*Jammu and Kashmir: At Crossroads! *
*Need to douse the communal and seperatist sentiments*
*Ram Puniyani*
http://www.mynews.in/fullstory.aspx?storyid=9036
In the aftermath of the Amarnath shrine board land transfer and then
reversal of the same, the matters in the state are going from bad to worse.
One was witnessing a gradual decline in acts of terror and increase in the
democratic space, democratic patterns, despite the heavy presence of the
army in the state. With the Shrine board issue being used by the separatist
elements and communal elements, the things seem to be heading in the
direction which will have far reaching adverse impact on the politics of the
region.
There are many a things which the separatist elements exaggerated and took
extreme position. Their march to Muzzafarabad, slogan of Azadi got response
mainly due to two reasons. The first and the foremost was the perception in
the valley that if already the Amarnath yatra is going so well what is the
need to transfer the land to the shrine board? For the people of Kashmir
Amarnath yatra is one of the significant sources of income and is part of
the culture of Kashmir, and has so far never been seen in the communal
light. The move of the Governor, Sinha, a covert BJP sympathizer, to
Hinduise the yatra was a big blow to the traditions of the valley. The
illegal land transfer, nowhere is the forest land transferred for any other
purpose. In all cases of melas etc. the land is temporarily used without
transfer. Here the complicated story is that the Governor and his Principal
Secretary, who was CEO of shrine, maneuvered this illegal move with the help
of the forest official in charge, who happened to be his. The state
Government's refusal to follow the illegal decision of the board and forest
department was stalled by the courts and the seeds of a discord were sown.
One is reminded of the Babri Masjid dispute, where the idols were illegally
installed in 1949, the local collector, a RSS sympathizer stalled the
removal of the idols sowing the seeds of the problem which finally led to
demolition of Babri mosque and giving the flesh and blood and political
power to the BJP over a period of time. In valley the Israel Foreign
minister Shimon Perez's advice to Advani for changing the demographic
profile of the valley is well known. Also the people in the valley have been
suffering either the militancy or the rights violation by the army so their
sentiments are on the burning point, needing one separatist group to ignite
the issue. A sorry state of affairs! Nothing can match the suffering of the
people of Kashmir, which had a potential for improvement but things are
going haywire now.
Second was the suffering in the valley due to the blockade by the protesters
in the Jammu region. This is being denied vehemently by the BJP, which is at
the core of the Jammu agitation. The truth is that this agitation did
frighten the truck drivers, excesses were committed on the truck drivers,
frightening experience for them on the way, coupled with effective blockade
of trucks. This led to intense and immediate reaction in the valley. As this
was the main artery connecting the valley with country they were deprived of
essentials, more so life saving and other medicines, and routine supplies.
Secondly the backbone of economy, the export of fruits suffered leading to
depression in the already emaciated economy. In this backdrop the march to
Muzzafrabad, capital of Pakistan occupied Kashmir, appealed to the people.
The tale of Jammu has the other elements tragedy. In this predominantly
Hindu majority area, there are many grievances, the major one being around
the step-motherly treatment to this region by the J&K administration. Always
in the policy planning Jammu gets a backseat and Kashmir valley the first
priority. Also the emigration of pundits from valley has been misrepresented
and complex issue of ethno-regional-Pakistan intervention issue has been
presented as a communal one. The emigration of Pundits, a tragic story has
been used by the RSS combine to the hilt to create a communal atmosphere. In
this scenario the discontent in the valley due to reversal of land transfer
came in as triggering factor and all the dam of discontent burst. This in
turn affected the lives of people in the valley. While it seems that the
Jammu agitation cuts across the political lines, surely it is the BJP
associates who are in the driver's seat and others have meekly surrendered
to this agitation.
Advani's attempt to present valley people as anti national and those of
Jammu as National is fraught with dangers. While the central government is
playing its old role of silent spectator, helplessly watching separatists
and communalists stoke the fires on both the sides. This is akin to its role
in opening the gates of Babri Mosque and playing fiddle when the Mosque was
being demolished by RSS and company. There are many other analogies, a sense
of déjà vu with the Babri issue are there. In case of Babri, BJP's interest
was in demolishing the mosque, while it was presented as the one for
building Ram Temple. It did demolish it, came to power but Ram temple was
nowhere to be seen. In case of Amarnath Yatra also it is not interested in
the yatra itself but in issues which can ignite communal passions and help
it come to power, and that's what its agenda is.
One of the logics given for land transfer was the increase in the number of
pilgrims, due to which more facilities and space is needed. The point is,
more number of pilgrims is a threat to ecological balance and the Amarnath
cave cannot take more pilgrims as that is causing the warming and melting of
Shiv ling, the Phallus like structure, revered by the pilgrims. In other
such places like Gangotri and Gomukh, because of similar reasons, BJP has
been demanding a restriction in the number of pilgrims to protect the holy
place and environment. So why these double standards? The answer is too easy
to guess, and BJP, a shrewd party realizes that it is not religiosity which
is important but its political encashment what matters.
All in all Jammu and Kashmir has been treated by the neighboring countries,
Pakistan and India as a beautiful woman, whom both want to own, irrespective
of what she wishes! The so called patriots are treating the Kashmir issue as
a real estate issue, the life of the people does not figure in the
calculation of the powers involved in the dispute.
Today many ideologues are arguing that Azadi is the solution, some of them
are arguing that economically people of state stand to benefit if the old
trade routes to Pakistan are normalized. In this charged up atmosphere, in
this strategically located area, is it not overdue that the wishes of
regions, dialogue between all concerned parties are the guiding factor
rather than the legalistic and 'blind nationalist' approaches? J&K did
legally accede to India, but at the same time one has to realize that right
form the beginning the autonomy which was promised in the treaty of
accession, was never honored and the clauses of the treaty were violated
with impunity. The US designs to have a presence in the region through the
proxy of Pakistan, in a region surrounded by Communist (Russia, China) and
socialist (as India was supposed to be), were well planned. After the
USsponsored Al Qaeda completed its assignment of defeating Russian
armies in
Afghanistan, the same indoctrinated Al Qaeda elements did enter J&K to
communalize a regional ethnic issue. We need to overcome the Hindu-Muslim
approach and look at all the concerned issues in an objective dispassionate
manner. Hope all these complexities and grievances of the people of Jammu,
the people of Kashmir valley form the basis of peaceful and just solution to
the present turmoil in the state.
Issues in Secular Politics
August 2008
For circulation etc.
ram.puniyani@gmail.com, www.pluralindia.com
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