Kashmir Crisis

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Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari made a historic statement that Kashmiri militants were terrorists. It was a far cry from Pervez Musharraf calling them freedom fighters. Meanwhile, gunfight continues between Indian security forces and the separatists, killing and injuring people. Even as a cloud hangs over the political scene, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has offered to hold talks with all sections of the people of Kashmir. Violent protests erupted in Srinagar and Baramulla district as hundreds of people took to the streets. A strike was called by the separatists' coordination committee in protest against the Prime Minister's visit. Manmohan Singh has said that the most controversial issues can be resolved through dialogue. It is obviously a reference to the agitation led by the Hurriyat Conference. Manmohan Singh knows how rough the terrain is. For the last four years, the conciliatory approach ran into one hurdle after another. But the Indian government is committed to dialogue as far as Kashmir is concerned. The talks with the Hurriyat got stalled after 2004. The Prime Minister hopes that it will come up with constructive proposals. The government is ready to hold assembly elections in J & K next month. Adequate forces are available to conduct the exercise.

One may say that Delhi is pursuing an ostrich- like policy over J & K. The peace process with Pakistan may get a boost with the new government in place in Islamabad. But that will not solve the problem of militancy in Kashmir. Separatism is rife in the state and the terrorists are as uncompromising as the ULFA in Asom. A dialogue with the Hurriyat may or may not be advisable. But there is no point in talking with the separatist militants. What cannot be denied is that they enjoy great popular support. The questions to be addressed are whether the Indian guns can settle the issue in the strategic interest of the country and whether that will be to the detriment of the country's international image. source: the shillong times

The Jammu-Kashmir imbroglio — Sazzad Hussain

— 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

Assam and Kashmir: second partition?

— Col (retd) Manoranjan Goswami
This writer has seen Kashmir both in war and in peace. We are also from that section of Indians who, may be faintly, but do remember that pang and pain of partition, our independence was associated with. In Assam, in fact, we have neither seen truly any horror of war or the horror of partition. Kashmir and Assam, apart from having nature’s bounty, has very little in common and neither history nor geography has endowed and real common chord. But today, both these beautiful States of India are burning together from two extreme ends–one in the north and the other in the east. India, rather all Indians, should be worried because Assam and Kashmir are not only the beautiful extreme leaves and flowers of the country, but they are most strategically important from the derence and security point of view, more so, when there is a constant threat from across the border for both the States with involvement of fanatic religious groups supporting terrorism.

First talking about Kashmir, the recent Amarnath shrine deal, ordered and subsequently revoked, has just vertically split the State of J&K, into two parts–one, Jammu and the other Kashmir valley, Jammu is a plain area from where the road to the beautiful valley of Kashmir begins and which has a mixed population and does share the larger part of J&K. The Kashmir valley, on the other hand, comprises almost total Muslim population, particularly after Kashmiri Brahmins have left the valley in the nineties. This is a very docile and beautiful race. Contrary to general belief, very few among Kashmir valley Muslims, really talk about Indo Pak conflict or Hindu Muslim conflict although bullets do fly at all moments across LOC almost daily. It is an unfortunate part of history that there is no permanent boundary line still between India and Pakistan. The Line of Control (LOC) as it was in October 1947 remains the boundary with substantial part of the valley remaining still with Pakistan, known as occupied Kashmir. The Muslim population of the valley, generally speaking, does not want to be a part of Pakistan though independent Kashmir does remain aspirations of many. The serious part, however, is that Pakistan, with ISI backing or the ‘Jihadi’ element in their very national politics and philosophy will not let this population forget that Kashmiri people are Muslims only at all time. It is not only the ambition and aspiration of Pakistan that has kept the conflict between the two countries alive and burning, but to a great extent, it is India’s mishandling of the situation also since the days of Nehru that Kashmir has remained a burning problem for India, though three wars since independence have passed through this State. To day, with Amarnath shrine land issue, there is such distrust and open confrontation between Hindus and Muslims that an open call in the air–for the Muslims to demand that Hindus should leave the valley and the Hindus calling for their right. Not only fanatic liberation group like Hurrayat but even liberal leaders like Farookh Abdullah, is now saying openly that unless India stops this bad blood, as growing between the two communities as a result of Amarnath shrine issue, India may lose Kashmir to Pakistan and for this only the Indians are to be blamed. Pakistan is just waiting on the wings to strike and recent growing Army actions across the LOC is a serious reminder. Cross border terrorism is a natural phenomenon for Pakistan and militants and terrorists do get encouragement as evident from history so far. Before proceeding further, let us now see the situation of Assam and why there is a common chord that binds these two States, albeit, through dark and grave warning and possible disastrous consequences.

