Chief Minister took the initiative of holding a cabinet meeting at the border village of Tangdhar in North Kashmir, far away from the corridors of power in the Secretariat at Srinagar. He has not only revived but improved on his grandfather’s tradition of holding cabinet and district level meetings at district headquarters. Teethwal-Karnah is strategically very crucial area and its routes have been used by most of the militants who sneaked into this side of the cease-fire line. Its thick forests and deep declensions offer safe havens to infiltrators. It is through these jungle routes that hundreds of Kashmiri youth were lured to cross over to Kishen Ganga valley and then move towards Muzaffarabad and other terrorist training camps established by the ISI.
Apart from this, this entire area suffered badly as a result of sever earthquake a couple of years ago which devastated habitats and rendered many people homeless. The Government had swung into action and many steps were taken to come to the rescue of the affected people. However the effects of a big tragedy of that sort cannot be overcome in a short time. This is one of the reasons why the Government wanted to take stock of things on ground and do something more to mitigate the suffering of the people.
Holding a cabinet meeting at the farthest village on the LoC conveys more than what meets the eye. First and foremost message is that the civilian administration is very effective and functional even at the remotest places on the border. This speaks of the confidence of the Government to run its writ effectively all over the State. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, the economic situation of the region and the problems of the people living in border areas could not be better voiced and understood than by various groups of people drawn from different strata of society meeting the CM in person and conveying their problems to him. The CM drove the 180 miles to reach Tangdar with the main purpose of conducting on spot survey of developmental work and the functioning of the Government. It meant that entire Government machinery in the district of Kupwara had to gear up to the visit of the Chief Minister and the entire Government machinery.
The hard fact is that our border areas are still backward in many respects particularly education, healthcare, sanitation, roads and power supply. Their development is government’s first concern. That is the point in Chief Minister holding regular meetings of District Development Boards. The holding of cabinet meeting at Tangdar is part of that exercise in which the Government and authority want to come too close to the people. It has to be remembered that the border areas in the State are more significant in present circumstances than what they ordinarily would be. The first and foremost importance of our border areas touching with PoK is their strategic location. And our Army and other paramilitary forces like BSF are taking care of that aspect. But besides that it is very important that development of the area keeps step with the level of security because the two go together hand in hand in a situation where the enemy is keen to exploit any opportunity it can get hold of. People on the border cannot be left illiterate and uneducated. They have to be educated not only in the sense of 3Rs but their political and social education and awareness need to be streamlined. They need to be told about the benefits of democracy, pluralism and secularism which are the fundamental pillars of our political dispensation. They need to be educated on their civil and political rights. They need to be told that the army that guards the border and protects them is their own army and they are part of it. They need to be told that the Army and security forces are ready to help them in living a peaceful and productive life and various programmes undertaken by the Army like organizing health camps at remote border villages or helping organize cultural events and sports meets and sending young boys on Bharat Darshan visits to know other parts of the country etc. are all ample evidence that the Army is part of larger civil society of the country. It is exclusively the responsibility of political leadership of the State to educate the people and help them develop understanding with the security forces. Our understanding is that organizing cabinet or sub-cabinet meetings in border villages in different districts of the valley will naturally bring in the contribution of the Army and security forces in alleviating the grievances of the people or in providing them more facilities of a happy life. Why should not our elected representatives in the assembly and especially those coming from border areas like Teetwal, Uri, Gurez etc. establish rapport with the Army and jointly focus on disseminating social education and awareness among the masses of people. In this connection let us recall the historical role played by eminent public leaders like late Maulana Masudi in Teetwal and late Jail Baba in Bandipore during the early days of popular Government. The Chief Minister has promised to look into their grievances and in particular has laid emphasis on spreading network of roads that would connect major towns and localities and thus facilitate movement of men and material in border areas of the state. This is a right step in right direction.
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