People believe Kashmir ruled by Army, Police: Aiyar

  Pattan (Baramulla), Apr 27: Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister Mani Shanker Aiyar Saturday said people in Kashmir have a strong notion that they are being ruled by Army, police and paramilitary forces.
“If Panchayat Raj is implemented in letter and spirit in Jammu and Kashmir, people would say Azadi has been achieved,” Aiyar said addressing students at the SSM College of Engineering and Technology here. “They (people) still believe it is Army, police, paramilitary forces which rule them.”
“In Kashmir, police are killing its own people. And if a killing by Army takes place, a court martial is subsequently held in the matter while as civilian cases regarding the killings by police are gathering dust in government offices,” Aiyar alleged.
Aiyar, a strong votary of implementation of Panchayat Raj to empower people across India, said the governments of India and J&K have failed people in Kashmir.
“Change has to take place from the bottom by implementing Panchayat Raj system. It doesn’t come from keeping men with guns in a place where a mother fears whether her son comes back home after school,” he said.
Noting that it was J&K Police that killed people in 2008, 2009 and 2010, Aiyar said, “It is only the magnitude of Army deployment that is causing the problem, otherwise the fault does not lie with AFSPA. J&K Police are unfortunately not well-trained,” he said. The Congress leader said it was absence of a secular ideal both at New Delhi and Srinagar that worsened the conditions in Kashmir. “I visited Kashmir in 1971, it was a peaceful place. But when I came back again in 1991, it was traumatic. Things were on boil. People were shouting Azadi, Azadi, Azadi. It looked like a second terrible partition,” he said.
“That year I was accompanying Rajiv Gandhi to Kashmir. He tried to talk to people but security forces didn’t let him. People shouted to him Azadi, Azadi. That day he (Rajiv) said if we are not going to talk, it is going to be worse.”
Aiyar said that afterwards people defied guns and militants and cast votes. “By participating in polls, people of Kashmir declared that they are very much a part of India. Imagine Kashmir a separate country ruled by a dictator - that’s not Azadi,” he said.
The former Union Minister said Azadi in Kashmir would come from within by settling issues at domestic level. “The J&K Panchayat Act is an outstanding piece of legislation. I don’t think the State can adopt Central Act because under provisions nothing is applicable to J&K until the J&K Assembly decides to adopt it,” Aiyar said.
He said people would feel a sense of freedom if they are given control to run their lives. “Sheikh Abdullah fought against the tyranny of Maharaja. But what was specifically great about him is that he sought social and economic freedom for J&K, rather than a political one,” Aiyar said.

ON AFZAL HANGING:
Aiyar said the hanging of Afzal Guru on “circumstantial evidence” to satisfy the “collective conscience” was disappointing. “I believe he had not committed a crime that was to be culminated by a hanging,” he said.

ON CHINA INCURSION:
Aiyar said it would be a grave mistake to say that Chinese Army has crossed over to Indian side. “They have not crossed to our side. And moreover we are in a process of talks with China. A meeting has already been scheduled,” he said.
“Similarly we don’t have any problem with Pakistan. We have been arranging flag meetings in case anything goes wrong at the Line of Control. I believe we must have uninterrupted dialogue with Pakistan as it is going through much complex problems,” the Congress leader said.

ON SEPARATISTS:
In reply to a question about the stand of Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani that Kashmir was ‘forcibly occupied by India,’ Aiyar said, “Geelani is a failed professor of history. But he is welcome to correct his distortions of history. I am more than ready to give history lessons to him as he doesn’t understand the truth,” he said.
“And that is why people of Kashmir have never voted for this failed professor of history. I think if he would apply for a teacher post in history, say in SSM College, he wouldn’t succeed,” the Congress leader said.
Aiyar, however, said he always believed talks with separatist leaders were must. “But there are some people who don’t want to talk. Moreover, I am disappointed over the pace of talks,” he said.
He said effective diplomacy means to meet Geelani and other pro-freedom leaders “even if they wish not to.”

ON MEDIA:
Taking Times Now Editor Arnab Goswani head-on, Aiyar said TV journalism was playing a negative role in India. “Arnab is running after ratings. He has now become a diplomat rather than a journalist. People like him are harming normal diplomacy and Parliament,” he said.

ON PANCH KILLINGS:
Aiyar said Panchs would have not been killed if the government had empowered them fully. “Let government make Sarpanch Chief Minister of his area, nobody would dare even to touch him,” he said.

UN INTERVENTION IN K-ISSUE:
Aiyar said the United Nations was not an effective body to solve problems of Kashmiris. “I am totally opposed to any UN intervention in Kashmir. It has never been an organization of justice,” he said. “What has it (UN) done in Afghanistan, Palestine, Chechnya and regarding Guantanamo Bay?” he asked.