If there is heaven on earth, then this is it, this is it, this is it. Loosely translated from Omer Khay yam, this evergreen line from the celebrated poet found echo in the Sher-e-Kashmir International Conference Centre in Srinagar. The speaker was Union information and broadcasting minister Ambika Soni. The well-groomed convention hall was full to its capacity as more than thirty senior journalists came from different parts of the country to a two-day All India Editors Conference on Social and Infrastructure Issues held on October 13 and 14 last and being organized by the Press Information Bureau in association with DIPR, J&K. They were joined by hundreds of Kashmiri journalists and correspondents of national media, both electronic and print. It is mind-boggling to think that a hotbed of militancy and separatism in Jammu and Kashmir could not deter an enthusiastic fraternity to run 400 newspapers being published of now. “There is news galore. Sensation is in the air. At times it is difficult to keep pace with flurry of incidents, but it is overall challenging from the reporters point of view and that is what enjoyable in Kashmir,” thus said Altaf Hussain, the Northern India correspondent of BBC as I was personally introduced to him by a local scribe.

Thanks to a dynamic leader in Omar Abdullah, the present chief minister of the state, the ‘heaven on earth’ now seems giving signals of returning to normalcy. Laden with tension, the valley recorded lesser incidents of terrorist related violence as compared to last year. It prompted the telecom authority to pave the way clear for all cell-phones to be active in J&K: now anyone can use mobile connection of any company available in the country. So the state has been catching up with the rest of India which is evident quite in a few sectors. There has been steady increase in the flow of tourists — both domestic and foreign — to the state which boasts of being the birth place of tourism in the country. The ‘valley of death’ tag imposed on the face of the state is fast fading away. Last year a total of 708 terrorist-related incidents took place while there are 395 such incidents till September in the current year. Civilian casualties in such violence, both fatal and non-fatal, were 147 last year while only 70 civilians suffered till the end of the first nine months of 2009. These statistics were given by the young chief minister in his inaugural speech at the conference.

Soon after assuming office as the CM of the state, Omar Abdullah won laurels for ensuring smooth conduct of elections to the Lok Sabha. His father, the able leader with somewhat secular image, Dr Farooq Abdullah is now holding the portfolio of minister of new and renewable energy in the Central Government. In the opening session of the conference his outspoken quality had caught attention of one and all. He told in no unbridled manner that it was better to call a spade a spade instead of hiding the bitter truths. According to Dr Abdullah, many problems in J&K were created by the Press itself. His didacticism caught nobody by surprise though, as everyone was aware that bad publicity had been hitting tourism on which common Kashmiri people depended heavily. The outspoken Central minister did not spare others either. “Our tragedy is corruption. It is created. Corruption in bureaucracy, polity, even in security forces remain as stumbling blocks in any meaningful government initiatives. The Government of India also faults in crucial talks such as on centre-state relations. The corrupt nexus does not want things settled. So, just dialoging won’t help,” asserts Dr Abdullah. The omnipotent central executive and legislative representatives might be reeling under embarrassment at that moment and the septuagenarian speaker was quick to draw attention of his colleague in the Union Cabinet Ambika Soni by saying: “Sorry Madam!” The I&B minister was seen caught unaware by those sudden volley of anger from one of her senior colleagues.

I was quite aware that Dr Abdullah had a soft corner for underdeveloped states like Assam. Once as CM of J&K he was lauded for his serious concern for a federal structure of administration for the country as a whole and for greater autonomy and devolution of power to the states. He even opined that Article 370 of the Constitution should be extended to all states while referring to some problems faced by Assam a decade ago. So in the following session when the floor of the conference hall was open for interaction I pointed out that the Northeast and Assam had a huge potential in the form of micro hydel power projects. However, to my utter disbelief I was replied that the Central authority had not received any detailed project proposal from the Assam government for micro hydel exploits; but Dr Abdullah also assured that he would take up the matter very soon. In fact, J&K too has about 20,000 MW of potential of which only roughly 2,300 MW have been harnessed so far. Apart from other major projects, endeavour is being made to explore the possibility to utilize the potential available for installation of small hydel projects up to 5 MW in brooks, streams, rivulets, springs, waterfalls, etc throughout the state.

