Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir National Conference Member of Parliament from Anantnag Hasnain Masoodi on Sunday said the new industrial policy would not fetch any result without taking into cognizance political aspirations of people of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh.
In a statement he emphasised that the recently announced Rs 28,400 crore Industrial Scheme would not fetch any results in absence of an aggressive peace initiative to address the political aspirations of the people of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh.
Masoodi has reminded the Government that earlier such announcements – Rs 6165 crore package announced by Late Prime Minister Vajpayee in 2002 and Rs. 80,000 crore package announced by Prime Minister Modi in 2015, have not changed anything on ground.
“The alienation, despite such announcements, has been ever increasing and that the unconstitutional measures of 5th August 2019, nothing less than an misadventure, have further widened the gulf. Hundreds of lives have been lost in about a hundred encounters, quite a few in urban areas of Srinagar and Jammu. Government does not even, one and a half years after assault on the special status of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh, muster courage to restore the Internet at the speed available in other parts of the Country exposing millions of students and businessmen to immense loss and inconvenience The preventive detention law, an anathema to Constitution, continues to be invoked with impunity and young and old detained hundreds of miles away from their homes, “he said.
In such a scenario he said the Industrial Development Scheme, in absence of a result oriented peace initiative, is like changing the bed linen of a hospital bed instead of providing medical care to cure the patient.
Masoodi has implored trade bodies like CC, CCI, PHD not to merely parrot the welcome statements made for political reasons or remain confined to OTS, Subsidies and other Incentives but recognise universal role of such bodies and articulate the public sentiment in a lawful, dignified and effective manner. The trade bodies must realise that peace and development go hand in hand and peace would not be possible without political aspirations respected and addressed. It is to be realised that there can be no “islands of prosperity “ in a “sea of pain and agony”, the statement adds.
It is stated that while the Prime Minister, as announced by Home Minister at Imphal on 27th December 2020, “gifted” ILP – Inner Line Permit to Manipur, the Prime Minister painfully without any cause or justification “denuded” Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh of Special Status guaranteed under the Constitution, Delhi Agreement 1952 and Kashmir Accord 1975 taking away land rights, control over resources and employment rights of 1.25 crore Permanent Residents of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh and paving way for transfer of thousands of acres land. Under the ILP system , the statement reminds, a Citizen cannot enter a ILP State without Permit or stay for more than the period allowed under the Permit, while Jammu and Kashmir had far less autonomy under special status taken away last year. Masoodi has asked the Government of India to undo the 5th August 2019 decisions, restore autonomy provided under Delhi Agreement 1952, initiate dialogue with all the stakeholders for lasting peace and open the historical and traditional routes between all the regions of Jammu and Kashmir to facilitate trade, travel and people people contact in an important region of South Asia.
