Amarnath Land Deal

Bodhi · 08-08-2008, 06:07 PM

Kids have their own Sangharsh Samiti!!!

<img src='http://l.yimg.com/ki/epaper/jagran/20080808/09/jmu7jaa-8-c-3-1_1218168611_m.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />

08-08-2008, 06:50 PM

http://www.hindu.com/2008/08/08/stories/...641100.htm

QUOTEGujjar Muslims flay remarks of separatists

Luv Puri

Jammu: Gujjar Muslims have strongly attacked the statement of separatist leaders that Muslims in Jammu do not want to live with Hindus of the region. They have described it as an attempt to drive a wedge between communities bonded with each other by language and culture for centuries.

The separatist leaders had also reportedly said that the Hindu majority areas of Jammu were free to separate from Muslim majority areas.

Haji Mohammad Qasim, who had led the first organised civilian revolt against militants in Poonch district, says, âWe are touring various parts and trying to spread our message of secularism. Ethnically and linguistically we are closer to our Hindu brothers of Jammu. We cannot shun these ties and this is the message we have. We do not accept this argument that we want to separate from Jammu Hindus. This is a relationship of centuries and this cannot be severed.â

Gujjar Muslims made history in April 2003 when they launched a full-fledged assault on militants holed up in the Hill Kaka tract and neighbouring hills situated in the Marrah area of Poonch district.

It was the first operation in the State when the locals rebelled against the militants and played a key role in counter-militancy operations.

Haji Aslam, a leader of a group of Gujjar Muslims, says, âI think the separatist leaders do not know about the history of Gujjar Muslims in the last 20 years. We are still on the hit-list of militant groups and are getting threatening calls from them. Do they expect us to support the separatist cause? They are badly mistaken.â

08-08-2008, 07:23 PM

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2008/20080807/j&k.htm

QUOTEMehbooba Muftiâs remarks flayed
Tribune News Service

Jammu, August 6
PDP president Mehbooba Mufti has again invited criticism from lawyers and politicians in Jammu for her âunwarranted but provocative remarksâ.

During the August 1 all-party meeting convened by Governor N.N. Vohra here , the PDP president described the unrest across the state as an issue of â just two-and-a-half â districts. She said Kashmiris could wage protracted agitations, but people in Jammu being small time shopkeepers, could not withstand such campaigns for long.

âBy seeing such an uprising across the Jammu region, her utterances were nothing but a sheer frustration on her part,â former MLA Ashwani Sharma said.

The PDP, whether in power or not, had always been representing a particular region and a particular community only, caring two hoots for other natives of the state, he added. For the first time since 1947, Jammu region had witnessed such a revolt and hitherto, Kashmir leaders had been blackmailing New Delhi but these tactics would not work anymore, he said.

âShe should not have forgotten that it was people of Jammu, who had elected her father Mufti Mohammed Sayeed to the Legislative Assembly from RS Pura,â veteran BJP leader Virender Gupta said.

Bar Association Jammu president, Advocate BS Salathia said such remarks would further escalate protests across the region.

08-08-2008, 07:31 PM

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2008/20080807/j&k.htm

QUOTESome relief for residents
Tribune News Service

Jammu, August 6
It was 5 oâclock, dawn was yet to break and air was wet and windy yet the bazaars were bustling with customers. Long queues could be witnessed in front of general stores, medical shops, as well as liquor shops alike. People came out of lanes, made enquiries, buy essential commodities, and then again vanished away quickly.

There was relaxation in curfew for a few hours and people wanted to make most of this time period before their freedom was curbed and restriction reimposed. Inside mohallas of old city, people were glued to radios, television sets and newspapers. Apprehensions and rumours were on rife as they believed that dearth of essential commodities would intensify in the days to come and the administration would take more rigorous steps to âteach them a lesson.â Some pledge not to give in before the administration and exhort others to muster courage to âfight against injustice and discriminationâ.

Apart from children, the emergent situation was a unique experience for all other people who did not witness such a âmass revolt against Kashmir-based secessionist and separatist politics before.â

Meanwhile, retail price shopkeepers of upper Panjtirthi alleged that in the face of scarcity of household goods, the police was not allowing them to buy stock from wholesalers during relaxation in curfew. âToday the administration had lifted curfew from 5 am to 8 am but while we were purchasing goods at Kanak Mandi, the police forcibly pulled down the shutters at 6 am and chased us away,â they alleged.

They further alleged that they were even deprived of newspapers. âWe are not getting national dailies for the past couple of days, while vendors have been denied by the security forces to deliver papersâ they said.


QUOTEMigrant Muslims feel more âsafeâ in Jammu
Tejinder Singh Sodhi
Tribune News Service

Jammu, August 6
With ârumoursâ spreading like wildfire in Kashmir that the ongoing agitation in Jammu had taken a communal shape and members of the minority community were being targeted, members of the Muslim community, said they felt more safe in Jammu than in Kashmir.

The separatists in the Kashmir valley have been making hue and cry over the rumours that Muslims in Jammu were being targeted by the âHindu extremistsâ. However, Muslims living in Jammu say no such incident has taken place.
A large number of Kashmiri Muslims along with Kashmiri Pandits migrated to Jammu when armed insurgency erupted in the Kashmir valley 18 years ago.

âThere is no question of leaving Jammu. Nobody has attacked us. These are rumours being spread by some vested interests. Jammu has been a perfect example of communal harmony. We were offered refuge when our own people in Kashmir disowned usâ, Abdul Hameed, a Kashmir migrant, said.

Abdul said: âAll Kashmiri Muslims who migrated to Jammu were against armed insurgency in the valley. We protested against the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits. However, the extremists started targeting usâ.

Meanwhile, migrant Muslims living in Jammu, blame politicians for the ongoing turmoil in the state. âThese politicians divided the valley on communal lines and now they are trying to make a divide in Jammu on a similar linesâ, Ghulam Qadir, a resident Gujjar Nagar in Jammu, said.

Ghulam along with his family had migrated to Jammu from Bandipore 18 years ago. He said: âWe wonât allow them
to divide people on communal linesâ.

Many migrant Muslims said they wanted to remain neutral on the issue of forest land as peopleâs religious sentiments were attached to it. âThere is no harm in giving land to the shrine board when the annual yatra provides livelihood to a large section of the Kashmiri population. However, we want to maintain a neutral stand on the issueâ, Abdul Rashid, another Kashmiri migrant, said.

Other migrant Muslims also said there was no question of leaving Jammu in wake of the ongoing agitation. âOur people are supporting the ongoing agitation. It is not only against the revocation of forest land transfer, but has also turned into a mass uprising. Our region has faced discrimination since the past 60 yearsâ, Majid Meraj, a postgraduate student of Jammu University, said.

08-08-2008, 07:39 PM

http://www.livemint.com/2008/07/02235715/S...ices-i.html?d=1

QUOTEStifling the moderate voices in Kashmir

Jyoti Malhotra

As New Delhi hots up with the news of Mulayam Singh Yadavâs Samajwadi Party possibly joining the Congress-led coalition government at the Centre, up north in Kashmir, Prime Minister Manmohan Singhâs friend and adviser, governor N.N. Vohra, has managed to defuse a communal crisis just in time.

A former Indian administrative service officer, Vohraâs pretty much seen it all. He was born in Lahore, South Asiaâs most cosmopolitan city, and till the age of 5, was schooled in a madrasa. All this only to show that Vohra, who went on to become defence secretary (he brokered a deal between India and Pakistan on the Siachen issue in 1992, which never saw the light of day), home secretary, and after retirement was in charge of Delhiâs Kashmir policy, has a better understanding of the mess in this part of the world than many other people.

Under Vohraâs instructions, the order to revoke the transfer of about 40ha (100 acres or 800 kanals) of land to the Amarnath shrine board on Tuesday has saved the state from plunging into a communal crisis of massive proportions. While the land itself was hardly large, the fact that its potential transfer sparked off such a spontaneous uprising across the Kashmir valley shows what a tinderbox the state remains.

All those reports about this heaven on earth returning to normalcyâtourists and tulips, and Bollywood film shootsâ are, in retrospect, akin to thin skin being grafted on to a large wound so as to protect and heal it, when at the slightest tug, the wound breaks open.

Vohra replaced Gen. (retd) S.K. Sinha, who is believed to have sought an extension to remain in Kashmir until the government put its foot down. Keeping the general in Kashmir, one official said, would have meant abandoning all those out-of-the-box ideas about opening new routes across the Line of Control between India and Pakistan so that people between the two Kashmirs could work on peace and brotherhood.

Significantly, the press in Pakistan has, unusually, refrained from raising the volume about this latest Kashmir crisis, confirming the view that Islamabad, even as it is rocked with several crises of its own, does not want to stir the pot in Kashmir.

Muslim separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, who has returned to the mainstream press after having been marginalized for the last few years, argues that the Pakistani disinterest proves his long-held belief that Kashmiris do not take dictation from Islamabad, but want to pursue their own policies. Geelani has now issued a call to march on Friday to Hazratbal, a shrine considered most sacred by Kashmiri Muslims.

Some will still say that while the Muslim-majority Kashmir valley is now taking a breather, Hindu-majority Jammu is âburningâ. Television channels are full of stories of Hindus in the Jammu region being distraught with governor Vohraâs decision to revoke the land transfer, dubbing it a sell-out.

But, dig a little deeper into the Jammu protests and you will find that they are significantly backed by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). BJP leaders L.K. Advani and Rajnath Singh have also said that the land should have been given to the Amarnath shrine.

Which brings us to ex-governor S.K. Sinha. Besides his role in the Amarnath land transfer, Sinha wanted to hand over large tracts of land to the Sharada Peeth, a new university with a âHinduâ orientation; then, perhaps to counter the accusation that he was soft on the Hindus, Sinha was contemplating the creation of another university that owed allegiance to the Ahl-e-Hadees, an Islamic sect which considers itself more pure than others, according to political analysts.

Considering Kashmir is going to the polls in a couple of months, what could the former governor be thinking of? Media reports that the turnout in the state this time was going to exceed all expectations are now likely to be way off the mark. The fortunes of the Peopleâs Democratic Party of Mufti Mohammed Sayeed and his daughter, Mehbooba Mufti, are particularly said to be in the red zone, with one analyst in Srinagar saying that the party could be âdecimatedâ. Muftiâs party was seen to be playing both sidesâby going along with the Amarnath land transfer, then quickly abandoning the Congress coalition when the fire got too hot.

So, what does this mean for Kashmir? Firstly, that separatist politics will get a huge boost. For the first time, it seems, Geelani was able to make a speech in Srinagarâs beautiful Jama Masjid, considered to be the stronghold of Mirwaiz Umar Farooq. And now, with Geelani having issued a call to march to Hazratbal, the tragedy is that Kashmirâs moderate voices are going to get increasingly stifled.

