SRINAGAR, May 24: Analysts on Friday dismissed a costly development project for occupied Kashmir announced by Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee in Srinagar as an election gimmick designed to woo voters before the forthcoming elections to the held state’s assembly.

The analysts said a string of broken promises from India and a lack of political resolve to settle the Kashmir dispute meant the 1.3-billion-dollar package should be treated with scepticism.

The programme includes a 287 kilometer railway track to link the northern and southern regions of the held state, new and improved roads, setting up agricultural export zones, development of cottage industries and forming new army battalions.

“This reads like the manifesto of the National Conference for the forthcoming elections,” said analyst Hamida Nayeem, a professor at Kashmir University. “We have seen this before and it is not going to be fulfilled.”

“What the Kashmiris need is a political package, not an economic one. India will have to address the root cause of the Kashmir problem which is political. The new package, I am sure, will join a growing list of broken promises by former Indian prime ministers,” Nayeem said.

India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, in Nov 1947 said his government had no desire to impose India’s will on the held state and promised a referendum under the supervision of an impartial international agency. The vote never happened.

In 1980 former prime minister Indira Gandhi laid the foundation stone for a railway linking held Kashmir’s two southern districts.

Her son and prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, who was later assassinated allegedly by Tamil Tigers, in 1986 announced a 100-billion-rupee package for building a six-lane national highway and setting up power projects.

Successive Indian prime ministers — V.P. Singh, Narasimha Rao, Deve Gowda and I.K. Gujral — have promised autonomy, rail links, agricultural university and highways.

Two years ago, Vajpayee’s government said it would set up seven power projects in the state.

All the promises have so far remained on paper only, except for Indira Gandhi’s 1980 pledge for which the work is still in progress.

Nayeem said she was unimpressed by Vajpayee’s initiatives during his fourth visit to the region.

“What is the use of a railway track when militancy still holds fort? Kashmir needs self-determination and a referendum to determine our political future. A meaningful dialogue by three parties, Kashmiris, India and Pakistan, will go a long way,” she said.

“Vajpayee has trodden a beaten path. Kashmiris expected a bold and a different initiative this time,” said analyst Balraj Puri.

“If you pump money into an economically backward state it makes sense. But not in a state where militancy is eating into the very social fabric.

“In Kashmir, only three percent of people live below the poverty line compared to the national average of 30 percent. What is an economic package going to do?” Puri asked.

“It suits the government at state level to say that we got a huge package for the state as elections are around the corner. At the bottom level what does it matter to a common man whose life has been ruined by militancy?”

Occupied Kashmir’s largest circulated daily, Greater Kashmir, summed up the development package by quoting a well-known Urdu poet: “We cannot live on your promises as we have no trust.”—AFP