Amit Kushari (IAS Retd)
When I look back at those years when I had started my service in J&K, memories of many once- powerful bureaucrats of the state come vividly to my mind. In those days there was no internet, there were no STD,ISD connections in telephones, no Fax, no Television. Only manual type writers were there. Jammu and Kashmir being a mountainous state without any railway connection was literally quite cut off from mainland India. Memories of J&K being an independent princely state was still fresh in the minds of the people. Even the Civil Service regulations of J&K Govt. mentioned in its travelling allowance rules, “Officers travelling on work to India would be entitled to daily allowance at such and such rates.” Later this was amended as, “Officers travelling to other Indian states……”. In popular perception any place beyond Lakhanpur was India—as if J&K was not India. Buses going from Jammu to Pathankot or Jallandhar would have conductors yelling, “India jaane wale sawari es gaddi te chad jao….”
When I reported at Udhampur as a new Assistant Commissioner, I was welcomed by a very polite and gentle Kashmiri Deputy Commissioner who had been promoted to the IAS from the KAS. Realising that I had come from a very distant place in search of a career, the mild mannered DC appeared to be sorry at my predicament. He asked me, “Aap ke Hindustan mein bahut garmi padti hogi .” When I nodded in approval he told me that he had never been to India and that he had never seen a train. Later on when there was an animal fair somewhere in Punjab and the DC was asked to depute an officer from the SFDA (Small farmer’s development agency), we advised the DC to go himself so that he could get a glimpse of India as well as the train. I donot know whether Mr Ghulam Mustafa Khan is alive today or not. If he is , he must be above 90 years of age.
Those days S. A.S. Qadri Financial Commissioner was a very powerfulbureaucrat of J&K. So was Mr Bharat Bhushan Chowdhry in Jammu. Mr Bharat Bhushan was a very good hearted bureaucrat who enjoyed talking. He would often regale his audience by recounting stories of his youth when he was working as Naib Tehsildar or Tehsildar. He was familiar with almost every village of Jammu province. The last time I saw him, he lived in Green Belt Park of Jammu and was still leading an active life in sales promotion in a well known company. Another prominent bureaucrat who comes to my mind is Education Commissioner, Mr Agha Ashraf Ali, who was a very famous educationist inducted into the IAS. I have seldom seen such a scholarly erudite bureaucrat. One day he asked me, “Do you know which book is the best for ancient Indian history?” When I pleaded ignorance he said , “Al Hind –written by the famous traveller, Al Baruni. In this book you Bengali people have been referred to as ‘Men from the lower Ganges’. ” Even today after so many years I cannot forget the words of this scholarly man. Besides Aga Ashraf Ali I remember the affectionate guidance of bureaucrats like Mr D. N. Kotwal. He was Divisional Commissioner, Jammu when I was D.C. Poonch facing the Poonch rebellion of 1978-79.
Those days very few state subjects came in as direct recruit IAS/IPS officers. The situation is totally different now. Many Kashmiris, Dogras and Ladakhis are coming out successful in the UPSC examinations — some even topping the exams. At present a vast majority of the IAS/ IPS officers in the state are state subjects. A Kashmiri boy by the name of Parvez Rasool is representing India in international cricket. The people of the state are now fully aware of their rights and powers, as a constituent of the Indian union. In 1998 one casting vote of a Kashmiri MP (Mr. Soz) brought down the Govt. of India.
The people of Kashmir valley may be craving for higher autonomy but there can be no denial that today’s Kashmiris, including the bureaucrats, are far more identified with India than before. All this is due to advanced technology. No credit to the rulers in Delhi. Now we will never find a simple Kashmiri bureaucrat like Mr Ghulam Mustafa Khan who had never seen a train, who had never set his foot on the soil of ‘India’.
(The author is former Financial Commissioner J&K. Feedback to the author at 09748635185 or amitkus@hotmail.com)
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