Secondly, by sending Vohra to Srinagar, the government seems to have shown unusual foresight in making the right move.

Back in New Delhi, looks like a much-maligned Manmohan Singh could, over the next couple of days, rejig the coalition at the Centre, with the Samajwadi Party riding to the rescue of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance over the Indo-US nuclear deal.

Jyoti Malhotra is Mintâs diplomatic affairs editor and writes on the intersection of foreign policy, trade and politics every week.

Comments are welcome at betweenthelines@livemint.com Your thoughts are also welcome on her blog, Mappings (blogs.livemint.com/mappings).

08-08-2008, 07:50 PM

http://www.kashmirobserver.com/index.php?o...e-pdp&Itemid=55

QUOTEBeig Delves into History to Absolve PDP
Â Â
Srinagar, July 12, KONS: Senior, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader Muzaffar Hussain Beig, lashing out at the National Conference, today said that people of Jammu and Kashmir including PDP had once again paid a huge price for NC's follies.

Addressing a daylong session of members of party's general council, Mr Beig said that inauguration of a Saraie at Baltal in 1980 by late Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah and creation of ne board by his son Dr Farooq Abdullah were among the main mistakes committed by NC which generated the recent crisis.

On this occasion, Beig showed the private members bill passed by CPI (M) leader Mohammad Yousf Tarigami and passed by NC during 2000, which provided unlimited powers to ne Board. Mr Beig siad that papers on record reveal that on February 22, 2001 a high level meeting was chaired by the then Governor and attended by the then Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah in which they had agreed in principle that ne Board could exercise administrative and operational control on the stretch between Sangam-Amrawati and the holy cave and then once the Board obtains the necessary funds it will extend its area of responsibility towards Chandanwari and Baltal which constitutes 3600 Kanalas. Therefore, this dream was woven by Dr Farooq Abdullah in 2001, which the former governor S K Sinha wanted to fulfill during his tenure.

Explaining that the only order that coalition government had agreed to, was to give 800 Kanals of land for 45 days on rent, where temporary toilets and other facilities could be provided to Yatris.Â But unfortunately on the direction of Sinha the former CEO of ne Board, Arun Kumar claimed this temporary rental land as the property of the ne Board. This created apprehensions in the minds of people.

He said that, had Ghulam Nabi Azad done, what PDP had advised, the situation could have been different. But it appeared that Mr Azad wanted PDP out of coalition at any cost, so that he could forge alliance with NC.
Earlier party.president Ms Mehbooba Mufti said that her party is all set to expose and discuss the chain of sequence, which generated outrage across Jammu and Kashmir.Â

Ms Mufti said that taking reins of the State government in 2002 was a crown of thorns coupled with the inherited follies committed by the National Conference leadership in its long 30 years regime. She said that countless blunders of National Conference regime, be it draconian laws like POTA, Special Task Force, corruption and favoritism in recruitment process, and above all the sense of insecurity, the task ahead for her party was tough that too coming with only 16 MLAs and heading the coalition government.

Ms Mufti said that ne Board being one of the follies of NC created in connivance with BJP was to implement the communal agenda of the fascist forces through BJP's blue-eyed person and the former governor S K Sinha. "And unfortunately after the transfer of power Sinha as the governor and chairman of the ne Board acted as a parallel government in close proximity with Ghulam Nabi Azad. Sinha like a politician started criticizing PDP's agenda and proposals, be it withdrawal of troops, duel currency, regional council etc. He also went to the extent of calling PDP as anti national and a supporter of militants," she said.

Bodhi · 08-08-2008, 08:00 PM

QUOTE(rajesh_g @ Aug 8 2008, 07:50 PM)Sinha like a politician started criticizing PDP's agenda and proposals, be it withdrawal of troops, duel currency, regional council etc. He also went to the extent of calling PDP as anti national and a supporter of militants," she said.
[right][snapback]86089[/snapback][/right]


If these proposals were not anti-national then I say Musharraf is the most nationalistic Indian.

**acharya** · 08-08-2008, 08:44 PM

more from vijay k sazawal's article:

QUOTEJammu V/s Kashmir
How a simple administrative matter was mishandled and how competitive politics led it to snowball into a violent stand-off, unleashing dangerous communal passions.
VIJAY K. SAZAWAL
Source: outlook india

Unlike the sustained uprising in Kashmir in 1990 which was mostly orchestrated by Pakistani trained operatives, the uprising in the summer of 2008 was mostly indigenous, spontaneous and massive. The opening salvo, it would seem, was fired discreetly by the coalition partner, the Peopleâs Democratic Party (PDP). Networking with a group of seasoned journalists who write for Srinagar-based newspapers, the PDP let out a canard ahead of the state cabinet meeting on May 20, 2008, that the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB) under the patronage of its Chairman, the Governor of the state, was planning to construct a large township in Baltal, to be named Amarnath Nagar, near the holy Amarnath Cave. There were other, even more serious accusations, the most disturbing of which was that the Governor was trying to change the demographics of the valley by using the SASB authority to resettle nonresident Hindus in the region.

It took time for this news to make the rounds among Kashmiri political analysts and public. The PDP had perhaps hoped that Kashmir would be on fire by the time the state cabinet would meet on Tuesday, May 20, 2008, but that did not happen. In the local media, other than a story or two, the SASB episode was treated with the same mixture of curiosity and disdain as the "Pakistani currency" or the "joint management of Baglihar hydel project," and a few other odd nuggets that PDP habitually threw out like the proverbial hand grenades once in a while.

Perhaps the most significant story on the SASB-related rumors was printed on 11th May 2008 in the leading pro-separatist newspaper in the valley, where a well respected political commentator mixed nationalism with religious chauvinism in opposing the "so-called Hindu invasion" by declaring, "Islam is a reality in Kashmir, which was chosen here by the people to liberate themselves from the highly oppressive social, economic and religious order established by the Brahaminical system." The same journalist would later claim that "the saddest part of the debate surrounding the Amarnath Yatra is that it has attained communal colors, when the question is fundamentally environmental." But that would come much later.

Interestingly, both senior PDP ministers -- the Law Minister Muzaffar Hussain Baig (who also served as the Deputy Chief Minister) and the Forest Minister Qazi Mohammad Afzal -- attended the May 20 cabinet meeting. Neither of the PDP ministers made any specific objections when the cabinet voted in favor of the Forest Departmentâs written recommendation to allow the SASB request seeking non-proprietary transfer of 38.88 hectares (about 800 kanals) of land to SASB. It should be remembered that the SASB had made the request for nearly 180 hectares in 2004 and it had taken nearly four years of due diligence, reviews, court orders, negotiations and official approvals by various departments and ministries that eventually ended up paring down the original request for land transfer to the very minimum for building comfort facilities for Hindu pilgrims in transit.

The Cabinet Decision Number 94/7 of May 20, 2008, clearly states that the SASB has only non-proprietary rights to the land and is explicit regarding the compensation that must precede any construction -- a payment of Rs. 2,31,30,400, and an additional Rs. 19,94,000 on account of compensatory afforestation to be carried over twice the requested land surface (79.66 hectares).The Cabinet Order also mentions that SASB had agreed to follow strict ecological damage containment before proceeding with any construction: it would take all possible environmental safeguards in consultation with the State Soil Conservation Department, State Pollution Control Board, State Forest Department and even the orders of the Indian Supreme Court.

Following the cabinet meeting, the Forest Department issued Government Order No: 184-FST of 2008 dated May 26, 2008, transferring land to SASB under terms listed in the Cabinet Decision 94/7. It was clear to all parties that transfer process would not be completed until the land was demarcated, and no construction would take place until the SASB made the advance payment of Rs. 2 crores. Incidentally, neither of these actions was taken.

But, it would seem that the former Chief Minister (CM) Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, who had never reconciled to having been replaced by someone from the Jammu region, was not yet ready to give up. Recall that it was his daughter and the party president, Mehbooba Mufti, who during the power sharing negotiations between the PDP and the Congress party, following the fall 2002 elections, had declared that, "blood will flow in streets of Srinagar if a non-valley politician becomes the chief minister."

Mufti Sayeed, after stepping down as the CM in October 2005, had treated the new Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad with utter disdain, going repeatedly over his head to discuss state matters directly with the national Congress party leadership that should have been normally discussed within the state coalition. This was not accidental â Mufti knew that the "Delhi Durbar" always had the last word in so far as Kashmir is concerned. The Durbar courtiers â modern day political nawabs â had more power and authority than the CM.

Ghulam Nabi Azad had spent a long time in the Durbar and tormented Dr. Farooq Abdullah when the latter was the CM. Now, ironically enough, it was Azadâs turn to be on the receiving end, and Mufti, by running to New Delhi, was making things difficult for him. Azad was well meaning and honest, but having spent a lifetime in the Delhi Durbar meant that he was mostly ignorant of the opportunistic, corrupt and sycophantic nature of Kashmiri politics. Simply put, Azad was not "rascal enough" to be an effective chief minister of the state.

Following the issuance of the Government Order by the PDP led forest ministry; Mufti kept working behind-the-scenes on a separate but a related issue that was crucial to his future plans. This dealt with uncertainty regarding selection of the new state Governor. Mufti had a long standing feud with Governor S. K. Sinha and Amarnath yatra was in fact a leading cause of friction between the two.

While the SASB was formed after being voted in the state assembly during the time that the National Conference (NC) was in power, Mufti did his best to scuttle the pilgrimage in every way possible after he became the new CM. It seemed to matter little to him if yatris were not properly housed or protected because to him the whole idea of Hindu pilgrimage to Kashmir was perhaps an abhorrent thought.

In 2000, as many as 22 people were massacred by terrorists during the yatra in a series of communal attacks attributed to Lashker-e-Toiba (LeT) that year. Seven pilgrims and five workers were killed in a terrorist strike the next year during the pilgrimage. In 2002, 8 people were killed and 30 injured by terrorist strikes and the SASB, finding the state efforts lukewarm and indifferent, sought authority from the state to protect pilgrims.

But Mufti did not even bother to reply to the letter from the SASB Board.The matter ended in the J&K State High Court, where in two rulings in 2005 (Mufti sought the higher bench ruling after the first court decision went against him), the verdict was identical â SASB had the responsibility to set the timing and define security needs for the yatra. Mufti, it would seem, never recovered from that judicial defeat and never reconciled with the Governor.

The term of Governor Sinha was expiring on June 4, 2008. Mufti wanted him out but Governor Sinha wanted to extend his stay, and more importantly, Chief Minister Azad liked the Governor and wanted him to continue in the post. This was unacceptable to Mufti, who was working very hard in the Delhi Durbar to force a change, and as usual was able to trounce Azad.

