JK people blindly followed leaders over years in response to rhetoric that promised moon:Mufti

   Srinagar, September 03 (Vijay Kumar) –Former Indian Home Minister and Peoples Democratic Party patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed said people of the state had blindly followed leaders over the years in response to rhetoric that promised moon. But countless sacrifices later we find ourselves robbed of even what had been guaranteed to the state in the constitution and through solemn accords, he added.

Mufti was addressing in a party convention at Gandrebal in Kashmir. Citing the example of the water resources and land, the prime inputs to the character, identity and economy of the state, Mufti said we had lost control over both. He said in spite of the protection laws
against land to outsiders which helps the state retain its distinctiveness, large chunks were unauthorisedly occupied as was recently revealed in the state legislature. These lands are unparalleled in there aesthetic and economic value and could be used to build one of the finest tourist infrastructures of the world, but are unfortunately out of bounds for the locals and getting degraded in the process.

Emphasizing the economic aspect of the self rule Mufti said continued tensions and unresolved conflict in and around the state had adversely affected the enterprise of the people of Kashmir. Their inherent skills for trade and industry were curbed by a constant fight for survival. The loss of control over our natural resources like water added to the problems leading to a false impression that  the state was  a begging  bowl and  always destined to be so. This resulted in a mindset where the youth were forced to beg for crumbs from the government rather that combine their skills, ability and resources of the state to define a new economic destiny for them.

Stressing the need for a people’s movement within the democratic space of the country for renegotiation of terms with NHPC, Mufti said it was encouraging that an opinion was getting built in the state on this subject. He said the recent debates in the state assembly and the discussions in media had helped in putting the whole economic crisis of the state in its right perspective. He said it was now becoming clear that the state on the economic front could have been a prosperous surplus entity with slight facilitation from the centre rather than a basket case that has to be fed even for the salaries of its employees.

Mufti said the self rule provides a package for releasing the state from the sense of siege that has overtaken it because of the closure of its natural links with the outside world. Once these routes are opened he said, all the regions of the state including Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh would find a new social and economic activity that could bring them out of the dead end situation they have been finding themselves in ever since the partition of the subcontinent.

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