Srinagar, July 16: Jammu and Kashmir government’s move to have a State Level Crisis Management Committee (SCMC), akin to the existing Unified Command at district levels Friday drew flak from various political quarters even as the ruling National Conference said it was not aware of the development.
Senior National Conference leaders, Ali Muhammad Sagar and Mehboob Beg, feigned ignorance about the move. “I don’t know in which context this decision has been taken. You talk to the Chief Secretary who was part of the meeting. I was not its part,” Sagar told Greater Kashmir.
Dr Mehboob Beg said, “I am yet to see the newspaper and the report about Unified Command at the district level. So it won’t be proper for me to react to it.”
While the Peoples Democratic Party described the move as “subversion of the political process” in Jammu and Kashmir, the Hurriyat Conference (M), on the other hand, calls it as an attempt to “terrorize people at the district level.”
“Involving army and paramilitary forces through SCMC at the district level is simply disgusting,” said the PDP president, Mehbooba Mufti. “By taking such measures, the state government has itself subverted the entire political process in the state.”
Pertinently, the state government had Thursday come up with a new Crisis Management Plan constituting state, divisional and district level ‘Crisis Management Committees’ to deal with the ongoing situation. “The committees comprise senior officials from civil administration, army, air force, paramilitary forces, police, and state and central intelligence agencies. SCMC, akin to the existing Unified Command, will be headed by chief secretary as its chairman. The other members include Director General of Police, Commander 15 Corps/16 Corps/9 Corps, Administrative Secretary, Health and Medical Education Department, ADGP CID, JD IB Kashmir/ JD IB Jammu, Commissioner SB, J&K/ Additional Commissioner, SB, Kashmir, Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir/Jammu, IG, BSF, Kashmir/Jammu, IG,CRPF, Kashmir/Jammu, IGP, Kashmir/Jammu, IGP, Home Guards and Civil Defence, AOC/Station Commander, Air Force, DG, Fire and Emergency Services. IGP, Headquarters will be the convener of the committee,” an official handout had said.
Mehbooba said rather than lessening the role of Army and paramilitary forces or withdrawing them completely, the government was involving them more and more. “And that is highly condemnable. First they called Army to deal with the situation. Now such steps prove that it is a Martial Law like situation. It is a façade that there is an elected government in the state. At least the steps like having a Unified Command at the district level negate the notion that there is a popular government. Such steps are subversion of the authority of the government and it will certainly fuel the anger,” she told Greater Kashmir.
Mehbooba said intermingling of army, paramilitary forces with administrative issues was a lethal combination. “After 2003, people had started acknowledging the role of the elected representatives to some extent. But involving army in administrative issues undermines and erodes the authority of the representatives. This is simply looking at the Kashmir crisis from the security prism,” she said.
Reacting to the move, the Hurriyat Conference (M) chairman, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, said the attempts like having a Unified Command at the district level was aimed at “terrorizing people.” “Already the entire state has been handed over to the security agencies. The administration is nowhere in sight. Now by having something like Unified Command at the district level is just an attempt to suppress the voice of people by terrorizing them. All this is done under a planned conspiracy,” he told Greater Kashmir.
Kashmir, Mirwaiz said, was not an administrative problem as is being portrayed. “It is time to take political measures on ground to address the Kashmir problem. It is not an administrative issue. So tactics like having UC at district level won’t deter people from continuing their peaceful struggle,” he said.

Lastupdate on : Fri, 16 Jul 2010 21:30:00 Mecca time
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