Among the candidates under consideration was N. N. Vohra, a distinguished Indian public servant who had served at the highest levels in the Indian bureaucracy and was the Prime Ministerâs personal interlocutor on Kashmir. Mufti pushed for Vohra and on June 3, the central government announced Mr. Vohra as replacement for Gen. Sinha. The only thing that was uncertain was the date on which the changeover would happen because Gen Sinha kept postponing his departure. Once it was publicly announced that Vohra would take over as the Governor on June 25, Mufti went for the kill.

First, most media elements took upon themselves to ignore the SASB dispute in terms of being a sordid drama and an exercise in crass political opportunism between two coalition partners ahead of the upcoming state election. Second, the "civil society" intelligentsia began sounding drumbeats of an earlier turbulent era and, after starting to harp on the "threat to Islam" theme, stepped up their rhetoric in public.

On June 23, a leading pro-separatist daily in Srinagar ran the story (dated June 22) saying that it "had documents in its possession that the construction of pucca buildings [was] going on a war footing at Dumhel, one of the resting points for Amaranath Cave bound pilgrims." Baltal Traders Association was co-opted to express its indignation which was prominently splashed by the daily. The fact that SASB was in no position â legally or otherwise â to start any permanent construction was of little interest to the rabble rousers.

Sadly, the daily would not tell its readers that the J&K government had after 1996 -- when 250 pilgrims died due to heavy snowfall during the yatra and before the passage of the SASB Act in the state assembly in 2000 -- built a number of permanent comfort facilities for pilgrims. In fact, the earliest such structures were built in 1980s. Also, the media conveniently ignored that the SASB had donated most of its tear-down comfort facility kits to the people of Tangdhar and Uri after the October 2005 earthquake and there was an urgent need to build replacement facilities along the yatra route.

The same day (June 23), having received confirmation that Governor Sinha would be replaced, the father and daughter duo seemed to have lobbed another incendiary device and like master tacticians disappeared from the scene: Mufti announcing that he was headed to America for medical checkup and the daughter to a seminar in London. The "bomb" was an ultimatum to their coalition partner â Congress party â that if the Government Order 184-FST was not revoked by June 30, PDP would pull out of the government. It was not a difficult decision for the PDP as they believed that they would improve their political standing in an election, especially with Sinha gone for good. Mufti Sayeed had initially indicated that he would exit the country before the new Governor took over, but he did not actually leave for the U.S.until after attending Governor Vohraâs oath ceremony on June 25.

The Muftis are, after all, masters in harnessing communal tension towards a political advantage. They had executed similar tactics in the past, and the one that seems particularly apt, as reminded to me by a journalist friend in Srinagar, was in 1986 when Mufti ran a similar dirty campaign which targeted Kashmiri Pandits in the Anantnag district that led to burning and loot of hundreds of Pandit properties and temples and caused the fall of the Gul Shah government. In fact, the record shows that Mufti has been involved in triggering the maximum number of central government interventions in the state through the Governorâs rule, hoping to improve his political standing in subsequent elections.

While Muftis were conducting their divorce proceedings with the Azad-led coalition government in public, the valley newspapers were having a field day. Suddenly, a new picture emerged in the valley. Almost every editor and columnist tried to outdo each other in rhetoric and demagoguery. The SASB, a creation of the state assembly eight years earlier, got transformed by the media into an alien institution, imposed by Indian authorities, a state-within-a-state, and a conspiracy that was at the vanguard of a Hindu invasion in the valley.

None of this was true, but it mattered little to the Kashmirâs civil society that habitually behaves as an appendage to separatist organisations mixing human rights, commercial interests and politicking to feed personal egos, bank accounts and community interests. Chief Minister Azad was more focused on his political problems and totally glossed over the changes taking place on the street.

The streets were about to erupt. The public had already been informed that a delegation of Hurriyat, consisting of Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Prof. Abdul Gani Butt and Bilal Gani Lone, would be leaving for Pakistan on June 21. While the two Hurriyat factions were conducting their demonstrations against the SASB separately, Pakistani officials most likely advised Mirwaiz that he would receive a warmer welcome in Pakistan if he patched up with his nemesis, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, ahead of his trip to Pakistan. Besides, Geelani also wanted to change his posture and end public bickering with his former colleagues without appearing to compromise his principles. The moment was therefore opportune to show unity against the SASB order. Even though all allegations were baseless, what mattered was that an opportunity had presented itself that could not be missed.

On June 18, Mirwaiz announced that he would meet with Geelani at the latterâs residence on June 19, to chalk out a "common resistance program" against the land transfer to SASB. At the meeting, they agreed to combine their efforts under the Action Committee against Land Transfer (ACALT) and put Mian Abdul Qayyum, the former President of the Kashmir Bar Council who had in the past tried to effect a patch up between these two leaders, in charge. Previously feuding Hurriyat cadre rolled into ACALT which took over the organization of street demonstrations, formation of public kitchens for meal- giveaways, and volunteer corps to manage auxiliaries.

On June 23, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, succeeded in escaping the police who wanted him interned at his residence in Hyderpora and led a joint demonstration near Gow Kadal. Elsewhere in the Shahr-e-Khas, the demonstrations got out of hand, pitched battles took place among demonstrators and police, and security booths were burnt down. The engagement with paramilitaries on that day led to a death (first of many that would follow) and many more were injured.

It is difficult to comprehend how a request to build brick-and-mortar lavatories at 10,000 ft altitude in an inhospitable area where not a tree grows and where it snows for nearly 8 months a year could be seen as a land give-away that could provoke such a violent reaction. But this is Kashmir, where the powerful and the rich have succeeded in maintaining their authority and control ("the status quo") by hatching conspiracy theories and seeding alienation, while the poor pay the price and continue to stay poor.

Meanwhile, the three-member Hurriyat team reached Pakistan on June 21. Their most important day during the visit was Monday, June 23. On that day, they held many meetings in Islamabad but the three most important were with the Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani in the morning, with the leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami Qazi Hussain Ahmed later in the day, and in the evening with the chief of the United Jihad Council (UJC) and leader of the Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) Syed Salahuddin in a local hotel.

Interestingly, the government of Pakistan made no public statements about either the Mirwaiz-Geelani "Common Resistance Program", or the uprising in the valley. Based on the recent expose about ISI-Taliban nexus in planning and executing the bombing of the Indian Embassy in Kabul, and more recent violations of the Line of Control (LOC), it would appear that new Pakistani civil government is a confused lot and unsure of its Kashmir policy -- at least for now.

When the news of Hurriyat meetings in Islamabad hit the airwaves and print media in the valley on June 24, every district in the valley was witnessing massive outpouring of public outcry. Srinagar was brought to a complete shutdown and protests led to more defiance, more deaths and more injuries. Vandals destroyed public property (buildings, vehicles, etc.) and the total destruction of a recently rebuilt park that brought fresh life to the historic almond orchard at the foothills of the Hari Parbat hillock. The uprising seemed unstoppable.

The state government appeared paralysed. But more importantly, no one in the Delhi Darbar seemed to care. Delhi was busy with its own shenanigans dealing with the instability in the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) coalition ruling the center, and the subject of Kashmir was as usual left to courtiers like Saifudin Soz and Makhan Lal Fotedar who are generally more critical of the man at the helm in Srinagar than his detracters.

The courtiers continued to believe that the PDP would not pull out of the government and asked Azad to convene an all party meeting to sort out the matter politically. Ironically, no one had any idea in New Delhi (since most reports from security services are routinely ignored, or worse not even read, by Delhi-based rulers) about the extent of damage that the PDP had caused not only to the state coalition but also in unleashing a deadly mix of nationalism and religious chauvinism in both regions of the state.

Given the state of affairs, it was no wonder that on Friday, June 27, following prayers in various city mosques, protesters raised anti-India, pro-Islam and pro-Pakistan slogans and raised not Pakistani flags (as reported in the media) but three green flags that bore the crescent-and-star logo of Islam on the clock tower of Srinagarâs historic Lal Chowk. As reported by the Greater Kashmir daily, the nearby contingent of local and Indian police personnel did not even raise their eyebrows.

On Saturday, June 28, PDP formally withdrew from the Congress-led coalition citing reluctance of the Chief Minister to withdraw the Government Order 184-FST.

After the new Governor took over, he assessed the situation and realized that the whole affair had been blown up beyond proportion by an unlikely alliance of conniving politicians, opportunistic separatists and misplaced emotional rhetoric by the civil society. Equally of concern was that the situation in Jammu was beginning to turn sour.

Srinagar continued to suffer unofficial curfews as more violence led to more deaths which led to further violence. The cycle of violence would not let up. Besides, the dailies were doing their bit to inflame passions and keep the agitation (and their cash registers) going. On Friday, June 27, Governor Vohra sent a letter to the state government asking if it would take over the entire logistics dealing with the Amarnath yatra, in which case there would be no need to pursue the land transfer to SASB for constructing new comfort facilities for pilgrims. Lacking adequate facilities after thousands of portable toilets had been transferred elsewhere, it would be the State Tourist Department that would now build and operate such comfort facilities. The Chief Minister replied promptly and the state agreed to accept responsibility.

But that did not satisfy the lawyers leading the separatist demonstrations under the banner of ACALT. Syed Ali Shah Geelani played the "ultimate" communal card. He announced that there would be a massive show of public defiance at the Jamia Masjid on July 1.

The Governor acted quickly thereafter. He accepted the resignation of nine PDP ministers on June 29, and asked Azad to prove his ruling majority on July 7. On July 1, the Azad government revoked the Government Order 184-FST thereby withdrawing the terms and conditions for transfer of land to SASB.

A fire storm of public disgust hit the streets of Jammu.

The ACALT called off their demonstrations on the same day, even though a day earlier they had announced a new 5-point agenda to keep their agitation going. Both Hurriyat factions and PDP declared victory. On Wednesday, July 2, the market activity in Srinagar was so normal that a visitor would have been hard pressed to believe that the city had witnessed ten successive days of utter turmoil and anarchy that had ended barely a few hours earlier. The uprising was over. Atleast for the time being.

On July 7, the Azad government announced its resignation ahead of the Assembly vote. Previously on July 5, the National Conference (NC) had indicated that it would vote against the Congress government. NC was in no mood to be left behind and also claimed victory citing their meeting with the Governor as being crucial to the withdrawal of land transfer to the SASB. The Governor Narender Nath Vohra dissolved the J&K Assembly on July 10, and on Friday, July 11, he took over the charge of state affairs. The state was once again under direct rule from the center.

History will judge this entire episode with utter disdain because it brought down Kashmir politics to a gutter. Everyone that I have spoken to from the valley tells me that the outcry was not against Hindu pilgrims or even the SASB, but simply an expression of political freedom that has been denied to Kashmiri people.