The progress of J&K found expression in the speech given by Union home minister P Chidambaram on the next day’s session. Militancy has come down in the state, he observed; but at the same time a total of 395 incidents involving terrorists in the state till date in the current year meant more than one such incident per day. So the high-profile Central minister was reluctant to be complacent. According to him state police should be in the frontline in the operation against militants in a bid to maintain peace and to instill a confidence in the people’s mind. The police would be supported by second line of defence comprised of paramilitary forces and only then to be followed by the Indian Army. This policy pursued by Chidambaram himself has started giving dividends in J&K, he declared. However, he cautioned the media not to draw him in to verbal gymnastics, as because whatever he told were clear and wished to make his stand free from controversy. “The government is not afraid of dialogue with any organization and we will not shy away from the process. But we won’t hold dialogue in full glare of the media. If it is, then there will be no dialogue at all. It should take place quietly. Only after a fruitful and quiet negotiation, we can let people know the outcome,” he said.

When the question time came, I asked the home minister if the Government of India was planning to engage outfits like ULFA in result-oriented talks, as throughout the last decade there were several rounds of peace process but with no outcome at all. Chidambaram did not show inclination to give away his policy of ‘quiet talks and quiet diplomacy’. He reiterated government stand of ‘no arms surrender, no talks’ and no deviation from the framework of the Constitution. Neither did he give credit for the decline of violence to the Abdullahs for their policy of Kashmiriyat, i.e. the unique Kashmiri nationalism which was pursued by late Sheikh Abdullah. During the time following independence and partition of India, nearby Punjab had a bloodbath in communal frenzy; yet J&K was peculiar by absence of such catastrophe, thanks to Sheikh Abdullah whose crucial role checked even aggressive Muslim sentiment of MA Jinnah and his Two Nation Theory. How far the present-day Abdullahs of Kashmir can prove as fore-bearers of the torch of Kashmiriyat is on a litmus test now. That the sentiment of the Kashmiri nationalists was hurt by the rulers in New Delhi is a different aspect which gave rise to various formats of splinter politics in the valley.

No doubt, places in J&K continue to attract tourists from all parts of the globe, but it is equally true that many of its scenic beauties need attention and funding for preservation. The famous Dal Lake is an instance. When the media representatives were taken there, we were told that the lake has already got a sanction of crores of rupees for its conservation. There are 777 Mughal gardens around the lake. The Nishat Garden, built in 1633 AD at the behest of Nur Jehan, the wife of Emperor Jahangir, is the biggest of its kind in the country. The splendid garden is beautifully set amid abundance of nature. I couldn’t help but thought of its solid rock-built Shah Nisheen which literally means place for the king.

The famous winter tourist destination Gulmerg is experiencing fresh snowfalls of the year when we paid a visit there. Situated at an altitude of 8,700 ft, Gulmerg is India’s premier ski resort in winter. A Gondola ride to have a feast to the eye — a panoramic view, the tall chinar trees, the nomadic locals, small temporary huts for summer activity — was unique by its grace. Moreover, we were also taken for a stroll at the picturesque Royal Springs Golf Course, considered one of the six most important venues of golfing in Asia. The tourism minister of the state, who hails from Ladakh, invited us to have a look at the moonscape in the picturesque region. But alas! Time was short for us. So we were provided with a DVD show of the promotional tourism films including ‘Incredible India’ which had at least 20 sequences from J&K alone. The film had won the award for best tourism film of the year 2009 in an international competition that highlighted the heavenly beauties of Kashmir. We had no options but to fall in love with the paradise!

Manoj Barpujari