The Hindu Business Line : It’s more than just land

Nobody is naive enough to believe that the flames that have erupted in Jammu today have to do only with the mere denial of land for Amarnath Yatris in Kashmir. This is only a convenient handle that has been grabbed by Jammuites to give vent to their seething fury over the years, says RASHEEDA BHAGAT

An accumulation of grievances.

There can be no two opinions on the inept manner in which the flashpoint in Jammu has been handled by the UPA Government. The protestors are up in arms against the revocation of the government order allotting land in the Valley to the Amarnath Yatra Shrine Board for constructing shelters for pilgrims. For more than a month, Jammu has burned with the rage of supporters of the Sri Amaranth Sangarsh Samiti venting their ire on the Kashmiri Muslims for denying them this land.

The all-party meeting convened by the Centre on Sunday, rather late in the day, and the decision taken to cancel both the land transfer order as well as its revocation and, thus, restore status quo, has not found any favour with the Samiti and its supporters, and this was only expected. The latest standoff between the Hindus of Jammu and the Muslims in Kashmir has once again proved how fragile religious amity — particularly between the majority Hindus and the minority Muslims — has become in our country these days. It requires barely a trigger and both sides are up in arms. First, there was violence and bloodshed in the Kashmir Valley as 80-odd acres of forest land was transferred to the Shrine Board for constructing shelters for Amarnath pilgrims.

It resulted in the People’s Democratic Party withdrawing support to the Congress-led coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir, leading to its fall. The transfer order was ultimately revoked, but this only enraged the other side — the Hindus of Jammu — and the region literally erupted in flames. The result was an economic blockade imposed by the protestors who refused to allow movement of trucks on the Jammu-Srinagar Highway.

Unfortunately, when it comes to contentious questions of religious identity and divide, there is enough political ammunition available on both sides to fan the flames. The All Parties Hurriyat Conference, which has been licking its wounds — particularly its hardcore and separatist elements — for a few years as the democratic process of holding an election and installing a popular government in the State was successfully completed, despite its boycott call and threats to disrupt the elections held during the NDA regime, has been only too happy to lend support to defiant voices that once again talk of seeking Pakistan’s co-operation to move their goods through Muzaffarabad in PoK.

On the other side of the divide, the BJP, nursing its failure to topple the UPA Government after the Left parties had withdrawn support, resulting in the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh seeing a trust vote in the Lok Sabha, has only been too happy to take up the cause of the Sangarsh Samiti. Voices within the party have even identified the Amarnath yatra issue and the resulting Jammu turmoil as the main issue, after the Ram mandir, of course, as a mega vote grosser in the next elections.

Economic blockade

Devastated by the economic blockade put effectively on the movement of supplies to and from the Kashmir valley, through the Jammu-Srinagar highway, fruit traders in the valley swore to move their ware to other parts of India, such as Delhi and Gujarat, through Muzzaffarabad.

The first to lend support were the Hurriyat leaders, followed by the leaders of the PDP, a party that has never unequivocally condemned separatist elements in the Valley. Whether it is Mufti Muhammed Sayeed or his daughter, Ms Mehbooba Mufti, they have always been soft on the extremists who have held the people of Kashmir to ransom for long years.

The foolhardy as well as dangerous decision to cross the LoC was obviously not going to be allowed by the Government of India, and all the parties involved in this decision knew it only too well.

But the Hurriyat Conference and the PDP were only too quick to lend support to the traders, who have made an estimated loss of around Rs 150-200 crore because the fruits in their trucks have been rotting for a couple of weeks now, as other Indian markets have been closed, thanks to the blocked highway.

The point is that, even today, there are enough elements in the Valley only too keen to echo the Pakistan stand that Kashmir continues to be the unfinished agenda of Partition and Independence of both the countries.

The root cause

Surely nobody is naive enough to believe that the flames that have erupted in Jammu today have to do only with the mere denial of land for Amarnath Yatris in Kashmir. This is only a convenient handle that has been grabbed by Jammuites to give vent to their seething fury over the years.

They have felt that their voices and interests have always been considered secondary to the more volatile, high profile and flamboyant Kashmiri leaders in the Valley, who have held the nation to ransom on several counts.

There is an accumulation of grievances which have a lot to do with the perception that the Kashmiri Muslims, the “separatists who run around waving Pakistani flags at the drop of a hat” are always pampered, with none less than Prime Ministers, be it Mr A. B. Vajpayee or Dr Manmohan Singh, giving them assurances on their varied demands by travelling all the way to Srinagar to make these promises.

The grievances of Jammu Hindus go back to the era when trouble began in the Valley way back in 1989, as years of ISI effort in Kashmir finally bore fruit.

The ethnic cleansing that took place in Kashmir where the Kashmiri Pandits were forced to leave their homes and run for their lives has always rankled the Hindus of the State. Also, the importance that has been given to the Hurriyat Conference when it comes to any dialogue pertaining to Jammu and Kashmir’s future, has not gone down well in Jammu. Let’s face it, if there is any issue involving J&K, it is always the leaders of the Valley — be it the Abdullahs of the National Conference and, more recently, the Muftis of the PDP — who assume centrestage in Delhi.

For instance, how many political leaders from Jammu are we even aware of; do we know their names, can we recognise their faces? But when an Omar Abdullah gets up to speak in Lok Sabha, we not only know who he is, but also listen to him with respect.

In a way, the passionate feelings and resentment in Jammu can be compared with the anger the so-called forward communities have against reservations in educational institutions.

The manner in which quotas are imposed has a lot to do with the violence that has regularly erupted over this issue.

The BJP, of course, could not have asked for a better tailor-made situation on the eve of the next general elections. If all the frustrations between a Hindu Jammu and a Muslim Kashmir have finally come out into the open, it is not going to be in a hurry to help restoration of normalcy. Nor will it remain a mere bystander.

But once tempers cool down and a solution is found to this imbroglio, it will be the people of the State of Jammu and Kashmir who will be the biggest losers.

After long years, the ghost of azadi was finally exorcised from the Valley; but one crisis like this and what do we get? Kashmiri Muslims threatening to march to Muzzaffarabad as though one of the most troubled nations in the world holds the panacea for all their troubles!

The political parties that are inciting both sides will retire to their elected offices after they’ve garnered a harvest of votes, but the Hindus of Jammu and the Muslims of Kashmir will have to co-exist.

If such volatile situations are allowed to go out of hand by our leaders, we will have more and more States of India going the Gujarat way, where today Hindus and Muslims co-exist in relative peace, but with not much trust on either side and certainly no love lost between them.

(Response may be sent to rasheeda@thehindu.co.in)

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