New Delhi: Chairman of the National Commission for Minorities Wajahat Habibullah has proposed autonomy for Jammu and Kashmir as determined by the state assembly with power to approve the final state Plan as one of the measures to resolve the Kashmir problem. Delivering a lecture on "Kashmir: The Present and The Future" at the Institute of Defence Services and Analysis (IDSA), the former Chief Information Commissioner also suggested regional level council on the lines of Hill Development Councils in Kashmir, Jammu, Ladakh, with Planning Committees.
He also proposed the setting up of Zilla Councils at district level with district development boards and village councils, besides Halqa majlis (panchayats) in various parts of the state.
Talking about the problems in J & K, Habibullah said the first one pertained to the claim of Pakistan on Kashmir and the second pertained to "the complicated, interesting and pressing problem of Kashmiris themselves". Habibullah said though there is a popularly-elected government since 2002 in the state with a young chief minister, the "continuing custodial deaths" and lack of opportunity for youth was leading to their alienation.
Habibullah said that despite the Prime Minister?s Rs 35,000 crore economic package and Kashmir interlocutors having a quiet dialogue and India-Pakistan also in dialogue, there were also "some negatives" which were not resolving the problems in Jammu and Kashmir.
Among the negatives pointed out by Habibullah were lack of Block Development Councils, no election in 136 blocks, no substantial achievement by 2,700 Halqa (village) panchayats and dysfunctional Commissions in the state, besides military presence in civilian habitations.
PTI