After a summer of choreographed peace, this winter in Kashmir has exposed many unpleasant realities of our governance yet again. To create a situation of measured stability – tourism, sports, PR events, conferences, etc. is now our summer fashion. Winters tend to expose everything in their naked reality, because that is the time when choreography goes on holidays.
We live in a world today where governments cannot afford to act ordinary, apathetic, become a cause of colossal suffering of their people and expect good political returns. Kashmiris’ suffering this winter as a result of energy crisis, communication and psychological siege and lack of basic amenities is inexplicable. This suffering will have its political resonance sooner or later,no matter the denial.
At the root of this governance crisis, let us be clear, is J&K’s perpetual political disempowerment – which undermines the capacity of its various state functions to deliver.
J&K’s system of governance is unique because it has more than one steering actor - that is supposedly a civilian government. There is political and administrative micro management from New Delhi, army is very much in the civilian domain and the Police is increasingly seen in the civilian space.
Today, if we draw a flow chart of the roles and responsibilities of various components of the government and other actors in J&K, the end-product would clearly identify the cross cutting overlaps – a hallmark of governance chaos.
When it comes to guiding principles, J&K’s governance has remained a hotchpotch of colonial government functioning, socialist working style – which in itself is characterized by political micro management, military control, central regulation, regional and sub-regional power play and an oversight which goes beyond constitutional parameters.
Kashmir valley’s road linkage with rest of the world collapses because the control, traffic regulation and maintenance of its only road connectivity with the rest of the world are not in civilian hands. Srinagar’s air connectivity does not conform to international standards because it is again beyond the realm of civilian control.
When it comes to the energy crisis, the puzzle of transmission and distribution (T&D) losses is a mystery because there is no white paper based on independent evaluation of what these losses actually are. The civilian government has hardly any authority to determine the use of power in the military and other non-civilian domains, including the illumination of the vast monitoring and control infrastructure on the Line of Control (LoC).
When political disempowerment and interplay of myriad power actors meet, the result is governance inertia. J&K’s unique governance system today runs on a “push-pull”principle - where systems don’t work on their own, rather they need external forces to function.
Under such circumstances, government systems are not tuned to act to situations as per the established mandate and procedures. They are seldom self-starting. This is a dire situation.
It is now normal for some public officials in J&K to act politicians. Government Servants’ Conduct Rules and Classification, Control and Appeal Rules simply don’t matter because political considerations override service rules. This is quite abnormal.
Lately, there is a tendency for the security establishment to do thingsfor which there are established government departments. It has now become a norm for them to undertake development activities and conduct sports competitions which civilian agencies are supposed to do. These activities as public relations exercises are understandable,but they, in the process, create parallel systems which ultimately will undermine the civilian systems.
There is nothing wrong for security establishment to help a civilian government in emergency situations. But if such helpbecomes a norm, then it will undermine whatever remnants of democratic governance remain in Kashmir.
J&K Police is a highly professional and efficient police force which does well in its domain of work. Similarly, under the present circumstances, the army has its own bit of work to do. When a situation evolves where these institutions increasingly undertake civilian functions, it must act as a wake-up call for New Delhi.
While the imperative for New Delhi to revivecertain quantum of political autonomy to J&K is as strong as ever before, J&K state needs something like a Governance Reforms Commission as well. The terms of reference of such a commission must be to recommend a governance model which is in line with today’s needs and realities. That commission must also clearly define the spheres of influence and controlfor civilian and non-civilian authorities.
Pleasant photo-ops and media-friendly PR exercises do sound good, but they would not help long term political stability and democracy in J&K.
(The columnist is presently a technical advisor in international development and based overseas.)

Lastupdate on : Sat, 28 Jan 2012 21:30:00 Mecca time
Lastupdate on : Sat, 28 Jan 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sun, 29 Jan 2012 00:00:00 IST