The Hindu : Militants have no say in J&K, says Mufti

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jan 22, 2003

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National

Militants have no say in J&K, says Mufti

By Mahesh Vijapurkar

MUMBAI JAN. 21. Militants, going by what the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, said today at a press conference here, do not have much voice on social issues such as wearing of the `burqa' and on where a woman should be positioned in society. Nor would women personnel in the police force in the State give up their jobs as demanded.

In fact, his Government was starting two police stations to be exclusively run by women. Talking to the media after a two-day visit here, he said things were improving in Jammu and Kashmir, making it congenial for tourists as well as investors.

Mr. Sayeed played down the pasting of a poster in a mosque in Rajouri stipulating a deadline of January 25 for meeting the pan-Islamic Harkat-e-Jehad-e-Islami's demand on `burqa'.

``As a Muslim, let me tell you that there is an air of modernity in the State and in this context, the militants' writ will not run." In fact, women played a major role in the State police.

At the moment, his Government was working on the basis of consensus, involving "the Congress'' and wanted a wider consensus on the State, as a national issue, involving even the BJP.

Even internationally a consensus was emerging, with the British High Commissioner, Rob Young, asking militants to eschew violence, Mr. Sayeed said. "At the moment, opportunity is knocking on our doors'' and it must be utilised. If the State can be brought out of the "quagmire,'' things would be different and "if we address internal dimensions as we are doing within the State, outsiders cannot stoke the fires".

Everyone was happily coming together. The focus was on changing the mindsets of the people, he said.

Plea to RBI Governor

Mr. Sayeed asked the Reserve Bank of India Governor, Bimal Jalan, to "revamp'' the banking services in his State as virtually all the rural branches of even major nationalised banks had "closed down.'' The situation has developed over the years, as due to insecurity people have left their jobs as was the case with other vital services such as Posts and Telegraphs.

One of the options was to ask more locals to man the positions. Mr. Sayeed had met the Union Finance Minister, Jaswant Singh, on bringing banking back to life. "The meeting with the RBI Governor was a follow-up. He has to coordinate and guide'' the required moves.

``Almost all rural branches of banks have closed down or are not staffed at all," he said. Getting banking back to its feet was one of the priorities of his Government.

In the past two days, he met scores of corporate heads, industry lobbies and other investors on what was essentially "an on-going process.'' While he hoped that Bollywood can go to Kashmir to shoot films, Mr. Sayeed was aiming at wooing more tourists.

``It is quite normal there, as it is in Mumbai. Yes, there are militants but there are militants in Delhi also,'' he pointed out and asked people to "come there and feel'' the normality.

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