The view from Jammu

Going by the political maps of India shown on news channels and in school textbooks, one would think that the Indian government administers the entire former princely State of Kashmir. In reality, however, New Delhi administers only 60 per cent of what was once Maharaja Hari Singh’s undivided kingdom. Furthermore, policymakers and citizens alike conflate one-third of this portion, the Kashmir Valley, with the State’s other ethno-linguistically and politically distinct provinces — namely Jammu and Ladakh.

The seat of power shifted from Jammu to the Kashmir province after the last Dogra dynast, Hari Singh, acceded to India in 1947. Since then, the State’s narratives, past and present, are heavily Valley-oriented. The farther one is from Delhi, the less familiar s/he is likely to be with the Kashmir issue beyond the “tourism versus terrorism” angle.

To many Indians, Jammu is a province for pilgrimage. Likewise, Hari Singh is merely the ruler who received Indian military help to eliminate tribal raiders sent by Pakistan to annex Kashmir in 1947.

Little else is said about his dynasty, which once ruled over a region that is currently split between two countries. With a Valley leader, Sheikh Abdullah, at the helm in the Indian portion, the Dogra dynasty began its descent into obscurity. Jammu’s rich history, language, culture, and its voice as a stakeholder of the J&K conflict have met with the same fate. To stem this tide, Manu Khajuria Singh, a freelance writer from Burmal in J&K, decided to create a platform for Jammu’s Dogras, especially in light of the 2008 Amarnath agitation over the transfer of forest land in the Valley for the creation of pilgrim facilities for Amarnath Yatra.

“After the Amarnath row, the media and certain sections of the State painted us with a broad communal brushstroke. That, too, on the basis of skewed historical perceptions of our ruler as autocratic and anti-Muslim. For 70 years, Jammu region has been neglected. The plight and aspiration of the State’s every region merits attention. That is why I started Voice of Dogras (VOD),” Singh says.

She refers to the State’s people as ‘J&Kians’, to stress its diversity. She laments that the State public holiday of Martyrs Day is predicated upon the notion that the Maharaja’s troops shot down 22 Kashmiris who rebelled against Dogra rule. “While diplomacy and tact were strong suits of our founding ruler Gulab Singh and his successors, the Dogras are ultimately a martial race and not politically savvy in articulating our narratives. Plus, the younger generation isn’t very aware of Dogra history,” she says.

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Recall: A Martyrs Day event held in Srinagar

Registered in the UK, Voice of Dogras currently has around 25 members in London, and they meet once a month. At the annual Pandit Exodus Remembrance Day rally held at Trafalgar Square on January 18, 2015, Singh presented a pan J&K perspective on the Kashmir issue that transcends the Muslim-Pandit schism.

More recently, along with co-director Lalit Sharma, she organised a demonstration outside the Pakistani High Commission in London to protest against Pakistani ceasefire violations in J&K’s border villages.

London is a hub for many lobbies and intellectuals propagating Valley-centric perspectives and aspirations. These entities find audiences at universities as well as local and national legislatures. “Even in the diaspora, the conversation concerning the Riyasaat-e-Jammu-o-Kashmir (J&K State) disregards the perspectives of the rihayashis (residents), especially those from POJK (Pakistan-occupied J&K) who are pro-Maharaja. Plus, the Birmingham-based Mirpuri diaspora, which deems itself Kashmiri while advocating for freedom, are actually my people...deeming them ‘Kashmiris’ unfortunately co-opts them into the Valley’s politics,” says Singh.

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Back home in Jammu, the group conducts meetings and events at least five times a year and thrice a year in Delhi. While the London members are mostly working professionals, in Jammu and Delhi they include journalists, students, entrepreneurs and teachers, among others.

To spread awareness of Dogra history among the youth, the VOD team conducts seminars at Jammu University and distributes books in schools. There are also plans to organise Dogri literary events, including one featuring the works of Sahitya Akademi awardee Bandhu Sharma, at Mubarak Mandi in Jammu city. Besides an online presence, the group plans to have an Australian chapter soon.

Although another voice barely heard is that of Muslims outside the Valley, some prominent journalists like Zafar Choudhury do highlight the plight of Jammu’s Muslims under the Dogra dynasty and in contemporary times. Debates on the social, political, and economic marginalisation of Jammu’s Muslims did temporarily surface in the aftermath of the recent rape and murder of an eight-year-old Bakharwal girl in Kathua.

Daneesh Majid is a freelance writer based in Hyderabad

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