— Sazzad Hussain The recent unrest in Jammu and Kashmir over the past two months concerning the government’s confused stand on transfer of land to Amarnath Shrine Board ended on August 31. The Normalcy returned from September 1 when the Sri Amarnath Yatra Sangharsh Samiti agreed to the compromise formula put forward by State Governor NN Vohra. However the unprecedented communal divide created by the issue of land transfer to Amarnath Shrine Board in Jammu and Kashmir still exists and is likely to cause a long lasting effect.
The cave of Lord Amarnath in the Muslim dominated Kashmir valley has been the symbol of communal harmony of J&K. For hundreds of years local Muslim Kashmiris have been providing food, horses, tents and guides to the Hindu pilgrims visiting the shrine. In one sense the Amarnath pilgrimage has been facilitating economic securities to the local Muslims in this zero industry State. In recent times the Islamist secessionists tried to create a divide by targeting Amarnath pilgrims which were repulsed by the local Muslims. But the decision by the Ghulam Nabi Azad’s government to transfer lands for the pilgrimage, as demanded by the Board, paused a threat to the livelihood of the local people. The Amarnath Shrine Board planned to establish hotels, shops and other such outlets where participation of the local Muslims was barred. When the local residents opposed the land transfer which threatened their economy it was blown out of proportion by different forces transforming that legitimate demonstration into a huge religious confrontation. Similar protests also started with an emotive genre when the State government deferred the land transfer order out of pressure in the valley. The protests in Jammu bore ultra Hindu chauvinist fervour which turned violent with economic blockade for the valley causing loss of crore of money and deaths of several people.
Any observer of the Kashmir problem will find that the government has always been trying to strengthen its position by creating a sensitive religious issue when there is a serious problem. It all began on’ December 27, 1963 when the Mo-e-Muqaddas, a relic of the Prophet, was stolen from the famed Hazrat Bal Dargah of Srinagar. This resulted in mob storming all government agencies and running almost a parallel government for a while. Incidentally the Mo-e-Muqaddas was recovered by Indian investigators. Since then New Delhi has been following a policy to gain political mileage by whipping Islamic passion among the Muslims of the Valley. Similarly in May, 1973 there were violent protests in Kashmir valley when a college student in Anantnag discovered a colonial era encyclopedia which had alleged sacrilegious accounts of Islam. The protesters demanded hanging of the already deceased author of that book provoking police firing in which four persons died. In November, 1988 violent protests against Salman Rushdie’s book Satanic Verses rocked the Valley which prompted New Delhi to ban that book in India. Such use of religious sentiments was also exercised by Pak aided terrorists of the State and in 1991 we saw the siege of Sharar-e-Sharief shrine by ex-Afghan Mujahideen Mast Gul to fight the Indian security forces. This was followed by the attack on Amarnath pilgrims by the terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir. The recent violence and confrontation concerning the land transfer to the Amarnath Shrine Board have once again restaged the same drama of deceit and folly in the most ugly and abominable form.
Taking full advantage of these developments, the hard-line Islamist secessionist leader Sayed Ali Shah Geelani has termed the land row as the government’s secret plan to bring demographic changes to the Kashmir valley by penetrating Hindu settlements. According to scholar Yoginder Sikand, Geelani also has alleged that the Indian government sent Kashmiri Pundit DP Dhar to Andalusia to study how the Spanish had expelled and erased Islam in the 9th-10th Century only to implement the same in Kashmir.
However in contrast to these allegations and conspiracy theories, the root cause of the recent violence in Jammu and Kashmir is the outburst of simmering tension between the plains and the valley which originates from the faulty peacemaking moves by New Delhi in the last one decade. The Vajpayee led Central government initiated dialogue with the secessionist All Party Huriyaat Conference in 1998 aiming to bring peace in that troubled State by providing political autonomy. The Huriyat, as conceded by its leaders, does not represent all sections of people and regions of Jammu and Kashmir and New Delhi’s engagement of only this conglomerate of secessionist organisations on autonomy issue alarmed the mainstream parties of the State. These ignored parties started their own survival maneuverings with more chauvinistic fervour. The leaders of Jammu felt increasingly ignored by the engagement of only Kashmir Valley in the peace process. The National Conference, in a bid to emerge as the only mouthpiece of Muslims of the valley, and mostly to thwart the Huriyaat-New Delhi dialogue, demanded reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir on religious basis and a return to the pre-1953 autonomous status of the hate. The Jammu leaders, mostly with Hindutva leaning also started their own ultra-chauvinistic programmes fearing insecurity in the Muslim dominated autonomy under the Huriyaat. The Hindutva forces started gaining momentum in Jammu following the formation of Congress-PDP government in Jammu & Kashmir in 2002. The demand of demilitarisation and autonomy by then Chief Minister, Mufti Mohd Sayeed frightened the Hindus and Buddhists of Laddakh, a fear which was never addressed by any mainstream political party of the State including the Congress. The sustained fear and anxiety in Jammu was mobiliged by the Hindutva forces as a powerful political cause.
The Round Table Conference initiated by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh for peace in Kashmir tried to include all the parties of the State but it failed as every party called for religious, ethnic based solution of the problem. The Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah’s proposal of separate Assemblies for Jammu, Kashmir, Laddakh and Leh was rejected by the leaders of Jammu in March, 2007 which stalled fifth round of talks with the Huriyaat by New Delhi prompting the Centre to postpone the next Round Table Conference till the results of the Assembly polls of Jammu and Kashmir’ scheduled to be held in October, 2008. This year’s election was supposed to push the armed secessionists to the corner of the State as it did in 2002, but the Amarnath land row has given a phoenix rise to the militants. On the other hand the Congress wanted to consolidate its position in Jammu where the public mood was not in favour following New Delhi’s initiatives with the Huriyaat and allotting land to the Amarnath Shrine Board appeared to be a lucrative option for them in this regard. When all parties opposed the land transfer in the Valley, Jammu imposed economic blockade against Kashmir in protest. This blockade caused losses to the fruit growers of the Valley making public to come out to the streets. The PDP demanded an alternative route to the Valley by the Muzzafarabad-Srinagar road through the PoK, others chanting pro-Azadi and anti-Indian slogans. The imbroglio caused communal clashes in Doda district of Jammu whose echo was heard as far as in Indore, Madhya Pradesh.
All the anti-government protests in Kashmir valley were not organised by the terror groups; it was the common public who did it for the faulty policies of the State government where the secessionists and mainstream parties latter offered their hands for their own survival. But these developments could encourage the terrorists to assert their influence among the public in the Valley this time. Similarly with a view to gain its lost ground in the coming Assembly elections in J&K/BJP has started a passionate Hindutva campaign over the Amarnath land transfer row.
To end all these hostilities, New Delhi has to avoid the temptation of exclusive dialogue with the Huriyaat and to engage all the parties of this troubled State in its peace process.
(The writer teaches English at Lakhimpur Commerce College)
source: assam tribune editorial 19.09.08
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