Assam has always been a place of historic ties and friendship between Hindus and Muslims. Never, prior to partition or immediately after, in Assam, religion has been a dividing force, rather, it has been the trying string for two communities to live together and share the pleasure and pain of history together. Unfortunately the serious foreigner or illegal immigration issue, as it exists now, has taken a very grave turn. Among an other adverse effects, the one that is most dangerous and which may bring final break is the possible conflict between these communities, open passive or hidden. The problem of illegal migration from Bangladesh to Assam with lakh of Bangladeshis settling in Assam threatening the very culture, opportunities or economics of Assam and its indigenous people is a most serious crisis Assam is facing today. The identity of the State is at stake. It is not a creation of history. It is simply the creation of politics. Narrow politics before independence and after formation of Bangladesh has been cause of the serious demographic problem this beautiful State is facing now. An accord was signed by agitating students with the government years back supposedly to solve this issue and bring equality and prosperity to Assam and Assamese, but whatever may be reasons, let us all agree that no political party or no student organisation or no civic body, can solve this problem of infiltration, that has already engulfed the State. The Government, both Central and State, must act fast. The fact remains that Assam is burning and most serious and horrifying matter is that it is burning from inside.

There is a very serious consequential threat also Assam may face. India, through Indian Army, liberated Bangladesh and that is a fact of history. This writer was there on the soil of Dacca around the time of surrender and we have seen the gratitude and welcome we Indians got from the Bangladeshi population there for what India had done to save that country from the tyranny it faced from Pakistan army. Probably, Indians are not that welcome now and if we call it ingratitude, it is an unfortunate historical truth. Bangladesh, which has turned Islamic almost immediately after liberation, will remain there as our neighbour and religious affinity between Pakistan and Bangladesh shall always overshadow the neighbourly friendship that may be expected. The historial fact is that original partition of India could not divide the Indus and Muslims of Assam, the chord of amity was never severed or disturbed. But taking the bitter lesson from Kashmir as going on now, it is extremely important that the historical tie of love and affection that remains with the Hindus and Muslims of Assam must not be disturbed because of the agitating mind and the violent protests going on here and there on the foreigner issue. The indigenous Muslims, first, have a very serious and solemn role to play in this regard. The Bangladeshis, taking advantage of religious affinity and demanding sympathy, must not enter the inner courtyard of indigenous Muslims. The politicians may play politics for short term gains or vote banks as they have been doing always, but the people of Assam must remember their history and culture and must not get into situation when Assam may face another partition of a different kind. With increasing number of Muslim majority districts in Assam, thanks to the infiltrators, Assam is facing a serious a warning signal.

We must avoid a situation when Muslims, under political or social compulsions, may all combine under the banner of ‘minority’ and with the blessings and patronisation of opportunist politicians inside and fanatic and militant groups outside, Assam gets divided again with Muslim majority district demanding almost another partition. Partition need not necessarily mean ceding from the nation or acceding to another country, but it does equally mean that Assam should not turn into a virtually Muslims State and Bangladesh on the border and Pakistan with remote control should not control the destiny of Assam. Religious fantism of ‘Azadi’ or ‘Jehadi’ should not overtake the sane sections of society. While looking into the foreigner issue, this serious threat facing Assam needs immediate attention. Kashmir and Assam, in equal terms, are sending a grave signal and it is time India, as a whole, goes beyond politics and elections and save these two States and the country from disaster. If we do not, history may not excuse whether we are Hindus or Muslims. source: assam tribune editorial 12.09.08