That still however does not do justice to the manner in which the public opinion was moulded by "civil society" and various political parties in the valley. This incident brought out an ugly truth about the Kashmiri separatist movement and one has to question if Kashmiri nationalism can be sustained without religious bigotry.

During the uprising, valley demagogues had to concoct daily conspiratorial theories and rumours about "Islam in danger" to get people rattled enough to bring them on the street.Sadly, and without good reason, a few unfortunate young people lost their lives for what was actually a tempest in a tea cup.

But that was not all. With the assembly dissolved and elections in the offing, competitive politics had kicked in. Let's recall that the Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi had described Amarnath as a second "Shah Bano". And his prophecy seems to be coming true. The communal divide between Srinagar and Jammu, between Hindus and Muslims has only deepened with this latest instance of criminal mishandling of what could have been a minor administrative matter.

Ironically enough, what our otherwise savvy politicians seem to fail to understand is seized upon by all sorts of disruptive discontents. The 'Indian Mujahideen' in their controversial email had alluded to the Gujjar violence being rewarded in Rajasthan. It was neither the first time nor the last, for clearly violence in Srinagar had been rewarded as well. It was the turn of those in Jammu -- in the hope that this time too, violence would be rewarded. After all, they seem to have reasoned, the state and the central government (same party) had seemed very casual and matter of fact in acceding to mob pressure in Kashmir, so why would they not do the same in case of Jammu? What resulted was Amarnath Yatra Sangharsh Samiti [AYSS] a broad-based organisation that decided to take matters into its own hands. But even they suspended their violent protests a day after the Azad government demitted office on July 7, giving the Governor a fortnight's time with an ultimatum to either have the land restored to the SASB or resign from office.

And as their deadline approached, more fuel to the smouldering fire was provided by Omar Abdullah's speech in Lok Sabha that has strangely been feted by all without much thought to its subtext. As Pratap Bhanu Mehta noted in the Indian Express :

Â Â The idea that locating a conflictâs source in nationalism does not make it communal is a form of self-delusion we should shed. Both nationalism and communalism are also integrally linked to the politics of territoriality. Omar Abdullahâs ridiculously feted speech exemplifies this perfectly. When he made the claim that opposing the land transfer was a case of fighting for oneâs land, he made the link between communalism and territoriality. Implicit were two explosive links: first, that only one particular community has any claim to land in Kashmir. Even granting Kashmirâs special status, the acceptance of this foundational principle is a massive concession to communalism. Second, he lent credence to all those who exaggeratedly believe that a mere 40 acres is a prelude to colonisation by some "alien". Of course Muslims have for centuries facilitated the yatra. But that deep cultural fact is then used as a shield to elevate a minor matter to gigantic political proportions; a hard-won cultural interface sacrificed on the altar of that innocent sounding phrase, nationalism.

While the chattering classes were singing paeans to this speech, one young man, Kuldeep Verma-Dogra, who was participating in a hunger strike at Jammu's Parade Ground against the revocation of the land-transfer, seems to have decided to do something tragically dramatic to register his protest to the speech. He consumed poison, stood up to read out a passionately patriotic poem he had penned, and fell dead.

The panicking police behaved the way only panicking police does. In an abject manifestation of their ineptitude, they forcibly took away Dogra's body to his hometown, Bisnah, 15 km from Jammu and, as the AYSS puts it, "tried to cremate it using old tyres, kerosene oil and liquor". The police were also accused of "insulting, abusing and assaulting" his widow Shilpi when she protested. The police did not realise that they had managed to fan a far bigger fire in their bumbling efforts at lighting a funeral pyre. As the news spread, a huge crowd gathered and snatched Dogra's body away from the police. It was taken to Jammu, and the fire of the protests were now fuelled by this outrage -- and from then on, the situation simply spiralled out of control.

Curfew had to be clamped on all of Jammu and Samba. The army had to be called out. The governor was virtually forced to remain confined within the Raj Bhavan. The AYSS hardened its position into settling for nothing less than the revoked land transfer to be restored to the SASB. Protesters defied curfew and dared police and army to shoot them. Some were indeed shot dead. At least 14 people have been killed since May 26. Many more have suffered serious injuries. But it is the injury to the nation that is more grievous. The protests were unrelenting. But for the central government it was business as usual. It seemed too preoccupied with the aftereffects of the trust-vote, the IAEA, the NSG, and the bomb-blasts in Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Surat to care for the raging fire in Jammu. And it took the much vaunted "integral part", the Kashmir valley and its adjoining areas, to be "cut off" from the rest of India, as the protesters threatened to cut off its essential supplies, for the central government to be jolted out of its stupor, with a flurry of political activity and the all party meet. While a wider political consensus and the joint appeal for calm is only to be welcomed, it remains to be seen how this would be translated into reality on the ground.

Vijay K. Sazawal, Ph.D., is the International Coordinator of the Indo-American Kashmir Forum.

Bodhi · 08-08-2008, 08:45 PM

<img src='http://l.yimg.com/ki/epaper/jagran/20080808/09/jmu7sria03-c-3-1_1218168679_m.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />

Agnivesh fellow is in Srinagar with his anti-India terrorist friends.

**acharya** · 08-08-2008, 08:46 PM

This is an old article (circa 1999) but may be still appropriate for today's situation.
J&K Self-Determination....
It destroys the myth behind the oft repeated claim that pebiscite, if allowed, would result in secession. The analysis takes the population demographics route to destroy that myth. Perhaps an update is called for. Posting in full. My apologies if this has been posted before. Maybe worth saving.

Jammu & Kashmir: Self-Determination, Demands for a Plebiscite and Secession:
Examining the Contradictions

by Dr. Maharaj Kaul (b. Srinagar, Kashmir)

Since the beginning of Pakistan's low intensity proxy war in the state of Jammu & Kashmir in 1989, terrorist violence has a taken a toll of over 20,000 innocent lives. More than 300,000 Hindu and Sikh minorities from Kashmir Valley, and from the border areas have been displaced. Terror and intimidation have wrecked the peace for civillian life in the state and cross border terrorism continues to take a daily toll of innocent lives. Recently, Pakistan used the Kargil invasion to sneak in a large number of armed merecenaries into the state, who ratcheted up the violence one more notch, gravely hampering people's participation in the recent Lok Sabha elections..

The turmoil caused in Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) by this terrorist violence has given Pakistan and many of the secessionist groups in the state an excuse to demand a plebiscite in Jammu & Kashmir as envisaged in the United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan (UNCIP) resolutions of August 13, 1948 and January 5, 1949. It is never mentioned by the present advocates of a plebiscite that it was Pakistan which stonewalled the implementation of a plebiscite under UNCIP resolutions and that the 1972 Simla Agreement between India and Pakistan superseded all other agreements between the two countries including the UNCIP resolutions.

Yet the issue of a plebiscite, given much currency by Pakistan and by the imperialist powers, continues to haunt many well-meaning Indians who feel that India stands on morally weak ground by insisting on the Simla Agreement and rejecting a referendum. The demand for a plebiscite in J&K is highly misunderstood. There is a myth that the demand for a plebiscite reflects the aspirations of all (or a sizable majority) of the state's population, and is the only way for the people of J&K to articulate their right to self-determination. Although seemingly well-intentioned, those who see a plebiscite as a cure-all for the problems of the people of the state are in fact, ignorant of the historic and contemporary complexities surrounding this issue.

Jammu and Kashmir: A Multi-Ethnic State
Contrary to most reports in the media, Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) is not a state where only Kashmiri Muslims live. It is a multi-ethnic, multi-religious state with 64% Muslims, 33% Hindus, and 3% Buddhists, Sikhs, Christians and others. There are three distinct geographical regions - Ladakh (with 58% of the area, and 3% of the population), Jammu (26% area, 45% population) and Kashmir (16% area, 52% population: of which over 90 % of the region's minorities, i.e. 3% of the state's total population have been driven out). The primary languages of Ladakh are Ladakhi and Balti, of Jammu: Dogri, and of Kashmir: Kashmiri. In addition, Gujari, Pahari, Punjabi, Shina and various dialects and mixed languages are also spoken by different ethnic groups within the state.

Fifteen per cent of the state's Muslims live in the provinces of Jammu and Ladakh . They are non-Kashmiris, and by and large, they stand behind J&K's association with India. (There are a few small exceptions in some towns of Doda district). Of the state's 49% who reside in the Kashmir province, about 13% are Shia Muslims. Shia Muslims do not wish to have anything to do with Sunni-dominated Pakistan, knowing full well the fate that awaits them there. (Just recently, an Oct 4, Hindustan Times report cited Pakistan's Shoora Wahdat-i-Islami who condemned what it called the genocide of Shias in Pakistan.) This is especially true of the Shias of Kargil who know of the poverty and degradation experienced by their ethnic siblings in Baltistan, a part of Pakistan occupied Kashmir referred to as the "Northern Areas". 14% of the people in Kashmir province are the pastoral nomadic Gujar and Bakarwal people. They are strong supporters of association with India and have demonstrated this by organizing Militancy Mukhalif Morcha (Anti-Militancy Front) to assist the security forces in surveillance of terrorist activity. As far as non-Muslim groups are concerned there is no reason for them to even think about living outside multi-religious and secular India. [Ref. 1]

The support for secession in Jammu & Kashmir is thus largely limited to the non-pastoral Sunni Muslim population of the Kashmir Valley who constitute 22% of the state's population, (or about 1.9 million people). This segment of the population dominates the politics of the state. The reason that many believe separatism to be a widespread sentiment in J&K is because this dominant section has succeeded in completely drowning out all other voices in the state, and has the ability to cripple the normal functioning of the society in Kashmir province; either by inaction or insufficient action against Pakistani infiltration and terror or, worst still, by sabotage. It is this section of the state's population that receives all the attention, understandably so from Pakistan and the imperialist nations, but also from the Indian press.

Since the concept of self-determination must be applied to each of Jammu & Kashmir's unique population groups, there can be no equation of self-determination with secession. If, however, the undivided state (including the Pakistan occupied regions of Kashmir which Pakistan refers to s "Azad" Kashmir & "Northern Areas") were to have a referendum under truly neutral supervision, and the people were given three options - join India, join Pakistan or be independent -- the results might be shocking to votaries of secession. The majority could very well go with India, because the separatists will split the vote between pro-Pakistan and pro-independence groups. Sayyed Ali Gilani, Jammu & Kashmir's Jamaat-e-Islami leader, opposes the option of independence precisely because he is afraid that this vote may split in India's favor. [Ref. 2]

On the other hand, if the people of the state are given only two choices - join India or join Pakistan - the majority vote could still go in India's favor. Of the 12.8 million people in the undivided state (1999 estimates, see also Note below), J&K's population is 8.5 million, "Azad" Kashmir's is 2.8 million and "Northern Areas" is 1.5 million. If 1.9 million from J&K and all of "Azad" Kashmir and "Northern Areas" vote for Pakistan, it still gives India a vote of 6.6 million and leaves Pakistan with 6.2 million! Even if provision were made in this analysis for erosion of support for India as a result of the current turmoil, and some sprinkling of support for Pakistan from other Muslim groups in the state, the results of the referendum would be too close to call. In reality, the vote for Pakistan could be much less for the following two reasons:-

1) Since 1948, the Sunni population of the Valley (22% of the state's population), has dominated the legislative, political and administrative structures in the state of J&K. Kashmir province receives more weightage in the Assembly elections than does Jammu province. Based on the size of it's population Kashmir province should send 44 members to the Legislative Assembly but sends 46. Jammu province, on the other hand, should elect 39 but is allowed only 37! The government ministries and administrative bodies have also been dominated by Kashmiri speaking Valley Sunnis.

