SRINAGAR: In an important development, Jammu and Kashmir Awami National Conference has expressed deep concern over the worsening security situation in Kashmir as is evident in the fear psychosis that has gripped the newly elected Sarpaches and Panches.
In a statement issued here Wednesd
ay, party’s Senior Vice-President, Muzaffar Shah, said hundreds of Sarpanches and Panches in South Kashmir had quit their posts over the past few days in the wake of threats and had decided to live like common people. Due to this, he said, a sharp increase in the expenditure on their security was inevitable.
Shah said the annual security expenditure which was about Rs 90 crore in 1990-91, had gone up to Rs 800 crore now. Over the past 22 years, it has aggregated to around Rs 10,000 crore. In view of the enhanced threat perception, he said, the expenditure on the security of members of the village hierarchy was bound to shoot up further bringing the public exchequer under added strain.
The ANC leader urged the ruling coalition to have an objective understanding of the grave ground situation in Jammu and Kashmir. “Unless the political uncertainty that has bedeviled the state over the decades is addressed earnestly, the economic downslide will continue to be a major cause of concern,†he warned.
Shah said it was time for the coalition ministers to give up their diversionary tactics and frivolous indulgence and instead focus on the real issues confronting the state and its people.