J & K divide

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J & K divide

The divide between the Islamist separatists of Kashmir Valley and the Hindutva Group of Jammu over the ill conceived move by the then Governor of the State Lt. Gen (rtd) S K Sinha to allot 100 acres of land to Amarnath Shrine Board led to mass protest lasting for 64 days and death of more than 30 persons and an unbridgeable gulf between these two regions as if these two regions belong two hostile States. After prolong parleys a settlement with the Amarnath Sangharsh Sammittee has been arrived at which allows the Amarnath Shrine Board to utlise the disputed land for temporary use during Amarnath Yatra without any claim to proprietary or title rights over the land. The Amarnath Sangharsh Sammittee has withdrawn their agitation. While National Conference of Farooq Abdullah has welcomed the proposal, Mehbooba Mufti of Peoples Democratic Party has opposed the proposal as unilateral. While Jammu is celebrating this settlement as their victory, Islamist separatists in Kashmir valley have reinforced their violent protest resulting in imposition of curfew in nine districts. Their demonstration is now not confined to the Amarnath land but bigger issue of Azadi which the moderate elements in Kashmir did not have the boldness to resist.The All Party Hurriyat Conference spearheading the agitations in Kashmir valley roused public feelings with Pakistani flags and anti India slogan. Their leaders even threatened to open cross border trade across the LOC to thwart the attempts of the Hindutva elements in Jammu enforcing an economic blockade. To assuage the feelings of the separatists, the Government of India is pressing Pakistan to complete necessary logistical support to open cross border trade agreed to in the Foreign Secretaries conference held in July .It is expected that limited trade would start from October. The Prime Minister has also appointed a working group to study Centre-State relations which could not finalise its report so far. However there was no agreement among the parties about the nature of autonomy they would prefer. There was divergence of views from complete independence to self rule without the supervisory power of the Supreme Court and the Election Commission of India. Taking advantage of the failure of the State and the Central government to effectively counteract the separatists’ demonstrations, Pakistan’s ISI could provide logistical support and arrange to send terrorists across the border to fuel trouble. Unless the situation is controlled the elections in October would be difficult to be held allowing the secessionists another plus point. source: assam tribune editorial 03.09.08

