In a major diplomatic setback to India, the Geneva-based United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has recently expressed concern over the violent protest actions in Jammu and Kashmir over the Amarnath land row and asked for an independent investigations into the killings that had taken place recently and reportedly directed the Indian authorities to respect the right to freedom of assembly and expression of people and comply with international human rights principles in controlling the agitations.
But is it really the allotment of 39.88 hectares of forest land to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) on May 26 and its subsequent cancellation on July 1 the exact bone of contention between Kashmiris and Jammuites that had resulted in many deaths and widespread violence or crux of the problem is located elsewhere. If it was presumed that temporary allotment of land would have led to ‘demographic aggression’ and ‘environmental degradation’ as vociferously championed by Kashmiri hardliners and so called ecologists, then the propositions are nothing but pure political and intellectual bankruptcy. It was deliberately propagated that with the allotment of land to SASB, government will permanently settle outsider Hindus in some pretext or the other which will lead to change in the demographic composition of the Muslim dominated Kashmir valley and spoil the status quo of the existing natural ecology.
But everybody knows that as per the Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, no outsider can become a permanent resident of Jammu & Kashmir. Significantly enough, one should understand that the land where the temporary structures were meant to be erected is almost barren and rugged. The entire terrain gets engulfed by snow for nearly eight months. Can anybody think of settling permanently in such an inhospitable climate? If Kashmiri leaders are so touchy about loosing few hectares of land to ‘outsiders’ if at all, why they have been maintaining stoic silence over the alleged illegal occupation of approximately 78,114 sq km of Jammu and Kashmir land at the disposal of Pakistan and some with the China? Where were their regionalism and patriotism, when nearly 250 families of Tibetan Muslims accommodated permanently in Srinagar, in 1959 and subsequently provided with Indian citizenship?
Secondly, If Kashmiri ecologists are genuinely concerned about the ecology of the region, then on a priority basis, they should have first taken utmost care to protect Kashmir Stag (Hangul) in Dachigam sanctuary near Srinagar whose numerical strength reduced significantly in the course of time. Is it not a fact that SASB had introduced environment-friendly bacterial toilets at the Amarnath base camp using the Japanese technology in place of concrete toilets as concrete ones were getting choked easily and the renovation work required demolition of the entire structure?
Now that the state administration finally took a decision of temporary re-allotment of land, the development is likely to subside the civil unrest in Jammu region but expected to escalate the situation in Kashmir valley as some parties including the Kashmir-based People's Democratic Party (PDP) and separatist leaders rejected it as an imposition of central government’s wishes on Kashmir. The unrest in Jammu region which was going on since last two months is undoubtedly the worst ever violence in Jammu since 1947.
The united protest actions by the displaced Kashmiri Pandit families settled in Jammu region and the native Dogra population against the state administration had gradually drifted the tone of the agitation towards Jammu vs Kashmir. Kashmiri Pandit families used this latest development as an opportunity to point finger at Kashmiri Muslims who were allegedly responsible for their forced migration in the early days of militancy in the state and native Jammuites used the opportunity to give vent to their perceived socio-economic- political domination by successive Kashmiri leadership in the last six decades.
In fact, the main region behind prolongation of violent agitations in Jammu province this time was neither ‘affront on Hindu religion’ as proclaimed by some radical Hindu organisations rather it’s a pure manifestation of deep rooted neglect of the Jammu region by successive Kashmir centric state governments. It is interesting to know that despite having a population of more than 32 lakh voters in comparison to Kashmir’s 29 lakh, Kashmir has three Parliamentary seats while Jammu has two. The frustration is still so immense that there have been suggestions from some political circles to have two separate state assembly located in Jammu and Srinagar respectively with a list of concurrent subjects in which both will have the authority.
Despite stray incidents of violence against Muslims in the initial phase of the demonstrations in Jammu region, Jammu Muslims joined in large numbers with the Hindu agitators not just because of the immediate issue of restoration of land to the SASB but also against the larger issue of the long standing discrimination of Jammu people of which they are also an integral part and equal sufferers. However, sense of disempowerment would have considerably changed had the successive governments genuinely took interest in strengthening the Panchayati Raj system instituted by the National Conference government in the year 2000?
It has been the attitude of the Kashmiri leadership to take Jammuites for granted. Can anybody forget the way how administration treated the dead body of a Jammuite Kuldeep Kumar Dogra who committed suicide in utter disgust over the Amarnath land row? Jammuites didn’t object to when the state government allotted several acres of land to Baba Gulam Shah Badshah University in Rajouri district of Jammu province or per se to the Islamic University in Kashmir Valley’s Pampore. Why this time land allotment to Amarnath Shrine was fiercely opposed by few vested interest groups in Kashmir valley despite knowing the fact that it was not a permanent allotment? Significantly enough, the land crisis erupted at a time when militancy had considerably lost its intensity and Valley based hardliners were literally running for support not only in Kashmir Valley but also from the military and subsequent civilian governments of Pakistan.
By Maitreya Buddha Samantaray
The author is a New Delhi based senior security analyst and he can be reached at samantaray.maitreya@gmail.com
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