'Healing The Physical, Psychological And Emotional Wounds'

Objectives

The goal of the coalition government is to heal the physical, psychological and emotional wounds inflictedby 14 years of militancy, to restore the rule of law in Jammu and Kashmir, to complete the revival of thepolitical process, which was begun by the recently-concluded elections, and to request the Government of Indiato initiate and hold, sincerely and seriously, wide-ranging consultations and dialogue, without conditions,with the members of the legislature and other segments of public opinion in all the three regions of theState, to evolve a broad-based consensus on restoration of peace with honour in the State.

Ensuring safety of life and property and restoring dignity and honour of all persons in the State will bethe foremost concern of the Government. The coalition government will take all possible measures within itspower, to protect all the people in Jammu and Kashmir from violence and militancy, whether originating fromwithin or outside the State, and to encourage those young men from the State who have resorted to militancy toreturn to their families and the mainstream, with the belief that they will receive security and justiceaccording to law. At the same time, the State Government will fully cooperate with the Government of India incombating cross-border militancy originating from Pakistan.

Restoring peace

The Government shall review all cases of detunes being held without trial for long periods. It shallrelease all detunes held on non-specific charges, those not charged with serious crimes and those who havebeen held on charges that are such that the period they have spent in jail exceeds their possible sentence.

The Government shall review the operation of all such laws that have been used in the past decade todeprive people of their basic rights to life and liberty for long periods of time, without due legal process.Where the Government deems that some special powers need to be retained, it will ensure, by institutingcareful and transparent pre-screening and monitoring procedures that such powers are used sparingly and thoseentrusted with them are held accountable for any misuse.

All cases of custodial killings and violations of human rights shall be investigated and personsresponsible for them will be identified and punished appropriately.

The Government shall strengthen the State Human Rights Commission to make it an effective instrument foraddressing the grievances of the people.

The Government shall formulate a comprehensive relief and rehabilitation package for those familiesaffected by militant violence. The ex-gratia relief at Rs. one lakh per deceased person in militant violencewill be raised to Rs. 2 lakhs. In recruitment to Government posts, preference will be given to one member ofeach family where an innocent member has been killed in militancy-related violence.

The Government shall implement special schemes to rehabilitate former militants who have forsworn violenceand rejoined the mainstream.

The Government will reach out to the children, widows and parents of the deceased militants and makeendeavours to provide education to the militancy-affected orphans.

The Government reaffirms that the return of Kashmiri Pandits to their motherland is an essential ingredientof Kashmiriat. It will seek the cooperation of all elements in the society to create an atmosphere conduciveto their safe return.

The Government will approach the Centre for providing adequate financial assistance for the relief andrehabilitation of the migrants from various disturbed areas of Jammu and Ladakh as well.

Persons living close to the Line of Control and the International Border face special difficulties due torecurrent tension and cross-border violence. Permanent shelters will be constructed in all vulnerable areas toprevent loss of life. The Government will also devise a scheme to provide, wherever feasible, alternative landto such families in safe zones.

The Government shall pursue the matter of de compensation to those people from the border areas of Jammuand Kashmir who have suffered loss of crop and cattle due to security operations near the LoC and theInternational Border.

The Government shall give top priority to ridding the administration of corruption and nepotism, especiallyin the award of Government jobs and contracts and places in institutions of higher learning. It will endeavourto make the selection process to all those positions and institutions fully transparent.

The Government shall establish an institution or "Ehtisab" to look into complaints receivedagainst the Chief Minister/Ministers and MLAs. The appointment to this post shall be made by the ChiefMinister in consultation with the Chief Justice of the High Court and the Leader of Opposition in theAssembly.

A commission will be set up to make recommendations for reform of the police administration to make it amore effective and humane instrument for investigation of crimes and for enforcement of law and order. TheGovernment will ensure that the personnel in the Special Operation Group (SOG) are assimilated/relocatedwithin the regular police establishment.

The coalition government considers that there are enough laws in existence to deal with militancy.Therefore, it will not implement POTA in the State.

Employment-oriented development strategy

The Government shall make sincere efforts to ensure that all the three regions of the State — Jammu,Kashmir and Ladakh receive an equitable share of resources available for development. It shall set up a StateFinance Commission with statutory status for this purpose and the effort will be to ensure that the backlog ofdevelopment and employment at the regional and district levels is made good within a specified time frame.

The Government shall press upon the Centre for the inclusion of Dogri in the Eighth Schedule of theConstitution.

The recommendations of the Wazir Commmission shall be duly considered. The Government shall grant fullpowers to the Autonomous Hill Council for Leh which has hitherto been deprived of its legitimate powers.Efforts will be made to persuade the people of Kargil to accept similar Autonomous Hill Council for Kargil.The Government will press upon the Centre to connect the Kargil airport to Jammu, Srinagar and Delhi.

The Delimitation Commission for the delimitation of Legislative Assembly constituencies shall be set up asrequired by law.

The Government will give top priority to the preparation of an employment-oriented medium-term developmentplant laying particular emphasis on the development of agriculture, horticulture, handicrafts, tourism,information technology, food processing and environment-friendly industrial activities. Efforts will be madeto evolve a development strategy which provides at least one productive job per family.

A new scheme will be prepared to universalise access to elementary education for all children. Services ofunemployed graduates will be utilised for this purpose.

A comprehensive plan for the development of environment-friendly tourism in all the three regions of theState will be prepared bringing the hinterland districts on the tourist map of the State. Special measureswill be taken to facilitate and protect pilgrim-related tourism.

Panchayati Raj institutions will be given both functional autonomy and adequate financial support formaking them an effective instrument for decentralised development. Early elections will be held wherever theyare due.

Keeping in view that women have borne the brunt of violence in more ways than one over the past decade,special welfare programmes will be designed for women such as widow pensions, subsistence allowance forwomen-headed households and self-employment schemes for young women.

Special emphasis will be laid on promotion of welfare of backward communities including Gujjars, Bakarwalsand Gaddis, scheduled castes and tribes.

The Government will strive for the extension of scheduled tribes states to the Pahari-speaking populationof the State.

Effective measures will be taken to check unplanned and unauthorised growth of towns and cities. Jammu andSrinagar municipalities will be given the status of corporations to ensure orderly development of all civicfacilities.

Effective measures will be taken for orderly growth of towns and cities and for provision of basic civicamenities thereof.

All the three regions of the State have got religious minorities which face special problems. TheGovernment shall give full protection to the minorities and safeguard their rights. A minority commission willbe constituted to look after the interests of minority communities.