The State of Kashmir
The negative impact of Terrorism
- The number of tourists visiting the state per year reduced from about 7 million in the pre-militancy days to a few thousand in the following years. It is estimated that the state lost 27 million tourists from 1989 to 2002, leading to a tourism revenue loss of US$ 3.6 billion
- From 1989 to 2002, some 1,151 government buildings, 643 educational buildings, 11 hospitals, 337 bridges, 10,729 private houses and 1,953 shops have been gutted in about 5,268 attacks.
- The enormity of economic damage due to militancy is evident in the estimates of damage that occurred, estimated at approximately 4 billion Indian rupees (INR) until December 1996 alone.
- The conflict damaged the cohesive nature of Kashmiri society, rupturing the composite Kashmiri culture that was traditionally moulded by the Sufi saints.
Development activities
The broadening of democratic activities by holding state assembly elections
in 2002 and 2008, which are widely recognised as free and fair, is a crucial step towards conflict transformation.
India also expressed its readiness to initiate dialogue with every group in the state that abjured violence. The talks, since 2005 – initiated by the Indian prime minister with the moderate faction of the separatist group in the Kashmir valley, the All Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC)
The government of India also held three round-table conferences (in February 2006 in New Delhi, in May 2006 in Srinagar,and in April 2007 in New Delhi) to listen to the diverse
voices of J&K.
The easing of the visa process; exchanges through bus, train and air services between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad, and Lahore and Delhi; and the opening of intra-Kashmir routes at Srinagar-Muzaffarabad andPoonch-Rawalakote facilitated ever-growing people-to people interaction between India and Pakistan.
Economic Reconstruction
Bharat Nirman Programme (BNP) was launched by the Indian government in
2005 to build rural infrastructure.
Under this programme, INR 40,000 million is earmarked to be spent in 1,643 villages in the region.
In 2004, the ADB earmarked US$ 300 million to Kashmir as a loan for a variety of
projects. It also funded
road-connectivity projects that suffered devastation during the past years of turmoil.
In March 2007, the World Bank also cleared INR 4,000million for the improvement of roads in the eight state districts, under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak yojana (PMGSy) guidelines.
Under the scheme, as many as 100 new road projects were launched in the state
during March 2007.
Watershed development is another area where the World Bank has taken interest, and
the power sector can also be boosted with the help of these institutions.
Conclusion:
According to the survey by British group Market and Opinion Research International (MORI) in March 2002 is worth mentioning. 93% of Kashmiri respondents believed that the correct way to bring peace to the region would be through economic development
http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/documents/ACCORD_SymbiosisPeaceDevelopmentKashmir.pdf