News Agency of Kashmir
Srinagar : Jammu and Kashmir Governor Lt Gen (Retd) S K Sinha today said “integrated development and responsive administration together with effective anti-militancy operations are necessary for meeting the challenges of insurgency like situations”.
Considered to be an expert with vast experience in tackling insurgency within and outside the country, General Sinha, in an interactive session with high ranking Army, Navy and Air Force officers of Higher Command Course, currently on tour to the Valley, at Raj Bhavan differentiated insurgency with terrorism and said that in both cases winning of the hearts and minds of people was imperative.
“We cannot succeed on military strength alone, a massive economic development and psychological initiatives have to be taken to ensure that a mind change can be brought about”, the Governor said while replying to a volley of questions on the prevailing situation in Kashmir, measures being taken to combat terrorism and initiatives taken for economic development of Jammu and Kashmir.
The Governor referred to the psychological initiatives and said that these have worked very well in Assam. ‘In Kashmir too, our emphasis is to speed up development and mitigate the problems of the people, without ignoring the aspirations of any section of the society’, he added.
General Sinha said that Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has provided a massive Rs 24000 crores special package for Jammu and Kashmir to steer the State to development and prosperity. The State Government has fully activated developmental machinery on ground and the results have started percolating down to the people. He said a drive has also been launched against corruption and measures are underway to assuage the genuine aspirations of the people living in all the three regions
of the State.
‘Jammu and Kashmir has suffered during the past 19 years and the infrastructure raised over years with massive funding got shattered due to terrorist violence. Infrastructure development and improving the quality of life of the people of the State is thus a national imperative’, he maintained.
However, he made it clear that Jammu and Kashmir is much better off than most parts of the country in terms of people below poverty line. Similarly, he said, per capita central funding for development in Jammu and Kashmir is higher than other States.