SRINAGAR, 29 July 2006 — Indian President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam yesterday pleaded for people’s involvement for peace in the troubled northern state of Jammu and Kashmir. Giving a power point presentation at the Sheri Kashmir International Conference Center where he addressed the members of the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council, Kalam said, “Citizens must be allowed to participate in large numbers for curbing terrorism. Those who wish to cooperate in the peace mission must be provided special security.”
Kalam, who arrived here this afternoon on a two-day visit, earlier went to the cold desert region of Ladakh where he interacted with ten thousand schoolchildren besides inaugurating a meditation center there. He also launched Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (literacy for all) program in Ladakh.
Kalam said the security forces must have a mission mode approach to address terrorism here. “The state government should authorize law enforcement agencies to make the state free from terrorists in a mission mode approach.”
He stressed the need for ushering in high-tech surveillance including the use of helicopters so that trouble-spots are detected and reached quickly. “Police and intelligence agencies should work together foresee the problems and defuse the situation.”
The president stressed the need to regain Kashmir’s lost glory as the tourist hub of the country. “Tourism is a major mission and has a tremendous potential for growth in this beautiful land.”
However, the president said that tourism could only flourish if both “the state government and the locals felt responsible for the safety and security of the people who come to this place as tourists.” On the safe return of Kashmiris who had left their homes in the wake of violence in the state, Kalam stressed the need for creating conducive conditions for the return of all the Kashmiris who had left the state.
Kalam propounded the idea of creating economic zones along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir.
“Presently the area close to the LoC is not used for cultivation at all. The State government in consultation with the army may consider allotting the land for horticulture and agriculture utilization. The creation of such economic zones would increase the prosperity of the people living there who would then oppose intervention from wrong elements,” he said. “”There is a need to provide special security in this economic zone,” he added.
Meanwhile, a general strike against Kalam’s visit marred normal life in Kashmir yesterday. Shops, markets, schools, banks, public transport and most of the government offices remained closed even as skeletal private traffic plied on city roads here today. Reports from other district headquarters of the valley indicate general shutdown which was called by the hard-line separatist All Parties Hurriyat Conference chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani here. Unprecedented security and complete traffic restrictions have been enforced on roads and venues on the president’s route.
The Hurriyat has said it had “nothing personal” against Kalam, who is Hindu majority India’s third Muslim president. But it said it had called for a shutdown as Kalam holds the post of “supreme commander” of India’s armed forces which the Hurriyat accuses of “committing human rights abuses.” New Delhi says it routinely probes charges of abuses and punishes those guilty.
Kalam also sought greater economic development in areas near the Line of Control - the de facto border that divides Kashmir between rivals India and Pakistan.
“The state government may consider allotting the land on lease basis in consultation with the army for horticulture and agriculture utilization,” Kalam said. “Once the people participate in the development of the land they themselves will oppose intervention from wrong elements.”
India says rebels, trained in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, cross into Indian Kashmir to fuel the insurgency. Pakistan denies offering any kind of support to the militants.
Ahead of his arrival in Srinagar, Kalam made a brief stopover in Ladakh, a scenic Buddhist-dominated zone of Indian Kashmir. The lakeside venue in Srinagar, where Kalam addressed the lawmakers, was sealed off by the police and paramilitary forces.
“A number of policemen have been deployed around venues where the president will visit,” said police officer Farooq Ahmed as security personnel scoured Srinagar’s main road for mines and hidden explosives.
Security was tightened as police said a grenade blast in the southern town of Kulgam wounded two security men and eight civilians on Thursday.
Indian troops yesterday shot dead three militants in northern Baramulla and Kupwara districts, two of them after they crossed the de facto border, a police spokesman said. Three soldiers were also wounded in a grenade attack in southern Poonch district yesterday.