The Tragedy of Kashmir

Jasbir Sarai One would have expected Omar Abdullah to be more restrained in his rhetoric given the fact that a truce was slowly emerging. His statement has once again flamed emotions and has caused immense damage to the already fragile social and communal fabric of J & K J ammu and Kashmir is once again enveloped by violence due to the unseemly controversy over transfer of land to the Sri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB). The recent instance of a young man Kuldeep Kumar Dogra from Jammu committing suicide by consuming poison in protest against the statement made by Omar Abdullah in Parliament during the trust motion on July 22 that Kashmiris will die rather than allow transfer of land to SASB, has added yet another tragic and unfortunate dimension to the controversy. One would have expected Omar Abdullah to be more restrained in his rhetoric given the fact that a truce was slowly emerging. His statement has once again flamed emotions and has caused immense damage to the already fragile social and communal fabric of the State.The most unfortunate part of the whole issue is that a shrine that has for centuries been revered by both Hindus and Muslims, has been dragged into an unseemly controversy by some shortsighted and opportunistic politicians for partisan gains. Even more painful is the fact that the people have fallen into the trap and are allowing themselves to be sucked into a situation that may result in a terrible and avoidable cycle of violence.This is the time to reflect upon the secular and holy credentials of the legend of Amarnath and draw inspiration from the same to give rise to the voice of moderation and patience. The Amarnathji Yatra is a symbol of harmony and religious tolerance that epitomizes the true spirit of Kashmiriyat, the bedrock of the Kashmiri way of life. The cave which has existed for times immemorial is believed to have been rediscovered in the 18 century by a Muslim Malik family from Balkot. For ages, this Malik family has played a prominent role in the pilgrimage and its successive generations have completely dedicated itself to the shrine. Despite the turmoil of terrorism, the importance of the Amarnathji Yatra never diluted and lakhs of pilgrims visit the shrine every year. The Muslim population joins the Hindus to participate in the pilgrimage with traditional fervour, despite threats from terrorists. Hotels, shops, pack ponies, porters and all other related services gear up to welcome the pilgrims. A festive air is prevalent in the area. The guides and porters of both communities are equally conversant with the legend and mythology and narrate the same to the pilgrims. Anybody requiring assistance finds hundreds of hands extended towards him, without knowing whether the hand belongs to a Hindu or a Muslim. The security forces deployed in the area, also participate with utmost enthusiasm and energy. Army units in conjunction with other paramilitary forces/central police organizations and J&K police personnel endure the adverse terrain and weather conditions to put up an exhaustive security umbrella for the pilgrimage and also look after the necessary medical amenities and crisis management.The threat of terrorism to the Yatra has not abated, yet a record turnover of pilgrims has been witnessed this year. Under the circumstances, the timing and the ferocity of the protests over a minor political issue lends itself to deep introspection of the causes thereof. In a democracy every political segment has the right to express its opinion and agitation. However, the process of democratic dissent has to follow some civilized precedents. First and foremost, it should be non-violent. Second, it should give space to the government to redress grievances or negotiate through the political process. Both conventions have been broken in this case.This is in line with the tragic manner in which anti-people and anti-development events unfold in the Valley. An analysis of the pattern indicates that whenever the media highlights any aspect that is paving the way for prosperity and development in Kashmir, the same tends to get targeted and derailed. Last year the media carried great copy about the large number of tourists who had flocked the Valley in the wake of improved conditions. Within a few days a spate of terrorist killings of innocent tourists led to a general exodus that left the buoyant tourism industry in a state of desperation. This year the Amarnathji Yatra was heralded by the media as the biggest so far and, lo behold, a frivolous political issue has been blown out of proportion.It is time for the people of Jammu and Kashmir to understand the diabolic designs of a few anti-social elements who are bent upon keeping the State away from progress and development. There is a need to isolate such elements so that the development of the people is not made hostage to irrelevant and extraneous factors. Only a complete understanding of the evil designs of a few groups that function on orders from foreign inimical forces and proactive action to counter the same can avert the tragedy that continues to encompass Kashmir, despite the people’s overwhelming mandate to shun violence in pursuit of the path of democracy, development, peace and prosperity. (ADNI)

Whose Interest, This?

