Chennai, Mar 21: Participants at a seminar on Kashmir here Monday called for “good governance and perception management in Jammu and Kashmir to bring complete normalcy to the state.”
"Deterrence, governance and perception management should be coercive in bringing normalcy to Kashmir", Air Commodore Arjun Subramaniam, air headquarters, New Delhi, said at a seminar on "Conflict in Kashmir: Challenges Ahead" organised by department of defence and strategic studies at the University of Madras today.
Stating that the country needs to be equipped to deter Pakistan from entering into another proxy war, he said good governance and perception management were the need of the hour in Jammu and Kashmir.
He said with the United States withdrawing its troops from Afghanistan there was possibility of Taliban infiltrating into India and Pakistan.
"With the US withdrawing its forces from Afghanistan, Taliban infiltrating into India and Pakistan cannot be ruled out. If that happens, Taliban can get back to Kashmir and expand the war there", Arjun said.
Terming that the dialogue between Pakistan and India has become "intractable", Lieutenant General Prakash Menon said "good governance is a tough challenge today but only it would take care all of us (particularly in Jammu & Kashmir)", he said.
Major General Rajavelu, officers of the training academy, Chennai, in his address said all the armed forces units were asked to be "sensitive" in addressing the needs of people (of Jammu & Kashmir).
He recalled that during his tenure in Jammu & Kashmir, there was no proper road connectivity and even no telephone connection.
"Today you talk about 3G and 4G coming in. But for 40,000 people in a valley of Jammu and Kashmir, there was no telephone", he said, adding that after writing a letter to the then Union IT and communication minister Dayanidhi Maran the issue was sorted out saying the ministry assured of providing a telephone exchange.

Lastupdate on : Mon, 21 Mar 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Mon, 21 Mar 2011 18:30:00 GMT
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