News
Sunday, September 26, 2010
India announces CBMs to tackle IHK unrest* Sustained dialogue to be launched with Kashmiris
* Detained protesters to be freed, cases to be withdrawn
* Rs 500,000 each for families of those killed in violence
* Forces’ deployment to be reviewed
* Rs 1bn to be given to improve educational infrastructure
By Iftikhar Gilani
NEW DELHI: The Indian government on Saturday took a host of decisions to pacify protests against its rule in the Indian-held Kashmir. The decisions, which follow a high-level delegation’s visit to the disputed region, ranged from releasing detained protesters to initiating a “sustained dialogue” with all sections of society.
Addressing a press conference after a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) on Jammu and Kashmir, Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said the committee met to evolve a strategy to bring the situation under control and announced several confidence-building measures (CBMs). He said the meeting decided to launch a process of sustained dialogue with all sections of the Kashmiri society by appointing mediators led by an eminent person. All Kashmiri youths and students arrested during the protests would be released and charges against them will be withdrawn. It was decided that families of those killed in the violence that started on June 11 would be given Rs 500,000 as compensation.
IHK Chief Minister Omar Abdullah was directed to review arrests made under the Public Safety Act and withdraw cases, wherever appropriate. The committee asked the state government to convene a meeting of the Unified Command, which includes military and state officials, to review deployment of the security forces in the Kashmir Valley, especially Srinagar, in order to reduce the number of bunkers and checkpoints. It also called for a review of ‘disturbed areas’ status for some towns. Most of Kashmir has, for years, been declared as ‘disturbed’, a necessary step for the application of the hated Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA).
However, no discussion was taken on making changes to or scrapping the AFSPA. Chidambaram, seeking to assuage popular anger over the law that gives security forces sweeping powers to shoot, arrest and search people, said the state would seek to limit the areas where the law operates. The meeting also decided to set up two task forces to identify development needs of the disputed region.
The committee decided to give Rs 1 billion to the state government to improve school and college infrastructure. It called for a reopening of all schools, colleges and universities in the state, which were closed due to the ongoing violence. The CBMs were drafted on the basis of the report submitted by an all-parties delegation that visited IHK this week.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk