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| Empowerment alone can't ensure Panches survival | | Behind the veil | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, Sept 26: Not only the PCC Chief, Saif-ud-Din Soz, but even the Congress Working Committee, the apex body of the AICC, are concerned over the delay in the empowerment of the Panchayat committees in Jammu and Kashmir. Well the CWC discussed the issue of empowerment of the Panchayats after the attention of its members had been caught by the continued armed attacks on the Panches and Sarpanches. Though three Panchayat members have been killed till date in the Kashmir valley scare has gripped the Valley and some parts of the Jammu region. It was but natural that the CWC discussed the issue with the intention of finding a way out. Reports say that the threats to panchayat members in Jammu and Kashmir and non-delegation of powers to elected Sarpanches were discussed in the Congress Working Committee meeting with party general secretary Rahul Gandhi seeking a serious consideration of the issue. CWC member and AICC general secretary in-charge for Punjab and Bihar Gulchain Singh Charak, who hails from Jammu, has said in the meeting that elected Sarpanches and panchayat members have not been given powers entitled under the Panchayati Raj Act despite more than one-and-half-year since the panchayat elections took place in Jammu and Kashmir.
When Charak pointed out that elected panchayat members are also facing militant threats regularly and many of them have been killed, Rahul Gandhi termed it a serious matter which required attention. Party sources said Rahul Gandhi favoured serious consideration of the issue. Panchayat elections in Jammu and Kashmir were held in April last year after a gap of 34 years.
If some corrective measures were not taken in hand the very purpose of holding the Panchayat elections would get defeated. Such fears keep on increasing after about 130 Panches and Sarpanches have tendered their resignations fearing for their life after the killing of a Panch in north Kashmir's Baramulla district on Sunday. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has said he would discuss the issue of providing security to panchayat members in the next meeting of Unified Headquarters to ensure their safety.
Yes, the importance of empowering panchayats cannot be under-estimated. But in the context of the new development one would ask just one simple question? Can empowerment of Panchayats ensure safety of the elected members? Well in a State where the Cabinet Ministers, legislators and bureaucrats, who enjoy power, absolute power, have to move about under heavy security cover how can one expect Panches and Sarpanches feel safe if the panchayats are empowered?
The Government and the security agencies need to understand the motive behind the killings. One cannot simplify the issue by treating the killings as acts of revenge. In fact it is part of the move to defeat any democratic exercise and for doing that militants and separatists need to create scare. Once scare graph witnessed upward curve people may not participate in the elections to come. Hence the Government of India needs to intervene and help the State in ways that were needed for providing security cover to the members elected to the Panchayats. This is a big task when there are over 8,000 Panches and Sarpanches in the State. Whatever may be the odds the security grid has to be upgraded to foil the nefarious designs of separatists. |
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