This grouping has also expropriated a disproportionate amount of resources for their own development needs. The bogey of a plebiscite and accession (in the garb of self-determination) has been raised by this group, primarily to extract concessions from the Central Governemnt in India. These have come in the form of grants, subsidies and other forms of economic aid. This has enabled this group to maintain its political dominance and has seriously distorted the democratic process in the state.

However, if the Central Government in India were to call this bluff, the whole complexion of separatist politics in J&K may change, and if a plebiscite were actually to be conducted, support for Pakistan may drop way below this 1.9 million population base in J&K. The effectiveness of the demand for plebiscite and its propaganda value lies precisely in its rejection by India. Were the tactical utility of such a demand to be lost, wiser elements amongst the separatists may abandon Pakistan and vote for India.

2. It is also likely that a significant percentage of the people of the "Northern Areas" could vote for India. The population in this region is very hostile to Pakistan because of the total neglect of this area. Literacy in the "Northern Areas" is 7% compared to J&K's 59%. Since 1947, there has been little improvement in the infrastructure - schools, hospitals, paved roads, electric power and piped drinking water - are practically non-existent! The inhabitants have no constitutional rights and are still ruled by the frontier laws inherited from the British times. There have also been reports of serf-like treatment of the poor peasants by some of the region's former monarchs. Since the population of the eastern part of "Northern Areas" is Balti speaking Shia Muslim they could very well decide to join their siblings in Kargil area and vote for India. (It should be noted that the people of Kargil and Ladakh are the most enthusiastic participants in Indian elections, and voter turnout at 70-80% has routinely exceeded the national average).

Considering all this, one might ask: Why doesn't India accept a plebiscite? The fact is, it did, when, it naively it took its complaint of Pakistan's aggression in J&K state to the UN, where an Anglo-American imperialist alliance turned India's complaint into a dispute between Pakistan and India, thereby equating the aggressor with the aggrieved! India waited a long time for Pakistan to fulfill the pre-conditions of plebiscite as laid down in UNCIP resolutions. Instead of complying with the resolutions, Pakistan invaded Kashmir for a second time in 1965!

Kashmir's accession to India in 1947: An act of Self-Determination
"Regardless of what Pakistan did or didn't do, the people of Kashmir did have a plebiscite of sorts in 1947. This was demonstrated when Kashmiris from varied backgrounds defiantly resisted the invasion of Pakistan and Pakistan-backed raiders in October of that year. The raiders sacked Muzaffarabad, and razed the towns of Baramulla and Rajouri, slaughtering thousands of civilians, all in a matter of days."

Realizing that the Valley was going to be swallowed by these Pakistani marauders, the most popular political party, the National Conference took over the de facto administration, and organized a 10,000 men and women Kashmiri militia to stall the invasion and protect critical installations. Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah appealed to Mahatma Gandhi to send Indian troops to
defend Kashmir. In the meanwhile, all civilian vehicles were requisitioned by the National Conference to be made available to the Indian army who had to be flown in by air. When the first Indian military convoy reached Srinagar by road in November 1947, the whole convoy route in Srinagar was lined with cheering crowds waving the Indian tricolor. The tricolor flew over almost all of Srinagar's homes. That was an expression of Kashmiri self-determination.

When Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah, Bakshi Ghulam Mohammed, Ghulam Mohammed Sadiq, Maulana Sayeed Masoodi, the leaders of Kashmir's freedom struggle from the autocratic rule of Maharaja spoke of Pakistan as a feudal state and about imperialism's interest in Kashmir, when they publicly expressed their contempt for the two-nation theory, when they paid glowing tributes to Indian jawans (troops) for defending Kashmir, they echoed the sentiments of the majority of Kashmiris. That too was an expression of Kashmiri self-determination.

Equating today's terrorism with a "freedom struggle" is an insult to those leaders and their sacrifices. Today, Sheikh Abdullah's grave is protected by national security forces for fear that terrorists will remove the dead leader's body and desecrate it as threatened by them. Eight years ago, one of the first victims of terrorist bullets was the octogenarian Maulana Syed Masoodi, veteran freedom fighter of Kashmir. What is happening in Kashmir today is a low intensity war by Pakistan against India spearheaded by the ideology of two-nation theory and Islamic fundamentalism. "Azadi" is a smokescreen under whose cover the "freedom fighters" actually religious zealots, with support from a theocratic Pakistan, wage war against secular India.

The fact is, that in essence, Kashmir had a plebiscite in 1947, and it's people voted for India. If India refuses to talk about a second plebiscite today, it has many valid concerns. Can a plebiscite be conducted in an atmosphere of violence and terror? In the last two months, newspapers in Srinagar, partial to secession, have been publishing death threats aimed at those who encourage, support or participate in Indian parliamentary elections. Unless there is an atmosphere of a free and fair debate in an environment of confidence and trust - no truly representative plebiscite is possible. Moreover, free and fair campaigning and fearless participation has to be guaranteed on both sides of the border. Pakistan with it's history of muzzling the press, of military coups and arbitrary dismissals of elected governements is in simply no position to guarantee such fairness. Neither is the UN, with it's highly partisan role in world affairs. Consider how the UN has been used as a pawn in every major imperialist undertaking, from Korea to Iraq andYugoslavia.

The 1948-9 UNCIP resolutions pertaining to a plebiscite put explicit obligations on Pakistan which Pakistan has since failed to meet. Any acceptance of a new plebiscite would once again reward the very forces that have obstructed the first plebiscite.

Secession in the Age of Imperialism
As mentioned earlier, the right to self-determination cannot be equated to the right to secession in a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual and multi-religious society. Nevertheless, there are other compelling reasons to examine the idea of secession in era where imperialism is a powerful and potent force in the world.

First, Kashmir did exercise it's right to self-determination in 1947, but since it was not in a format approved by the imperialist nations, there is a tendency to dismiss its validity. That encourages people like 33 year old Yasin Malik of Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) in Kashmir to ask for a second referendum because he was born 19 years after the first one took place, which he therefore conveniently trashes. If one were to accept Yasin Malik's contention that the 1947 accession of Kashmir to Indian was invalid, then the whole concept of self-determination would be trivialized. The right of self-determination would then be reduced to a voting exercise conducted in an atmosphere of terror, repeated every 25-years or so, to meet the demands of a new generation, at whose whim the boundaries of a country could be redefined! It is not difficult to imagine the chaos in the world if such a recipe were to be applied worldwide.

Secession in a Multi-ethnic, Multi-religious and Multi-lingual State
Second, what happens to minority sentiments under a plebiscite? If 51% of the population of J&K decide to vote for a theocratic Pakistan or independant theocratic Kashmir, is it fair to the other 49% to be forced to join that state, in spite of feeling greatly threatened by that state? J&K's Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Gujar and Bakarwal, and Shia people genuinely fear that they will be decimated in a Pakistani state - or a Taliban style independant state. Women fear they will lose the freedoms they have, and be forced to march backwards under a Taliban-style barbaric patriarchy. If a "majority" cannot live in a multi-religious secular India, is it fair to ask a sizable minority to live under a theocracy?

If the majority vote went for independence or accession to Pakistan, what guarantee is there that the minority interests would be safeguarded? Although a few groups like the JKLF speak of secularism, their leadership and membership is almost exclusively made up of Sunni Muslims. No Hindus, Buddhists or Sikhs comprise their membership. Besides, the JKLF has had close ties to Pakistan's ISI - a close collaborator of the Taliban. This exposes the JKLF as opportunists of the first rank who mask their retrograde ideology in meaningless statements about secularism and freedom. One should not be duped by JKLF's slogan of "Azadi." One needs to be reminded that in the early 1990s, the slogan: "Azadi Ka Matlab Kya? La Illah A Illal Allah" equated "Azadi" directly to Islamic rule! It should also be noted that advocates of "Azadi" have often attempted to rally their supporters behind pan-Islamic slogans that linked a future "Azad" Kashmir to such highly intolerant Islamic states as Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan. Regardless of what individual separatist leaders may say, there is a deep and unshakeable connection between the votaries of "Azadi" and Islamic fundamentalism.

Furthermore, the principle of self-determination must apply to all communities. If the Muslim majority in Kashmir province has a right to secede from India and form a separate state, the same right of secession must be extended to the Hindu minority to secede from that new state. If the Shias feel oppressed by the Sunnis, the same right must be extended to them too. The travesty of the demand by secessionists is that they want the freedom to secede, exclusively for themselves. They want freedom to deny others their freedom!

As a partial solution, some may suggest a region-wise plebiscite, but a look at the map of the undivided state will show how impractical that would be. The Kashmir valley seperates the remote regions of Kargil and Ladakh to Jammu and the rest of India. The life-line for the mountains of Kargil and Ladakh winds through the Kashmir valley. To allow the Kashmir valley to secede would destroy the lives of the people of Ladakh and Kargil. And what is worse, it could leave the Kashmir region itself divided into a patchwork of geographically disconnected principalities. By losing their seasonal mobility which could threaten their livelihood, the nomadic Gujar and Bakarwal people would be particularly affected by any such partition of Kashmir.

Are Kashmiris Oppressed?
Thirdly, it should be noted that the demand for self-determination leading to secession has usually been advanced by an opressed people. Are the Kashmiri people oppressed? In 1947, J&K was at the bottom of the economic ladder in India. In 1960-61 it ranked 11th among 16 states of India in per capita income; in 1971-72, 14th among 24 states. But with generous Central assistance it had improved its position by 1981-82 to number 7, surpassing industrial West Bengal, A.P., Karnataka and Tamil Nadu! [Ref: 3].

Most of the income increase had taken place in large urban areas such as around Srinagar where the Index of Social Development (which includes literacy, health care, access to other social services, etc.) is the highest of the 14 districts in the state.[Ref. 4] Yet, separatist sentiment is the strongest in this region!