Tavleen Singh
Last week, the city of Jammu was put under curfew to control Hindu protestors. Jammu is largely a Hindu city whose Hindu population includes Hindu refugees who fled from Kashmir when the violence began in the early nineties. They oppose the decision of the Government of Jammu & Kashmir to take back the land it offered for the use of pilgrims during the Amarnath Yatra. The Government was coerced into changing its mind by several days of Muslim protests in the streets of Srinagar. The protests drew more people into the streets than we have seen for a long while. Muslims were so angered by the decision to allow ‘forest land’ to be used by Hindu pilgrims that the People’s Democratic Party, which is one half of the ruling coalition in Kashmir, threatened to withdraw from the Government rather than be party to the decision. The Congress party is the other half of the coalition and it did not take Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad long to back down.The media is mostly leftist in our ancient land and too politically correct to point out when Muslim hysteria is guided by Islamist ideology. So, almost nobody has mentioned that the protests against the facilities for Hindu pilgrims were out of proportion, hysterical and anti-Hindu. Governments across India go out of their way to facilitate Muslims going annually off on their Haj. There are Haj houses in nearly all our major towns where Muslim pilgrims can stay for almost no cost. The Haj is itself subsidized by the state. Keeping this in mind, it is an outrage that Hindu pilgrims should not be provided minimum facilities when they go on the Amarnath Yatra. If it were a case of forest land being given permanently to Hindu pilgrims, there would be cause for protest but this was not what happened, according to former Jammu & Kashmir Governor Lt General SK Sinha. In an interview to the 'Indian Express', he said, ‘No permanent constructions were to come up in the camps. The ownership of the land was not transferred to the Board. And it was only a diversion of land for two months in a year.’Nobody should have any objections but objections there are and in the view of your proudly politically incorrect columnist, these objections have taken the form of mass hysteria now because the Government of Dr Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi has gone out of its way to woo Muslims by creating a general sense of grievance. Two examples will suffice. The first is the setting up of the Sachar Committee in the first few months of the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) Government coming to power in Delhi. The Sachar Committee toured the country finding aggrieved Muslims and when it published its findings, it deepened the Muslim sense of grievance by showing them as an underclass everywhere. The report did not analyse why this was the case. Had it done so, it would have noticed that any community that prevents the education of the girl child will end up badly. Muslim backwardness is more to do with not educating girls than poverty. This is true also of those Hindu castes and communities that discourage the education of girls. In the way the UPA Government has dealt with the major terrorist attacks that have occurred on its watch, we see an example of pandering to Islamism. The terrorist attacks have been perpetrated by Islamist groups from Pakistan and Bangladesh with local Muslims lending shelter and support. Hundreds of innocent people have lost their lives in these attacks but to this day neither the Prime Minister, Sonia Gandhi or any other senior member of the UPA have come out with a full condemnation of Islamism. The signal the police get is that there are political reasons for them not being allowed to go all out to catch the killers. So the police works to rule and nobody gets caught.Islamism is so politically acceptable in India that the Islamists have gone from strength to strength in the promotion and spread of their evil ideology. It is an ideology based on terrible tenets as the famous British author, Ian McEwan, pointed out recently in an interview to the Italian newspaper, Corriere Della Sera. “And I myself despise Islamism’ he said ‘because it wants to create a society that I detest, based on religious beliefs, on a text, on lack of freedom for women, intolerance towards homosexuality and so on……Islamism, in most of its manifestations, not only wants to kill me, it wants to kill you.’Our South Asian Islamists have publicly stated on more than one occasion that their objective is to turn India from being a land of happy heathens to one in which Islamism prevails. The weak-kneed, dithering response of the UPA Government to this threat has encouraged Islamist groups to believe that their nightmare scenario will come to happen. Kashmir’s ‘azadi’ movement, which started at the end of the eighties, had nothing to do with religion but if you looked at the mobs in Srinagar streets, you would have seen that the women were all in ‘burkhas’ and the men nearly all bearded. The ‘azadi’ movement has been transformed into something else altogether. To fight Islamism, we need a Prime Minister in Delhi who can take firm decisions.Do I think this is going to happen before the next general election? No. source: sentinel assam editorial 07.07.08

Curfew continues to be in force in Jammu

Curfew continues to be in force in Jammu
5 Jul, 2008, 1228 hrs IST, PTI

JAMMU: Curfew remained in force today in Jammu and towns of Bhaderwah, Samba and Kathua, officials said.
There was no fresh incident of violence or defying the curfew restrictions reported from these areas, they said.

Curfew was imposed in some parts of Jammu city on July 1 after protesters demanding cancellation of land transfer order to Shri Amarnath Shrine Board clashed with police and indulged in stone pelting on vehicles.

It was later extended to the whole city when protesters defied curfew and held demonstrations at different places.

Curfew was also imposed in Bhaderwah and Samba on July 2 and in Kathua on July 3 following incidents of violence and clashes between police and the demonstrators.

Senior civil and police officers were closely monitoring the situation, the officials said, adding that relaxation may be considered for varying periods to enable people to buy essential things.

Police, CRPF and Rapid Action Force (RAF) have been deployed to maintain law and order here, they said.

4 die in violence during ‘Bharat bandh’

BJP says it will continue its agitation till its demand for the transfer of land to the board is met

NEW DELHI: Violence marred the ‘Bharat bandh’ called by the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad to protest against the non-transfer of land to the Amarnath Shrine Board. Four died in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, where agitators set cars and buses ablaze and clashed with the police.

