state. He took time off his busy schedule to speak to Editor-in-Chief Raj Chengappa at his Srinagar residence on a range of issues. Excerpts:

How seriously do you view the recent attack on a Srinagar hotel?

There have been incidents in Srinagar and its outskirts before, so therefore, it needs to be seen in the right context. There is still the presence of militants in the Valley and from time to time they would like to show their presence. This is really their last sort of hurrah for this year before the Administration moves to Jammu in winter. But it’s neither a very massive attack nor it is a very odious one. It is seem to be an attack of convenience — just to mark their presence. Nothing more than that.

On the whole, it is fine. There have been sporadic incidents and some linked to wider issues, the burning of the Dastageer Shrine and the YouTube video that gave us some cause for concern this year. Because of the scale of protests that we saw in other parts of the world and the possibility for trouble here, there was an effort made to incite trouble here, particularly by using the social media. But we got through that also relatively well.

Militancy, in terms of actual violence, is down by 30 per cent compared to last year. In terms of the number of militants, our own government’s estimates are that we could be looking at anything in the region of about 300 plus or minus in the Valley. It is a very small sum considering that the infiltration figures in the early days of militancy were 2000 plus per annum. Today you are looking at infiltration figures of about 70-80.

There are multiple factors. There is obviously refinement of our own techniques in terms of our deployments, the counter-insurgency measures, the fence and the equipment that have been deployed there, all that makes infiltration difficult. The international pressure on Pakistan, Pakistan’s own domestic concerns and their lack of support from the local population — all of this adds up.

I still believe it is something that we can make progress on. Nobody has suggested that there will not be militancy to deal with. The point we are making is that we can deal with that militancy without using the Army. AFSPA is required by the Army. If we can deal with militancy in these areas without the Army, then AFSPA is not required. Now the only argument that comes is about protecting the Army supply lines. Nothing stops the Army from firing in self-defence. If there is a logical argument against it, then please furnish me with it.

We have discussed it and I would not like to get into the details. He has been positive on all concerns that we brought to the table. I think in fairness to Mr Shinde, given that he hasn’t been the Home Minister for very long, he has been very supportive and his visit to the Valley was definitely a very positive one.

No, there is no crisis. There was an avoidable misunderstanding on the issue of reservation in the block development councils. It is a little messy but as they say that you never see how laws and sausages are made and this is just one of those situations.

There was no ultimatum. The hurry wasn’t because the Congress had issued any sort of deadline; we were actually up against our own time frame because the last date for filing of nominations for block development councils elections was coming up. Once the nominations had been filed and that period had been closed, then it would have got even messier. So contrary to popular belief, the time frame was not dictated by any sort of misunderstanding within the coalition; it was actually dictated by a legal necessity to issue the Ordinance deferring elections to the councils before the last date of filing the nominations was over.

They are fine. In any coalition, particularly a post-poll coalition, there will be issues that crop up from time to time. There are individuals with whom sometimes there is a clash of wills, sometimes there are people whose ambition outweighs their ability. You just have to deal with that and move on.

There is no issue with the 73rd amendment. What is the point of us having our own Constitution if we are going to bring in every amendment that the Government of India brings in and make it automatically applicable here? Even before the panachayat elections, we wrote a letter to Prof. Saifuddin Soz saying that we intended to have panchayat elections. Also we will modify our Panchayati Raj Act to bring in those provisions of the 73rd amendment that we believe are beneficial to the state. I still stand by that. It’s the right way to do it because it does not weaken our autonomy and Constitution and, in fact, it strengthens it. We are changing it ourselves. We are not being forced to make those changes. There is no harm in that.

They are functional. Fourteen departments have been handed over to them. They have been given certain finances. A lot of rural development work is happening through them. It is a fact that we introduced the panchayati raj after a gap of more than 30 years. The last time there was a functioning panchayat in the state, I was less than 13 years old. That should tell you how long it is. An entire generation has come and gone without panchayats functioning here. Do you not expect some teething problems? There will be and we will overcome them. We just have the patience to deal with it.

Some of the laws that we brought in, particularly the Public Service Guarantee Act, RTI, and the Accountability Commission. The Vigilance Commission will soon be revived. It is a fact that we did have the panchayat elections. You had two good summers when people had a chance to earn from tourism and development apart from having a semblance of normal life. I think all this is definitely something that we worked to put together.

First and foremost, obviously I would like to keep this peaceful atmosphere as long as possible. We want to see a further decline in militancy and greater stability in the law and order situation. It is not that maintaining the current calm is without challenges but we will deal with them. Obviously, we will have to step up levels of development. Unemployment continues to remain a problem and let us see how much we can do for that in terms of both our own schemes as well as schemes of the Government of India. On the reform part, we cannot afford electricity arrears of Rs 2,000 crore in the power sector. We are a welfare state but we are also a state that has enormous financial difficulties and we cannot afford this kind of situation.

The biggest thing that we have done is the Public Service Guarantee Act; the ambit of it is being widened. You do not have here big scams and scandals. But the flip side of that is people are talking about corruption that hits them whereas the 2G scam or "Coalgate" does not really bother them. This corruption does, if they have to pay for a driving licence or a gas connection. To deal with that corruption, we brought in the Public Service Guarantee Act and strengthened the Accountability Commission. If you believe that there is a problem with corruption, there are enough institutions today to deal with it. Hopefully, people will start using them.

I have serious issues with people who use constitutional positions to write letters that become public documents. If he had something to write to me, he should have written to me in person. Writing to me through the pages of a newspaper is not done. I read the letter in a newspaper before I got it in person and I do not understand in what capacity the Chairman of the Minority Commission writes on the commission’s letter head about the RTI. He is no longer the Chairman of the Information Commission. So whatever his concerns are, I am sure the government will send a reply.

Let me know which part of the Sher-e-Kashmir welfare policy for youth is not delivering? We have created more than 2,000 entrepreneurs who have been given money, seed capital and are setting up units today. Show me another scheme that has delivered numbers like this. We are today paying thousands of youngsters an unemployment dole so that we can help them while we trying to find them jobs. We have six lakh plus unemployed youngsters today. Show me a solution that will allow me to find employment for all of them overnight. There is not one.

There are enough aspects of the report that I vehemently disagree with. That having been said, I have stated on more than one occasion, that while this report may not form the basis of a solution, it can definitely form the basis for the dialogue and the dialogue will then lead to a solution. This report has been completed after perhaps the most wide ranging discussions.

If Syed Ali Shah Geelani believes that a mecademized road is being build right upto the mouth of the holy cave, then I am sorry he has taken leave of his senses. We have an obligation to give the yatris facilities. Now if there is a track and that track needs widening in certain places, minor widening, what is objectionable in that? How come he does not object to the widening that goes in other parts of the state! Why only this widening? Please read what we have submitted to the Supreme Court. We have not undertaken to construct a road. We have undertaken to widen the path subject to whatever guidelines are laid down in our forest management Act, in our environment Act and everywhere else. We are acutely conscious of our obligation to the environment. But we are also conscious of our obligation to provide some basic facilities to the yatris. And it is the balance that we will find. The problem with Syed Ali Geelani is that his politics is based on exploitation. I trust the people will see through that. I challenge him now. I will give him a helicopter to fly over the entire area. Let him show me where a road is being constructed..