Kashmir vis-a-vis Pakistan
What is even more striking is how Indian Kashmir is better off than Pakistan. Kashmir's literacy at 59% is much higher than Pakistan's 44%. In general, India's social indices are many notches ahead of Pakistan's. Even if Kashmir's indicators were no better than the Indian average, it would be much better off with India than with Pakistan. Per capita calorie intake in India is now higher and infant mortality is lower. India has made greater strides in developing it's infrastructure - whether it be railways, telecommunications or mass-media. Indians are now more likely to have access to a telephone, color TV or cable TV connection. They are also less indebted to the international finance community. Per capita hard currency debt in Pakistan is more than double India's. India, being a secular state has given far more importance to scientific education and research. For example, in Pakistan, 4500 out of 5000 Ph.D.s awarded after independence, were in Islamic studies - i.e. less than 500 were in the sciences. In India, 40,000 out of 75,000 Ph.D.s awarded were in the sciences, and only a fraction of the other 35,000 were in religious studies. This means that although India's population is about 6 times that of Pakistan's, it has produced more than 80 times as many Ph.D.s in the sciences as has Pakistan.

All things considered, the people of Jammu and Kashmir have far more opportunities in India than they would, if they seceded and joined with Pakistan.

US goals and tactics
Fourthly, and most importantly: How does one factor in the role of imperialism? In spite of the seemingly "neutral" US role in the recent Kargil conflict, the U.S. is unlikely to give up Pakistan as its choice weapon against a large and "unmanageable" India unless, of course, the latter is balkanized into "manageable" segments. In addition, the U.S. has a special interest in J&K region. It is strategically placed in Asia from where events in the many neighboring states can be monitored, and when necessary, an intervention conveniently initiated, and carried out. For this reason the US prefers an independent state of J&K over which it can exercise easy control. If political conditions do not allow independence, the US would like to keep India and Pakistan in a continuing state of simmering hostilities over the "Kashmir-problem". Pakistani rulers who danced to the tune of their British colonial masters prior to 1947, and since, to their imperialist masters have been more than happy to oblige. After all, India-baiting is the glue that Pakistan's elite have used to keep Pakistan together.

Recent events indicate a possible "warming up" of relations between India and the U.S. It is important that India remain on guard and that it not be lulled into believing in the benevolence of imperialism. The US may adopt different tactics from time to time, but these should not be confused with being friendly towards India. It should be kept in mind that the US did not ask Pakistan to withdraw from Kargil untill it had become clear that India had reversed Pakistan's military advantage. Reports had begun to surface of Pakistani soldiers being desperate to retreat, and Pakistani officers ordering them to hold on to their posts, or risk being shot at if they retreated. Pakistan desperately needed a cease-fire at that point. Prior to that, India was kept under constant pressure not to cross the LOC - and to negotiate with Pakistan. Soon after Kargil, the US adopted a diplomatically hostile position towards India re. the downing of Pakistan's advanced spy plane after it had repeatedly encroached Indian territory and ignored prior warnings to desist.

It is also important to keep in mind US bullying of India on trade and economic matters. India has made several concessions in WTO but the US has not reciprocated in kind. Various economic and technological sanctions against India remain. None of this points to the US emerging as any genuine friend of the Indian nation.

Conclusion
In this unipolar world, fragmentation of third world countries (that are not not allied with imperialism) only helps imperialism, more so now that the counterveiling force of the Soviet Union is absent. Fragmented nations are far more likely to be more deeply indebted to foreign banks, to accept foreign military bases, vote with the US and it's allies in the UN, and so on. They are also more likely to then suppress minorities within their borders, leading to new tensions and separatist tendencies.

Unlike Pakistan, a large secular and democratic country like India offers more opportunities for different communities to express dissent and gain influence. This is not to say that democracy in India is perfect, or free from all the problems that unequal distribution of wealth entails. However, considering that none of the separatists have a progressive (or more democratic) economic platform for J&K's people, the relative benefits of aligning with India assume significance.

Consider how India's current President hails from a historically oppressed community. Consider how Mayavati - a campaigner for the political aspirations of India's most downtrodden castes became the first woman to become the Chief Minister of India's most populous state. Consider how Mulayam Singh Yadav - a leader of India's oppressed peasant castes became Defence Minister in 1996.

Consider also, India's foreign policy. For most of its history, India has conducted a principled anti-imperialist foreign policy. Recently, it opposed the criminal bombing of Yugoslavia and it opposes the deathly sanctions on Iraq. Earlier, it had condemned the bombing of Sudan, and unlike Pakistan, it did not become a proxy for US imperialism in Afghanistan or anywhere else.

Pakistan, on the other hand, played a vicious role in destroying the democratic revolution in Afghanistan, and participated in the Gulf War and in the Balkans. So it is not surprising that in the case of Jammu & Kashmir, Pakistan should play a similiar role. As imperialism's proxy in South Asia - Pakistan - has been injecting the poison of the two-nation theory ever since it was created. Those in Kashmir who are afflicted by this poison are in a minority and have been holding the majority of the state's peoples hostage. One could argue that if they feel so suffocated and oppressed by the democracy and secularism that India offers, they could simply cross the Line of Control (LoC) into Pakistan-controlled Azad Kashmir and enjoy the sort of theocracy and intolerance they wish to impose on an unwilling population in India. But instead, they malign secular India at every opportunity, even though it is their own acts of violence and terror that have caused 20,000 civillian deaths and created 300,000 displaced people in the State.

In conclusion, it must be reiterated that the plebiscite and secession demand comes from a politically dominant and a vocal minority of Kashmiris and needs to be exposed for what it is. The overwhelming majority of the people of Jammu & Kashmir - 70- 80% - want to be part of a secular and democratic India and they are the ones who need our unqualified support to help defeat separatism and Pakistan's proxy war in Kashmir.

References
[1] The breakup of the Muslim population in Kashmir province is based on the data in the article Ethnic Identities and political deadlock in Jammu & Kashmir, by Hari Om, in Indian Defense Review, 1997
[2] Sayyed Ali Gilani, Rudad-i-Qafas Vol. 1, p. 412, Srinagar: al-Huda Publishing House, 1993.
[3] Statistical Year Book of India, 1983
[4] Misri, M.L. & Bhat, M.S., Poverty, Planning and Economic Change in Jammu & Kashmir, Vikas Publishing House Pvt. Ltd., Delhi, 1994

Note: The combined population of "Azad" Kashmir and "Northern Areas" was about 25% of the total in 1947, it is 33% now, despite the fact that J&K 's population has itself grown at a high rate of 29% every decade since 1961. This unusually high increase in "Azad" Kashmir's and "Northern Areas" population is attributed to Pakistan's attempts to change the demographics of areas under its occupation, especially in "Northern Areas", with the settlement of Punjabis and NWFP Pathans in these areas. This settlement policy was actively pursued after the Shia revolt of 1988 was brutally crushed by the now Pakistan military Chief, General Parvez Musharraf.

On the other hand, it should be noted that non-residents of J&K are prevented under the J&K and Indian constitution from buying property in J&K. This has prevented the Indian government from any attempts at changing the state's demographics.

Also see: The Struggle for Self-Determination and Democratic Rights in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK)[/quote]

08-08-2008, 08:49 PM

Whenever Congress in power they create these crisis.
Now Moron Singh is left alone in Delhi when his boss are in China enjoying games paid by Indian Tax money.

Babu Moron Singh knows only bribe language, guy we should consider collecting donation and pay him bribe under or over table, for atleast few months we will do our job, then back to square he will ask again.

Vohra and Moron Singh both were kicked out by Pakis but they still love their Birth place and people. Both are babus, only know file pushing, bribes and creating controversy to make more money.

08-08-2008, 09:15 PM

<img src='http://outlookindia.com/images/jammu_hindu_protestor_20080806.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
From outlook

08-08-2008, 09:19 PM

Arif Mohd Khan in Outlook

QUOTEThe issue at stake is not some facilities for the pilgrims or lack thereof. In fact, the mindset of the pilgrims is such that they equate physical discomfort with religious merit. But the crucial question is whether governments will take their decisions on merit or vacillate whenever faced with communal threats.

The eclectic and syncretic teachings of the Kashmiri rishis had produced a tremendous social, moral and spiritual movement and fashioned a distinct Kashmiri way of life, that was almost totally free from any communal hatred or violence.

It was not just because of physical beauty, but also because of the peaceful Kashmiri way of life that Kashmir gained the reputation of being paradise on earth.

The last two decades of violence and terrorism have caused a temporary setback to centuries old Kashmiri values of peace, harmony and goodwill, but there is every reason to believe that the ever living influence of the rishis shall again assert itself to reclaim the paradise that Kashmir has lost.

Bodhi · (This post was last modified: 08-08-2008, 09:25 PM by Bodhi.)

<img src='http://l.yimg.com/ki/epaper/jagran/20080808/09/jmupr-1.hariom_1218168645.jpg_m.hariom.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />

Prof. Hari Om is one of the main inspirations behind the Jammu Movement.

08-08-2008, 10:11 PM

Snippet of Congress mischief on Outlook
QUOTEIn the case of the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB), even the former Chief Minister of the state Shri Gulam Nabi Azad has gone on record today that the day the cabinet decided to transfer the land to the SASB on May 20th 2007 for erecting pre-fabricated temporary structures only for camping purposes of the pilgrims for two-three months only, there were four other cases of land transfer of forest land towards non-forest usage. Mr Azad has himself admitted that a motivated disinformation campaign was launched against only this particular transfer of land and because of this mischievous propaganda the government revoked its own decision. Therefore, the former Chief Minister has acknowledged on record that the separatist propaganda is behind the decision to revoke the transfer of land to the SASB.

ramana · 08-08-2008, 11:16 PM

Three op-eds in Pioneer, 9 August 2008

QUOTEJammu Vs. Kashmir 

Lookback: Khursheed Wani

Saturday Special focuses on the unique trajectory acquired by Kashmiri separatism thanks to the Amarnath issue. With the Hindus of Jammu striking an uncharacteristically tough posture, one wonders if its time to reexamine the Owen Dixon plan.

Barring two districts of Leh and Kargil of Ladakh region, the entire Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) has been hit by the aftermath of the controversial land transfer order of May 26, 2008 diverting a chunk of 39.88 acres of land to Shri Amaranth Shrine Board (SASB). Even though the order was cancelled on July 1 following an unprecedented resistance in the Kashmir Valley followed by the breaking of the five-and-a-half-year coalition and fall of Ghulam Nabi Azad led government, the issue refused to die down. As Kashmir returned to normal after the celebrations on the cancellation of the order, the people in Jammu started exhibiting their strength to oppose the government's move. Against the nine-day-uprising in Kashmir, the social, political and religious groups in Jammu under the banner of Amarnath Yatra Sangarsh Samiti (AYSS) started a new agitation which resembled a Hindu Intifada to compel the Governor's administration to reverse the cancellation order. It accused the Government of prostrating in front of "anti-India and separatist elements backed by terrorists".