The BJP said it would continue its agitation till its demand for the transfer of land to the board was met. Protest rallies are being planned in various state and district capitals from July 4 to 11. Party spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said: “Nearly half of Jammu and Kashmir is occupied by Pakistan and huge chunks have been grabbed by China. What is the problem with giving a few acres of land to the Shrine Board?”

Bill boards outside the party’s central office said that “100 crore Hindustanis will not beg for 100 acres of land” and “BJP will not tolerate insult to devotees of Lord Shiva.”

The response to the ‘bandh’ call was partial in most states with shops in some areas voluntarily downing shutters, while in others groups of BJP workers forced them to shut down. Train services were affected in several places.

In Uttar Pradesh, the Shatabdi Express was stopped at Agra Cantonment, the Ahmedabad-Varanasi Sabarmati Express at Orai and the Howrah-Dehradun Express at Mughalsarai, each for a few minutes. More than 50 BJP workers were arrested in and around Lucknow, while in Delhi senior BJP leaders, including Venkaiah Naidu, participated in the protests.

In West Bengal, the ‘bandh’ had little impact, but in Kerala the State-run transport services were partially withdrawn after incidents of stone pelting and in several places protesters blocked highways.

In Karnataka, the response was mixed – while in Bangalore life remained near normal with schools and business offices open as usual, in some districts of Mangalore, Hubli-Dharwad, Udupi and Mysore, bus services came to a halt and business activities shut down. No major untoward incidents were reported barring stone pelting in a few places.

In Maharashtra, VHP supporters reportedly halted traffic on some major roads in North Mumbai causing traffic snarls and delaying office-goers. The police later dispersed the protesters.

Normal life was affected in parts of Punjab with the police using their canes to disperse crowds. Road and train traffic was affected in Ludhiana and Bhatinda and in Ambala protesters burnt effigies.

In Gujarat, a BJP-ruled state, life was near normal. Mr. Javadekar said the State would register its protest another day as Jagannath yatras were being taken out at 21 places on Thursday.

Fresh violence
Jammu Staff Reporter writes:

There was no let-up in the violent scenes and blood-letting in Jammu on Thursday.
Sixty five people, including a large number of police personnel, were injured in fresh protests against the cancellation of the order transferring land to the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board. Army carried out flag marches in curfew bound areas.

Protesters continued to defy the indefinite curfew orders in several areas. Police personnel who tried to implement the curfew earned the wrath of the protesters.

Kathua district, the gateway to the State, was the scene of massive protests. Protesters attacked the vehicles of districts officers. In Lakhanpur town of Kathua district — which borders Madopur area of Punjab — demonstrators set ablaze a toll post where entry tax on goods is collected. In the same district, a police post was also burnt.

On a request from the district administration, the Army carried out a flag march in Kathua town. Rail traffic was also affected in Kathua. Traffic on the Jammu-Srinagar road was blocked, as protesters gathered at Samba, Udhampur and Nagrota.

There were fresh attacks on the properties of Congress leaders. Congress leader Mula Ram’s house was attacked. But the police posted there managed to disperse the crowd.

Around ten police personnel were injured in a number of places in Jammu city when they tried to disperse crowds of protesters. Mobs attacked a police party in sector 2 of Durga Nagar.

A few Congress activists of the region joined the protests on Thursday. Jai Singh, a Municipal corporator belonging to the Congress, came out with scores of his supporters defying curfew orders.

A group of social activists, lawyers , political leaders and academicians issued a joint appeal to the people and the leaders of the agitation to realise that the secular tradition and identity of Jammu was its real strength, which one cannot afford to weaken. source: http://www.hindu.com/2008/07/04/stories/2008070456431200.htm

More protests over Kashmir land

Hindus have held more protests in India against a decision not to transfer land to a Hindu shrine organisation in Indian-administered Kashmir.

Four people died in Indore, in Madhya Pradesh, when police opened fire during clashes between Hindus and Muslims, officials say.

They say that another person was badly injured in other clashes in the state.
There were also violent clashes between protesters and police for a fourth day in the Hindu-majority region of Jammu.

