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ON RECORD
Last Word
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‘Despite incidents, security grid in J&K holding’ — Omar Abdullah, Chief Minister, Jammu and Kashmir Raj chengappa, Editor-in-Chief, talks to Omar Abdullah, Chief Minister, Jammu and Kashmir. THE recent spate of terror attacks and incidents of firing by security forces that saw both civilians and armed forces personnel lose lives has brought the focus back on the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir. J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, in an exclusive interview to Raj Chengappa, Editor-in-Chief, The Tribune Group of Newspapers, in Srinagar discussed his assessment of the current security situation and on critical issues affecting the state. Excerpts:
No, there is no sense that the security situation is deteriorating. There is also no pattern, except that in the incidents in which security forces were targeted we had been less vigorous in following the SOPs [standard operating procedures] than we should have been — whether on account of complacency or otherwise. What happened in Gool was a different matter altogether. While it is too early to get into details, we also need to look at why they used the sort of force that was employed, which resulted in four casualties. There are reports about how the crowd was motivated, mobilised and instigated to target the security forces. We are in the process of identifying those people, particularly one individual who was instrumental in motivating the crowd. But until those inquiries are concluded, I would not want to say anything. As far as the security grid is concerned, yes, we have had a few high-profile incidents, but that happens every year. On the whole, the security grid is holding, and I think we are a lot more circumspect in going about the operations than we have been earlier. In Gool, there are conflicting versions as to whether it was the BSF that shot first, or the state police.
There was an initial shooting by the BSF in which no death took place, but there were injuries. While that initial shooting temporarily brought the situation under control, it was then used to inflame passions further and people were encouraged to come from surrounding areas — not just from Gool town itself — and that then resulted in such a large gathering of people that both the BSF and the J&K police were forced to use force to control the mob. To what extent that use of force was justified; was it avoidable; were there any other steps that could have been taken; that is all subject to inquiry. But this report about the police opening fire first is not correct. Have the problems you face in the Valley now crossed the Banihal pass and spread to Jammu, as indicated by the Gool incident? Was there a larger conspiracy behind the incident? I think it is very much a localised thing and largely an individual effort. It is not an organised thing. That is why while it was instigated, I would be reluctant to use the word ‘conspiracy’ because conspiracy would suggest there was a larger organisation behind it, which is not true. We have had incidents in the past where passions have been sought to be inflamed, particularly using our weakness regarding religion. It is not new or unique, and it does happen from time to time. But in Budgam there are on-going sectarian clashes and the Army has staged a flag march for the first time in three years. They had not been formally asked to do a flag march. It was a local decision. The Army is deployed in the area, and the Army has an interest in ensuring the situation remains under control, and they contributed towards normalisation. But it was nothing like the situation in 2010, when a formal request was sent, which was communicated to the Army Headquarters, which then organised companies and a flag march was staged in Srinagar. Do the recent incidents weaken your demand to have the AFSPA [Armed Forces Special Powers Act] lifted selectively in certain districts? Recent events make for both arguments. Events in Bandipore and Gool make the case for removing AFSPA because I cannot imagine anywhere else where such use of force would have been possible. That having been said, incidents like the one in the run-up to the Prime Minister’s visit, in which eight soldiers were killed, made the case for continuing with AFSPA. So it depends which side of the fence you are. You can take recent events either to make the case for or against AFSPA. Where does the AFSPA issue now stand? It is an ongoing discussion and I don’t want to go into details. Coming to governance issues, the criticism is that the panchayat election process is not complete as the block-level elections are yet to be held. One particular reason in the panchayat process is the issue of reservation. While there was no reservation when sarpanch elections were held, suddenly a demand came up to reintroduce reservation for SCs, STs and women at the block level. This poses some administrative and other difficulties because if you have not provided reservation at the sarpanch level, how do you provide reservation at the block level? So it has taken some time debating the various options, but we have now more or less narrowed down the differences to the point where I believe it is possible post-Eid to reconsider issuing a notification for the block-level elections. To ensure that local bodies have funds, there are proposals to introduce revenue gathering methods like a ‘chulha-tax’. These are decisions that will have to be taken by the elected urban local bodies, which is why we were keen to have the elections last year. Unfortunately, at that time the department that was supposed to conduct them didn’t do so for some reasons. Now there has been some forward movement