Governor NN Vohra, whose involvement in J&K affairs since 2002 as the Centre's interlocutor qualified him to occupy Raj Bhawan in Srinagar, failed to sense the fallout of the land transfer issue. Eventually, he ignored the brewing resentment in Jammu city and its Hindu-dominated adjoining areas. The situation became apparent, at least for the Governor, when it took a communal turn. :?:Â The agitators in Jammu warned the Kashmiris to leave the area and announced to block the 300-kilometer Srinagar-Jammu National Highway, the lone fair-weather lifeline of the Valley. Dozens of vehicles were torched and supplies to the Valley including those of essential commodities were stopped. The worsening situation forced the authorities to clamp curfew in Jammu and the police resorted to firing at Samba that killed two protestors, an incident that was witnessed in Jammu first time in several decades.

The Jammu agitation took place at a time when fruit season was at its peak in Kashmir. Each day, dozens of fruit-laden trucks were making their way to markets in Delhi and other states through the volatile parts of Jammu. Elements in the Jammu agitation targeted these trucks to make their voices heard and felt.

This evoked a chain reaction in the valley. The separatists, as also the mainstream political parties including the PDP and the National Conference, were quick to refer the emerging situation to as "economic blockade" of Kashmir. The separatists attempted to give the situation an international colour. Mirwaiz Omar Farooq, head of a faction of Hurriyat Conference appealed to the UN and the OIC to help Kashmiris out of the "grim situation". The traders and the fruit growers, backed and encouraged by the separatists, warned the government that failure of providing their vehicles a safe passage through would force them to divert their trucks towards Muzaffarabad and Rawalpindi. They even announced this on August 6.

The "Muzaffarabad chalo" slogan is gaining currency in the Valley. The mainstream parties, which are cashing in on the situation to set agenda for the forthcoming assembly elections, are identifying themselves with the slogan. Mehbooba Mufti, chief of the PDP, boasted that the Muzaffarabad road, which has been opened by "my father" would be the last resort for Kashmiris if the Jammuites did not lift their blockade. Farooq Abdullah, the patron of National Conference, began publicly questioning the wisdom of his father, Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah, who had decided to J&K joining India.

The administration is caught in a Catch-22 situation. On the one hand, the situation in Jammu is going out of hand with the Samiti gaining more public support. On the other, the separatists in Kashmir, emboldened by the outcome of June-end resistance, are ready to resist any decision by the government to tamper with the cancelled land transfer order. So, quite naturally, the all-party meeting convened by the Prime Minister in New Delhi failed to take any concrete step on the resolution of the crisis. Ironically, the politicians in Kashmir Valley as also in Jammu have least control on the diametrically opposite public sentiments. They follow the public rather than leading them, creating a precarious situation for the governor administration to handle.

The Governor's administration has started addressing the root of the problem to get out of the crisis. On Thursday, eight of the 10 members of the SASB tendered their resignations to him, paving the way for the reconstitution of the Shrine Board. One opinion is that that Governor would hand over the Chairmanship of the Board to an eminent Hindu personality of the state, preferably from Jammu, like the former Sadr-e-Riyasat, Karan Singh, or the former Chief Justice of India, Justice (retd) Adarsh Sen Anand, and include in the board representatives of the Kashmiri Pandits. The reconstituted Board would be given the overall responsibility of the conduct of annual yatra, besides authorising it to temporarily use the controversial land for erecting makeshift facilities for the pilgrims.

Observers say that the Governor's administration should use back channel methods to coax the Sangarsh Samiti as also the separatists in Kashmir to arrive on a compromise on the issue. Otherwise, it has the potential not only to disintegrate the state but also put a question mark on Kashmir's future with India.
-- The writer is The Pioneer's Srinagar Correspondent



and

QUOTEThey forget their history

Arif M. Khan

The Kashmir Valley people seems to have sacrified their unique culture at the altar of separatism

Kaabe mein budkade mein hai yeksan teri zia

Mein imtiaze dero haram mein phansa raha

(The divine light equally illuminates the Kaaba and the house of idols (temple), but woe to me that I remained obsessed with the differences and distinctions between the two)

(Allama Iqbal)

Jonaraja, the 15th century chronicler of Rajatarangini, has recorded an interesting dialogue between Sultan Shihabuddin (1354-73) of Kashmir and his Minister, Udaysri. The Minister had suggested to the King to melt a grand brass image of the Buddha and use the metal for minting coins. The infuriated Sultan remarked: "The past generations have set up images to obtain fame and even merit, and you propose to demolish them. Some have obtained renown by setting up images of Gods, others by worshipping them, some by duly maintaining them and some by demolishing them. How great is the enormity of such a deed."

The words were the Sultan's, but it was the soul of Kashmir speaking through him. It is a soul that is steeped in the ethos and morality of the Rishi Movement. Kashmiris, regardless of their religious affiliation, revere Lalleshwari (Lall Ded), the wandering Saivaite mystic woman, and Nund Rishi, (Sheikh Nuruddin) the Muslim saint. This Guru -- disciple duo of the 14th century have deeply impressed the collective Kashmiri psyche. Their sayings in simple Kashmiri language are short, sweet, inspiring and laden with moral and spiritual insights and are described as the 'pearls of Kashmiri literature'. Two small couplets could help us appreciate their life-long mission and the humanism they instilled in Kashmiris.

Lall Ded said:
Shiva abides in all that is, everywhere

Then discriminate not between a Hindu and Muslim.

Nund Rishi said:
We belong to the same parents

Then why this difference

Let Hindus and Muslims worship God alone

We came to this world like partners

We should share our joys and sorrows together.

This is the glorious heritage of Kashmir; a heritage rooted in the concept of fellowship of adherents of various religious traditions. It is true that the history of Kashmir mentions about the excesses of Suha Bhatt, an overzealous neo-Muslim minister of Sultan Sikandar, but same accounts show that Rishi Nuruddin boldly stood against 'forced conversions and orthodoxy'. Till date, the name of Rishi Nuruddin commands respect and inspires Kashmiris, whereas Suha Bhatt has been relegated to the dustbin of history.

The recent blooper by the J&K Government in the case of the Amarnath shrine, when viewed in historic perspective, clearly shows a stark contrast between the inanities of government and the sanity of public mind. The Muslim family of Buta Malik has been guarding the Shrine of Amarnath since 1850 and looking after the devout pilgrims. But the government of the state charged with the responsibility to look after the welfare of any visitor not just the pilgrims shamefully abdicated its duty in the face of threat from the divisive and separatist elements.

On behalf of the outgoing government it has been asserted that the order diverting land to the SASB was revoked "because of mischievous propaganda." Further, it has been asserted that "while revoking it, the Cabinet gave an equally good order which should have been hailed by the Hindu community. As per the Cabinet decision, the Government made full commitment to discharge all responsibilities of undertaking the creation of required infrastructure and facilitating the welfare, safety and security of pilgrims during the entire period of the Yatra."

The issue at stake is not about some facilities for the pilgrims or lack of it. In fact the mindset of pilgrims is such that they equate physical discomfort with religious merit. But the crucial question is whether the governments will take their decisions on merit or vacillate whenever faced with communal and separatist threats. To dub these threats as 'mischievous propaganda' is itself mischief and an attempt at diverting attention from the real aim and object of forces inimical to the unity and integrity of India. Secondly if those who were at the helm of affairs knew that the opposition to the 'land order' was nothing but 'mischievous propaganda', then they should have exposed the mischief by firmly enforcing their decision. It defies all logic that the government should revoke its decision under their pressure and thus vest them with enhanced credibility and respectability.

George Santayan has said that "progress far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." If there is one basic lesson that we can learn from our recent history is that you cannot ensure peace and harmony by accommodating the demands of communal and separatist forces. All through the first half of twentieth century we were given a choice between accommodation and separatism, we kept making accommodation and finally we had accept full blown separatism in the form of partition of the country.

Similarly, in 1986 when the Supreme Court judgment in the case of Shah Bano was opposed, the government succumbed to the pressure and decided to bring a new legislation to render the court judgment ineffective. On that occasion it was worth noting that every Minister of the Government who stood up to speak in Parliament defended not the new measure on merit, but talked about intelligence reports and apprehended threats to the security. The result is for everyone to see, the threats have increased multifold, the politics has become totally communalized and Congress that had more than 400 seats in Lok Sabha has never recovered since then. The present imbroglio created by the Jammu and Kashmir government is another Shah Bano in the making and can have very serious and unpredictable consequences for the country if corrective measures are not taken at the earliest.

Finally it must be said that the common man should not be made to suffer on account of the follies of politics and politicians. It cannot be accepted that the good commonsense of Indians has come to an end. India is gifted with the quality of producing right man at the darkest hour to retrieve the situation. The situation is grim but there is no reason to give up hope and confidence that we shall come out of this mess and shall emerge as a nation more united and integrated.

As far as Kashmir is concerned, the eclectic and syncretic teachings of the Kashmiri Rishis had produced a tremendous social, moral and spiritual movement and fashioned a distinct Kashmiri way of life, that was almost totally free from any communal hatred or violence. It was not just the physical beauty but the peaceful Kashmiri way of life that Kashmir gained the reputation of being paradise on earth. The last two decades of violence and terrorism have caused a temporary setback to centuries old Kashmiri values of peace, harmony and goodwill, but again there is every reason to believe that the ever living influence of the Rishis shall reassert itself to claim the paradise back to its old way of life.

--The writer is a former Union Minister


Finally

QUOTEThis is Kashmiri baiting at its worst

The other voice: Sajad Lone | Chairman, J&K Peoples Conference 

If the outcry against land transfer revocation was 'anti-Hindu' then why aren't Hindus all over India protesting? The ongoing blockade is an act of war against the Kashmiri nation.

The Amarnath Yatra has been facilitated by the Muslims of Kashmir for nearly two centuries now. The Yatra had was going on in both the colonial and post-1947 periods. The relationship between the Yatris and the people of Kashmir came into existence before the current geographical concept of India came into existence. The people of Kashmir treat the Yatris as their revered guests and are honoured to host the yatra.