A curfew remains in place in the area - in the southern part of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir.

The state government rescinded its decision to grant land along a Hindu pilgramage route to the Amarnath Shrine board after several days of protests by sections of Kashmir's majority Muslim community.

Correspondents say that efforts by the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party for a country-wide protest over the issue met with a relatively muted response.

In Madhya Pradesh and Bihar, strike supporters shut down transport and businesses. Some roads were blocked, cars were smashed and trains disrupted.

"The response to the strike shows the anger of the people against the government's attack on secular fabric of the country," Prakash Javdekar, a senior BJP leader, told the Reuters news agency in Delhi. source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7487609.stm

Land and blood

The independence campaign flares up in a row about land for Hindu pilgrims

FIRE crackers and scattered cheering dotted the night on July 2nd in Srinagar, as Kashmiris celebrated a rare victory over the Indian government. Hours earlier, after a week of popular and violent protests, Kashmir’s government had rescinded a gift of protected-forest land to Hindu pilgrims. In response, local Muslim separatists called off the protests they had organised. But after this triumph, which followed a year or so of relative calm in the troubled valley, fresh agitation seems likely.

Indeed, it may well spread beyond Kashmir and go national. On July 1st India’s main opposition, the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), called for a nationwide strike to put pressure on the state government—which, like India’s central government, is a coalition led by the Congress party—to reverse its reversal. Sticking up for Hindu pilgrims—hundreds of thousands of whom flock to a cave in Kashmir each year to pay homage to a giant icicle they revere as an incarnation of the god Shiva—is staple fare for the BJP. So is sticking it to uppity Muslims.

As BJP leaders issued their call in Delhi, 80 people were injured in rioting by Hindu activists in Jammu, the southern, mainly-Hindu, part of India’s only Muslim-majority state. With a general election due by next May and Congress in trouble on the back of soaring inflation and other woes, the contretemps is a godsend for the BJP.

It is also handy for Kashmir’s separatist leaders. The 19-year-old freedom fight has cost over 40,000 lives, by the Indian army’s count, and at least twice that by the separatists’; but the current death-rate, at a bit under 100 a month, is at an all-time low. That, and internal feuding, has taken the wind out of the separatist movement.

Fighting has flagged partly because Pakistan, which like India holds part of the historic kingdom of Jammu & Kashmir and claims all of it, has greatly reduced its former support to the insurgents. At the same time, Kashmiris seem increasingly resigned to the status quo. Some still hanker after the accession to Pakistan they feel was their due at partition in 1947; probably a greater number want outright independence. But many feel they have lost the battle. Turnout in local elections, which the separatists boycott, is increasing. By rallying support for their cause, separatist leaders may hope to dent turnout at the next state election, due by November.

Hence the vigour with which they pounced on the government’s decision to grant 99 acres (40 hectares) of land to a Hindu body that manages the icicle pilgrimage. This, it was explained, was to help provide temporary shelter for more than 400,000 devotees who visit the icicle shrine, a cave at Amarnath in south Kashmir, each year. Yet the separatist chiefs preferred to see it as a brazen effort by the government to shift Hindus into the Muslim-dominated Kashmir valley.

Thousands agreed. Beginning on June 29th, the state capital, Srinagar, and the rest of the valley saw their biggest protests since the early-1990s, when the insurgency was at its height. Five people were killed and hundreds injured in clashes between the army and stone-throwing youths. In this time of strife, two of the biggest of Kashmir’s many separatist factions, split over whether to negotiate with the government, were reported to have reunited.

Also on June 29th, after noting which way the wind was blowing, Congress’s main local ally, the People’s Democratic Party, quit the state government. Reduced to a minority, Congress is now looking for other allies to help it to hobble through to the polls later this year. The gleeful separatists are meanwhile plotting protests against the occupation of vast tracts of Kashmir by the army.