on that. We now need to assess the appropriate time to hold the urban civic elections. I have always been reluctant to hold them during the peak tourist season, as the twin capital cities of Srinagar and Jammu and certain other towns are crucial from the tourist point of view. My focus is that we carry forward the development agenda. The security forces are also deployed on various other duties. It will disrupt us. After all, it is the tourist season. When do you plan to hold the civic elections then? It does not help our case now that we have Parliament and Assembly elections coming up next year. So we will have to see when to do it. How is the tourist season this time? All right, but not as good as it was last year because there has been the Afzal Guru hanging, law and order disturbances, the Prime Minister was here and restrictions were imposed. Even then, overall it was a good year; not as bad as I had expected. What is the development agenda you are focusing on? I am focusing on road connectivity, building health-related programmes, education, infrastructure maintenance, and there is a longstanding demand for new administrative units like blocks, tehsils and niyawats. These are the regular nuts and bolts we need to carry forward our developmental programmes. But there is some fiscal resources problem as we are not getting the level of support we were expecting from the Central government. Has the Planning Commission in your recent meeting with it given you the finances you asked for? We passed a budget of Rs 8,000 crore, but we got a plan of Rs 7,300 crore because the Government of India does not have the resources to fill that gap. We are faced with a lot of problems because of militancy. I have a large establishment and the salary bill of the government employees is very high because the only employment in the state is a government job. Only recently tourism and other private sector avenues have come up. Before the militancy, the state expenditure on the police establishment was Rs 24-28 crore, but now it is more than Rs 1,000 crore. I know there are parameters for measuring states, but we do not fit in these parameters because we are fighting a prolonged battle against militancy and dealing with circumstances different from other states. So we necessarily require more Central assistance than other states. In better times the [Central] government has been able to help us out, as they have done in the past four years, but this year they have problems themselves. Their current account balance is in a bad state, they need to control the fiscal deficit. Therefore, their ability to help us is limited. So we need to do within the constraints, and we will do that. What about your own ability to collect revenue to meet the deficit? That has been stepped up. Our VAT realisation is the highest in the country, and our tax revenue has increased by 20 per cent. So we are making our own efforts to improve the financial situation. It is not possible to do it overnight. We need to aggressively raise our capacity for generation of electricity. We have a very ambitious target of taking generation from 2,500 MW to 9,000 MW over the next couple of five-year plans. That is the only way the state can earn money. Our state has no other source of revenue, like coal, gold or iron. There is criticism that you have not really achieved much, that governance is slipping, you are remote and unreachable, and that bureaucrats rule. I am not going to join issue on this kind of talk. Actually, I am fully satisfied with what we have done. In terms of kilometres of roads added or black-topping done, we have achieved much more than in the past. Similar is the case in terms of almost all other infrastructure. Never before have we bought as much electricity to supply to the people as we have this time. In terms of improvement in the transmission and distribution system, our grid management is better. Employment opportunities have been created. If there is anything to be frustrated about it is our inability to sell what we have done. I have often said that if we don’t blow our trumpet no one will blow it for us. There is the classic example of the Gujarat Government. They have blown their trumpet so much that people now believe it to be the Gospel truth. You mentioned Gujarat. What is your assessment of Narendra Modi moving to centre stage? It will have impact in terms of galvanising the BJP cadre, which in an election is priceless. But in terms of actually drawing people to the BJP, I don’t see that happening. I am not sure how he will make up for the BJP the number of seats that he will lose for them in terms of allies not being available. So the equation weighs heavily in favour of the UPA. Thanks to him, the debate has now shifted from governance and development to polarising issues like Ram Mandir and Article 370. If you are going to fight this election on Hindutva, nationalism, 370 and all that stuff, then the advantage is for the UPA. Do you see any change in Pakistan’s approach to India and the Kashmir issue after Nawaz Sharif becoming Prime Minister? There is no doubt the tone and tenor of the Nawaz Sharif government towards India has been good. But it has not meant any change in the ground situation of Jammu & Kashmir. We still have ceasefire violations and we still have attempts at infiltration. Militancy is not a thing of the past and we are still dealing with it. So for us, in terms of day-to-day life, not much has changed. Does the improved atmospherics between the two countries mean that some sort of dialogue will start which will allow J&K to come back on the table? Possibly. But in the short term, I am not expecting any major development because I don’t believe that the establishment in Pakistan will give the new Prime Minister such a long rope.