The Government passed an order in May 2008 transferring approximately 100 acres of land to the Amarnath Shrine board. The people of Kashmir resented the land transfer order as it amounted to gross interference between the guests (Yatris) and the hosts (Kashmiris). The people of Kashmir agitated and the government relented and revoked the order.Â <!--emo& Sad

--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif' />(

Now we have an agitation in Jammu where the demand is to cancel the revocation order. Where does Jammu come in? In the entire history of the Amanath Yatra have the people of Jammu ever conducted the yatra? Did they ever make a demand that land be transferred to the Amarnath shrine board? A dispute arose between government, the people of Kashmir and the Amarnath shrine board -- which was duly resolved. Jammu was never a party to that dispute. {He thinks kashmir is separte from the state itself!}

Now, if it was not a party to the dispute why should it be bothered about its outcome and start agitating ? One of the arguments being put forward is that the agitators in Kashmir were Muslims protesting against transfer of land to a Hindu shrine. Assuming this is true -- why are only the Hindus in Jammu protesting. If people of Kashmir have shown disrespect for a Hindu shrine, Hindus all around India would have protested. It is not a matter of Hindu versus Muslim, neither is the agitation in Jammu pro-Hindu. It is plainly a reflection of anti-Kashmiri venom. {He suffers from half truths. All of Jammu is protesting an not just the Hindus}

The current agitation was initially facilitated by the state administration and now it seems to have gone out of hand. It is a free for all. Fanatic versions of Hindu demagoguery are openly on the show across Jammu. Rhetoricians are being pooled in with the help of Hindu nationalist parties to vitiate the environment and ensure communal turbulence. {Conspiracy theory(CT) at its best}

The anti-Kashmiri venom in Jammu has been allowed to foment by the state administration and only after active facilitation have the hooligans and vandals been able to impose an economic blockade on the people of Kashmir. The economic blockade by the hooligan sections of the Jammu society is an act of war against the Kashmiri nation. {Wow! A big leap into the dark}

If a nation is forced into starvation by imposing a blockade it is an act of war. There is an unofficial embargo against the Kashmiris. Economic blockade constitutes an instrument of economic warfare as per international law. This particular mode of war has been historically used by sovereign states and by the UN Security Council. The only difference in the current economic blockade is that it is perhaps for the first time that hooligans and not sovereign states are imposing and enforcing an economic blockade. Economic pressure is being exerted in order to gain supremacy in the conflict. Even the most fascist states have exempted medicines and essential items from an economic blockade.

The current economic blockade imposed on the Kashmiris nourishes no such pretensions. Even baby milk powder and medicines are not being allowed. The export of horticulture products like apples has been strategically stopped to demolish the horticulture industry by ensuring that the apples are stranded into rot. This reminds us of the demolition of the horticulture industry of Gazans including the famed strawberries when Israelis enforced an economic blockade and strawberries worth millions of dollars rotted away.

The roots of the current malaise can be traced to coercive demography. The current demographic set up in the state of J & K is a hangover of the colonial era and has not evolved naturally. While the demographic structure in the colonial era was tailored to suit the erstwhile Maharaja of Kashmir. Post-1947, the demography was left unchanged to suit the political interests of the Indian state. The majority of the inhabitants of Jammu district, Kathua district and Udhampur city do not ethnically identify themselves with the rest of the state of J & K. These three areas have been redefined as the Jammu region and areas with intense Kashmiri ethnic roots like Doda, Bhaderwah, Kishtwar, Poonch, Rajouri, Basholi, Bani, Gool, Arnas have clubbed along with the Jammu region. This serves the purpose of marketing the concept of mismatch in regional aspirations.Â :?:

So, if Jammu and Kathua agitate, the marketing version is that the entire Jammu region is agitating. Even in the current agitation it is only the two districts of Jammu and Kathua and Udhampur city which is basically on the boil.

{Wasn't that Cleopatra Mufti saying the same avout two and half districts agitation! Cleopatra Mufti= Mehboba Mufti for nutrturing a nest of snakes}

The solution to the current conflict does not lie in resolving the land deal issue. The land deal issue is a convenient excuse and typifies the symptom not the disease. Treating the disease would mean allowing the nurturance of demography, defined by history and ethnicity.

**acharya** · 08-09-2008, 04:58 AM

Jammu unrest

This refers to the editorial âUnholy allianceâ (Aug. 8) on the situation in Jammu, arising out of the revocation of an order allotting 40 hectares of forest land to the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board. Exploiting controversial issues for partisan ends is of a piece with the BJP. The party is indulging in one-upmanship and fomenting trouble in Jammu and Kashmir for electoral gains. The Congress is equally to blame for mishandling the issue.

The month-long tensions have endangered the fragile peace which dawned on the State after years of turmoil. Hindu fundamentalists are hijacking the agitation to come upfront. On the other hand, Muslim fundamentalists too are exploiting the volatile situation to communalise the Valleyâs politics further. What is at stake is peace.

Tarsem Singh,

New Delhi

It is absolutely true that âover the years, variants of this [Chenab] partition plan have been endorsed by both Hindu and Muslim communalists.â Since independence, the divisive forces in India have been harping on religious and other sensitive issues instead of concentrating on nation-building activity. With an eye on the next election, the communal forces are exploiting to the hilt the Shrine Board issue. Almost all political parties have communal elements in their fold because the communal card fetches them votes. It has become easy to communalise any issue by wrong propaganda, wherein the voice of the secularists and democrats is suppressed.

Kamal Sani,

Hyderabad

It is obvious that the BJP is adding fuel to the fire in Jammu to derive political mileage in the coming elections. But the main Opposition party seems unaware of the fact that by engineering an economic blockade in the Valley and by coercing Muslims in Jammu to flee, it is encouraging the secessionists who are scheming to divide J&K on communal lines.

While the Centreâs inaction has allowed the situation in the State to go out of hand, the non-stop âbreaking newsâ by television news channels has amplified the muddle.

Syed Sultan Mohiddin,

Kadapa

A large share of the blame for the situation J&K finds itself in rests with the Union Home Minister himself.

It was the inept handling of the Shrine Board row by him that led to the issue snowballing into a virtual catastrophe.

Vishweshwara Bhat Bangaradka,

Puttur
The recent developments in J&K have shattered the communal harmony in the State. The BSF has claimed that the ISI is waiting to push 800 militants into India through the LoC in Kashmir.

If it succeeds in its plan, the tensions in J&K will increase. All political parties should recognise the threat and evolve a consensus to solve the problem.

Ankit Mehta,

Varanasi
The registration of political parties inciting communal and caste violence should be cancelled. Individuals perpetrating hate campaign on these grounds should be disqualified from contesting elections. With the electronic media everywhere, there is no paucity of reliable evidence. Only strict laws can deter individuals and groups from inciting violence causing loss of lives and property.

Gopa Joshi,

New Delhi
During the agitation in the Kashmir Valley against the land transfer to the SASB, there was not a single instance of a non-Kashmiri or an Amarnath yatri being harassed or injured. No one stopped the pilgrims from coming â in fact, this year a record number visited the shrine. Local Kashmiris voluntarily distributed food to them. In Jammu, too, the common people are not hostile to Muslims or Kashmiris. But there are some people who spread hate by indulging in vandalism and harassing Muslims.

Imran Tak,

Bangalore
Whenever Hindus demand their rights, they are dubbed communal. It is alleged that their agitation has been instigated by the BJP and the RSS, even if there is some merit in their demands. The cancellation of the order allotting land to the SASB under pressure from the leaders of the Valley did not go down well with the people of Jammu who, rightly or wrongly, believe that they have been denied their rights by the leaders of the Valley and the Centre. The allotted land was meant only for putting up temporary structures for the Amarnath yatris during the pilgrimage. The demand for rights by the people of the majority community does not make them communal.

Amit Mehrotra,

Moradabad
The situation in J&K is alarming. A communal divide will only boost the morale of separatists. It is unfortunate that some political parties are adding fuel to the fire by threatening to carry out a fresh round of agitations. Their leaders have to understand that this is not the time to fish in troubled waters. We can only hope that good sense will prevail among all concerned.

Salin Thomas,

Kottayam

Bharatvarsh · 08-09-2008, 06:09 AM

QUOTEPolice Kill 2 Hindu Protesters In Indian Kashmir
Police Fire At Hindu Protesters In Indian-controlled Kashmir, Killing 2

SRINAGAR, India, Aug. 7, 2008

Police in Indian Kashmir opened fire Monday at hundreds of stone-throwing Hindu protesters angry over a government decision to not transfer land to a Hindu shrine, killing two people, an official said.

Both protesters were shot to death in the clash in Jammu city, said Ramesh Kumar, a police officer. Sixteen others were wounded, he said.

In June, the government in Jammu-Kashmir, India's only Muslim-majority state, decided to award 99 acres of land to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board, a trust that maintains the Amarnath shrine, a revered Hindu site.

The shrine contains a large icicle revered by Hindus as an incarnation of Lord Shiva, the Hindu god of destruction and regeneration. Hundreds of thousands of Hindus are currently visiting the shrine on an annual pilgrimage.

The state government was forced to revoke the land transfer last month after a week of often-violent protests by Muslims who called the move an attempt to build Hindu settlements in the area and alter the demographics in the state. Six people were killed and hundreds wounded in the protests.

But the cancellation set off protests by Hindus. On Monday, protesters defied a curfew order and poured into the streets of Jammu, the only Hindu-majority city in the state, and Samba, a town on its outskirts.

"The mob turned very violent and started pelting police with stones," Kumar said.

"Protesters outnumbered the police and tried to encircle them, forcing them to open fire," he added.

Two people were killed in a similar incident Friday.

Meanwhile, hundreds of Muslim protesters clashed with police and paramilitary troops in several cities in Indian Kashmir to protest alleged assaults by Hindus on Muslims in Jammu.

In Srinagar, the biggest city in Indian Kashmir, one protester was killed when a tear gas shell fired by police hit his chest, said S.M. Sahai, a senior police officer.

It was not immediately clear if any police were injured in the clashes.

About a dozen rebel groups in the state have been fighting Indian government forces to carve out a separate homeland or to merge Jammu-Kashmir with Pakistan.

More than 68,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed since the start of the rebellion in 1989.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/08/07/...in4331443.shtml

08-09-2008, 06:12 AM

Sonia Gadhi and Moron SIngh should be impeached as Mushy.
One will run towards US and other toward Turin.

08-09-2008, 09:34 AM

"I fear Balkanization"
A senior police officer speaks to N.V.Subramanian on the worsening Jammu situation.QUOTEWhen I say a PM does not desire a strong home minister, I am not necessarily referring to Manmohan Singh. Remember, Manmohan Singh is himself a weak prime minister. The real authority vests with Sonia Gandhi. The PM knows this. She wants a weak prime minister and a weak home minister who lost the last Lok Sabha elections. This way, she has authority without accountability. For the good things, she gets credit. For failures, the PM or Patil gets the blame. 

I think this government will get weaker in the coming days. It was the worst thing to take the Samajwadi Party's support to win the confidence vote. I know the SP very well. It is a party of thugs. I am not surprised that they exulted over the unbanning of SIMI, although it was short-lived. SIMI is a real danger. It is behind the bomb blasts.

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