Three time lawmaker from picturesque Gurez region, Nazir Ahmad Khan alias Gurezi, tells Muhammad Raafi and Riyaz ul Khaliq that connectivity is the biggest challenge faced by his people.
Kashmir Life (KL): Please tell us about Gurez?
Nazir Ahmad Khan (NAK): Gurez is an interesting place. Hailed as one of the nine virgin valleys of Asia, people here speak Shina, instead of Kashmiri. This language is spoken in neighbouring Drass, Uri, Gilgit and in a few villages of Uri.
It is said that Sharda Peeth University was in Gurez, now that area is 3 kms inside Pakistan. Even last Buddhist conference was held in Kanzalwan, Gurez. Besides, it is a matter of pride that Kashmir’s only indigenous ruler, Yousuf Shah Chak was from Shina community in Gurez.
KL: What are the major issues that concern people of Gurez?
NAK: Despite being just 130 kms from Srinagar, we remain cut off from it for almost seven months in a year. So connectivity is a major issue.
In case of a medical emergency we have to fly a patient to Srinagar in a helicopter. There is no other way out. And if weather is bad, even a helicopter is useless.
Right now I am lobbying, both in Delhi and Srinagar, for an 18 km long tunnel connecting Bandipora with Gurez. I am told surveying part is already done. It is a Rs 10,000 cr project.
The tunnel can have dual benefits. It can help people stay in touch with Ladakh during winters, which otherwise remains cut-off because of dangerous Zoji La. Very less people know that there is a road connecting Gurez with Drass. Besides Gilgit is just 1 km from my constituency. This tunnel will open many possibilities.
Moreover, if road connecting Gurez with Drass is made public, it will help us stay in touch with Ladakh, and from there with rest of the world. However, till now only army is allowed to use this road.
KL: Why can’t Gurez have round the year health care facilities?
NAK: Ironically, no doctor wants to serve in Gurez. We have 21 doctor posts, but only three are filled. Against five specialist posts, none is in Gurez.
I have asked government to incentivise these postings by increasing the pay of a doctor who serves in Gurez. But nothing has happened so far. I remember Sheikh Abdullah would pay double salary to those doctors who worked in far flung areas.
There is a law in place that a doctor, if selected from backward area, or on a scheduled caste, scheduled tribe or any other category, must serve for at least seven years in his area. But once these doctors get degrees they either move to Saudi Arabia or Srinagar or Delhi.
I have suggested Legislative Assembly to cancel or withheld degrees of such doctors who fail to serve their own people. They become doctors on tax-payers money, so they are bound to serve them.
I have equipped hospitals in Gurez with modern tools, but they are useless without doctors, operators, technicians’ etc.
KL: What is the scenario viz-a-viz education?
NAK: We have six higher secondary schools, but four teach only arts. We don’t have teachers, especially for maths and science subjects. As I told u earlier, nobody wants to stay in Gurez. All 90 master grade posts are vacant in Gurez.
We have a degree college in Gurez but if you want to study science you have to migrate to Srinagar or elsewhere. All four hundred students enrolled in the college are studying arts!
Basic problem is that we lack local talent. With just 45,000 souls in Gurez, it is hard to find every kind of person. Right now around 25 people from Gurez are studying outside Kashmir.
KL: Who is to be blamed for this mess? Is civil administration missing in Gurez then?
NAK: Not entirely. But favouritism and corruption has ruined entire state. The Sufarish culture is biggest enemy of Gurez. We post an engineer, doctor or a teacher in Gurez and next day a bureaucrat or a politician calls and he/she is transferred back. Just like Ladakh, there should be a separate transfer and posting policy for Gurez too. Besides, Gurez must be connected with the rest of Kashmir through air route. Only then people will come here to stay.
NAK: With very less agriculture activity in Gurez, people are dependent either on government sector or army for employment. Mostly people work here as porters for army.
However, if tourism is promoted properly Gurez can be one of the most visited destinations in Kashmir. Till last year one had to get a permit from army to visit Gurez, which I got abolished. Now it is tourism department’s responsibility to promote this place. On my part, I am planning to involve Bollywood actor Huma Qureshi as brand ambassador of Gurez. Huma’s mother is from Gurez.
KL: Since Gurez borders with Pakistan and PaK, what are the issues that people face?
NG: During late Mufti’s first stint as CM, I urged him to open roads leading to Gilgit, Skardu and Rawalpindi. This will help people interact with their loved ones on either side of the border. Many families in Gurez have their relatives on the other side. Irony is that if one has to visit his relative on that side he has to travel 1200 kms to Wagha and or 1500 kms to Delhi first. Otherwise they live just 500 meters apart.
KL: Was there any ceasefire violation, or cross border shelling incident in recent times?
NG: No, not after 2012. It has stopped. There hasn’t been any such incident since then.
KL: Lately Gurez is in news because of NHPC’s Kishan Ganga power project and the migration it triggered of indigenous people.
NG: Kishan Ganga Power Project has ruined entire Gurez valley. They cut down trees, vandalised pastures, destroyed our fields, nothing is left. Gurez is stripped off its natural beauty by this project. Before they came, Gurezis were simple people; they would graze cattle, raise herds, and then eat what nature would give them. In 2011, NHPC promised a compensation of Rs 80 lakh to every displaced family. Now they have bought it down to just Rs 24 lakh. How can a person start afresh?
KL: You recently asked PDP-BJP government to declare Gurez valley as ‘Organic zone” because people don’t use fertilizers there.
NAK: So far Gurez has successfully resisted use of fertilizers in agriculture. Every season we produce more than one lakh quintals of organic potatoes. Once Gurez is declared as Organic Zone by the Agriculture Department, the produce from here will fetch three to four times more. If a kg of potato is sold for Rs 10 in Delhi, same is sold for Rs 40 if it is organic.
Gurez also has good production of peas, kidney beans (rajmah), Cumin (kaala zeera). It is all organic.
KL: There are reports that the production of Cumin has drastically gone down since the start of Kishan Ganga power project. What other changes did you notice?
NAK: This project has ruined whatever little agriculture we had. If you see the impact on overall ecology, it is massive. Even the quality and taste of our produce is not the same.
KL: Gurez being a border area has huge concentration of Army. What is their role besides safeguarding borders?
NG: Only other role of army is to generate employment by engaging locals as porters.
KL: You were minster in Omar Abdullah’s last government. What was your contribution for Gurez’s development?
NG: I was minister for just two years. First year was spent in understanding my ministry, and second year passed in floods.
Anyways, I tried my level best to make lives of my people better. Only people can decide how I fared. Other reason why not much could be done is because of short work season in Gurez. Unlike other parts of Kashmir, we get only four months to work in Gurez because of extreme weather. That is why projects take three times more time to complete in Gurez. And on top of that we have scarcity of both labour and material. Everything including cement, iron, sand etc. has to be procured from plain areas of Kashmir. Even labourers charge double price to work in Gurez.
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