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Last Word Nisha Desai, who has been nominated by the US President as Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs, is set to make history as she will be the first person of South Asian origin to hold the post.
Today, more than a decade later, Nisha Desai stands on the brink of history. The US President, Barack Obama, has nominated her to serve as Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs. If the US Senate confirms her nomination, she will replace Robert Blake to become the first person of South Asian origin to serve in the State Department’s top post for South Asia policy. Pakistan and Afghanistan, however, are the bailiwick of the US Special Representative James Dobbins. Her nomination was the second piece of good news for the Indian-American community in less than two months. On May 23, the US Senate unanimously confirmed Obama’s pick, Srikanth “Sri” Srinivasan, to be a judge on the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Chandigarh-born Srinivasan is the first person of South Asian origin to serve on a court, seen as a stepping stone to the US Supreme Court.
Impressive record Last week, announcing the nomination of eight individuals, including Nisha Desai, to his administration, Obama said it gave him “great confidence that such dedicated and capable individuals have agreed to join this administration to serve the American people.” Nisha Desai currently serves as Assistant Administrator for Asia at the US Agency for International Development (USAID). She has held that position since September 2010. Interestingly, her top boss at USAID, Raj Shah, is also the highest-ranked Indian-American in the Obama administration. Nisha Desai has served as majority clerk for House Appropriations Committee’s State Department and Foreign Operations subcommittee, which has jurisdiction over the State Department and USAID. In this capacity, she provided staff support to Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey and Subcommittee Chairwoman Nita Lowey in managing the appropriations and oversight of the US international affairs budget. She also served as the Policy and Advocacy Director at
InterAction; at the American Red Cross in the Washington and as an overseas
delegate in Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan.
House-husband She is quick to credit the sacrifices made by her husband, Subrat, who quit his job to raise the couple’s two daughters Safya and Kaya while she pursued a promising career. “He had a very successful private sector career, but he said, ‘No, I am going to stay home with the girls and raise the girls and you go on and pursue your career,’” she said at the annual convention of the National Federation of Indian American Associations in Washington two years ago. “It is incredible, isn’t it? It’s a difficult decision for him to make not just for the sacrifices he’s making in terms of his own career in itself, but because of the pressure in society — in our society, in our Indian-American community — about what is the role of a man and a woman,” she said in remarks reported by India Abroad. Nisha Desai urged a rethink in the Indian-American community about the roles of men and women in society. “We, as Indian-Americans, have to get over this, and have to look for new ways for families to achieve their potential. It’s not about whether the woman stays home or the man stays home,” she said. “Each family has to make those decisions on their own. It’s about creating acceptance that everyone needs to be able to achieve their full potential, and to overcome those societal prejudices.” She also credits the sacrifices of her parents, first generation Indian immigrants. “As first generation immigrants, our parents journeyed far from rural India to pursue the American Dream and a better life for their children. We are grateful for their continued sacrifices on our behalf,” she said. Just like Srinivasan, She is well respected on both sides of the political aisle — among Democrats as well as Republicans — in the US Congress and this will likely make her confirmation a mere formality.
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The
state has witnessed a spate of violent incidents that have resulted in
deaths, including the recent shooting in Gool that left four civilians
dead. Is the security situation deteriorating and is there is a pattern
to these incidents?
Early