It may not stop there. Defying an unofficial curfew and a tear-gas bombardment by soldiers nearby, several thousand men gathered in Srinagar’s main mosque on July 1st. Despite a dozen huge green Pakistani flags hoisted above the throng, the speeches they heard, from local religious and political leaders, were mainly for independence. “The land-transfer deal has brought so many issues to light,” said one congregant, a local university professor. “In Kashmir, people are angry.” source: http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11671155

VHP sees conspiracy behind land transfer row

Mumbai (PTI): The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Wednesday accused the Jammu and Kashmir and the Central governments of "conspiring" to stop Hindu pilgrimages and said the VHP will not allow that to happen in this country.

"The conspiracy is to stop the pilgrimage of Hindus in the name of preserving forest, mountain, sea shore and rivers", VHP leader Venkatesh Abdeo told reporters here today.

The Maharashtra unit of the VHP will join the nation-wide bandh on July 3 call given by its central leadership to protest against the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board land transfer issue in Jammu and Kashmir, Abedo said.

He said that if the Jammu and Kashimir government did not transfer the land to Shri Amarnath Shrine Board, then the government should take away the Haj houses from the Muslims.
He also demanded immediate halt of Haj subsidy and all other facilities given to the Muslims.

VHP in the state also urged people to support the shutdown by keeping their businesses and offices closed. They have also requested the schools and colleges in the state to remain closed.
"People should also boycott all goods made in Kashmir as a sign of protest," Abdeo added.

For security of the Amarnath devotees and to protect the state of Jammu and Kashmir from Jehadi terrorists the government should immediately quash the special status given to the state under Article 370 and should impose military rule in the state," Abdeo said.

Abdeo further said revocation of grant of land in Amarnath was `tip of the iceberg', as the real conspiracy was to stop all the Hindu pilgrimages.

Assam ranks as ‘most corrupt’ State

NEW DELHI, June 29 – Assam has earned the dubious distinction of being the most corrupt State in the country, on the basis of corruption in 11 vital services. Corruption level was alarming in four other States, as well. The latest India Corruption Study 2007 conducted jointly by Transparency International and Centre for Media Study and released by Vice President Hamid Ansari on Saturday is embarrassing news for Assam, where corruption level was described as ‘alarming’. The four States, which follow Assam include Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. The grouping of States on corruption reflects position of States in the context of eleven services. The eleven services included ‘basic services’ like PDS, hospital service, school education, electricity and water supply services and ‘need -based services’, like land records, registration, housing service, forest, NREGS, banking service and police service (traffic and crime)). The study does not include operational irregularities in the system and even corruption that does not involve citizens directly.The study covered all 31 States and Union Territories and is focused on the poorest and rural areas. It included below the poverty line people (BPL) in both rural areas and urban slums.The level of corruption in all the 11services studied in Assam and Madhya Pradesh was alarming. In Delhi and West Bengal, for example, corruption level was moderate in most services surveyed. Among smaller States of the north-east, like Nagaland and Goa, corruption level was alarming, whereas in Meghalaya and Sikkim, it was very high. In Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur the level was high, while in Tripura and Mizoram it was found to be moderate. The total bribe amount involved in a year in BPL households availing the eleven services is estimated at Rs 8,830 crore. Based on the incidence of bribe paid by sample BPL households, an estimate is made for the total amount paid as bribe by BPL households in the country during the last one-year in the eleven services. School education (up to class XII and government schools) among the 11 services studied stands last in the ranking meaning the level of corruption is the lowest among all. While police service stood number one. The land records and registration and house and plot, which are specially tailored for BPL households, stand at two and three respectively in the rank. The level and extent of corruption in police service was high in all States, as if it is universal – but the ranks of other services show variations across the States. Given the nature of need-based services, which are monopolistic or involve asset creation or volume, these services ranked high on corruption as compared to basic services.Releasing the report, the Vice president said the report brings to light the negative impact of competitive politics on targeted schemes aimed at the poor. It has reported instances of BPL, SC/ST and other vulnerable households of being told by political activists of a linkage between benefits and electoral preferences. “This, to the extent it is true, amounts to political corruption in its damaging form since it undermines the very institutions of democracy at all levels. A national consensus at its avoidance is thus imperative,” he opined.

source: assam tribune