Rakib Altaf
SRINAGAR, Nov 27: Kashmir lost tens of thousands of people and suffered huge economic losses only to keep India safe from a bloody rebellion which started in the state in early nineties, chief Minister Omar Abdullah said on Tuesday, demanding New Delhi’s ‘special attention’ to the strife-torn region’s growth.
“The waging of militancy was against entire nation and Jammu and Kashmir was a theatre for enemies to operationalize its designs,” Abdullah told a seminar on ‘Building Capacities for Sustainable Growth’ in Jammu district organised by ASSOCHAM India.
“The state was injured while protecting the country.”
Over two decades of militancy-related violence have left nothing untouched in the mountainous Jammu and Kashmir state, once a prosperous and easy-going society. Authorities say nearly 50,000 people including women and children have died and property worth billions has been destroyed.
“We have sacrificed life and property, thousands of women were widowed and children orphaned. The progress of the state remained stand still, thousands of youth were rendered jobless and trade and industries received a serious jolt,” Abdullah said.
Now, as the conflict is gradually waning, trade and other economic activities are picking up, the chief minister seems quick to ask the central government to help accelerate the state’s economic growth.
‘Sacrificed for the nation’
But Abdullah has demanded that the state be treated on a higher priority basis than other states which need financial help.
“Do not take us at par with other states. We have been on the forefront to safeguard the country. We have sacrificed for the nation,” he said.
“When the entire country was reaping the benefits of liberalization of industrial policy, Jammu and Kashmir fought the militancy war for the country.”
He said clubbing the state with other hilly states which needed financial support “falls short of justice”.
He has asked New Delhi to sanction a rail coach-manufacturing industry so that the state could overcome industrial backwardness and economic shortcomings. This could be done as the central government sanctioned a similar factory in militancy-hit Punjab state “for the same reasons”, he said.
Abdullah also emphasized on the transfer of Salal, Dulhasti and Uri power projects to the state.
“Justice demands that we should be compensated and that too substantially for this reason”, he added.
(Feedback: [email protected])
