THE WEEK August 24,2008

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JAMMU & KASHMIR

The Centre and the state government are clueless in J&K, but not the separatists

By Kallol Bhattacherjee and Tariq Bhat

Meena is an employee at Jammu and Kashmir Bank and mother of a teenage boy. A resident of Shastri Nagar in Jammu city, she is learning to manage the bad times in her own way. "We have never seen so much political mobilisation and it took a while to find a way out to normal life in the midst of this agitation," she said. The strike called by Shri Amarnath Yatra Sangharsh Samiti (SAYSS) drew mixed reaction in Jammu in the beginning. It gained strength by the day and as violent mobs took over the streets, eight people died. Meena was initially worried about getting groceries and about her son's education. "In situations like these, women and children are the worst affected," she said. She has found some shops that covertly sell groceries and vegetables.Anil Kotwal, another resident of Shastri Nagar, is a prominent campaigner in the area and mobilises hundreds of people daily for rallies, which usually start from temples and end at Army blockade. Kotwal's anger is infectious. "We have suffered 60 years of discrimination against Jammu by the Central government which is worried only about the welfare of the Kashmiris. We are determined to get rid of it," he said. According to him, the Amarnath land issue is just the tip of the iceberg.

The SAYSS was founded in 2007 by a group of old men led by Leela Karan Sharma to help the Amarnath yatris (pilgrims). It had remained in oblivion till Governor N.N. Vohra revoked an order to give land to Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board on June 29. The order had been issued by former governor S.K. Sinha and approved by the PDP government; the separatists in the Kashmir valley perceived it as a provocation. "I had gone to Srinagar for a case where I saw a Pakistani flag being hoisted at Lal Chowk; it was then that I decided to revive SAYSS," said Sharma. His close aides are Brigadier (rtd) Suchet Singh, former judge K.K. Prose, lawyer Tilak Raj Sharma and some retired academics and government employees. The movement coloured by Hindu pride spread rapidly. The struggle for land is not the only item on its agenda. "Preservation of our faith and culture, recognition of Jammu's unique identity and increased political representation of Jammuites in the state legislature are some of the issues that we are concerned about," said Sharma. Sangh parivar actively supports the movement. It also enjoys the support of Jat Sabha, Rajput Sabha, and Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industries. Workers of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal are camping in Jammu. "We came here a year ago and sensed the deep unhappiness over unemployment and other economic issues," said Kaushal Sharma, district organiser of Bajrang Dal in Jammu. Sharma, however, does not care much about the Bharatiya Janata Party. "The BJP has extended support to us and I welcome that. It might use the issue at election time, but we all know what the NDA government did when it was in power," he said.Jammu and Kashmir was left out in the delimitation of constituencies, as there is a freeze on such exercises till 2024. "Jammuites feel that they have lost another opportunity to get parity of representation with Kashmiris in the state legislature," said a government officer in Jammu. The discrimination charge is nothing new. In the 1960s, the government shut down ayurveda colleges in the state. Five students, who were protesting it, were killed in a police firing. In 1987, a similar protest broke out when the government decided to shift 19 government offices to Kashmir. "The Gajendragadkar commission, set up to inquire the regional discrimination in the state, says there is a deep regional divide between Jammu and Kashmir," said Virender Gupta, founder of Jammu Mukti Morcha, which campaigns for a separate state of Jammu. Predictably, political parties are trying to use the agitation to their advantage. "It is not a political problem but the issue has deep political implications and if political benefits flow to the BJP during the next Assembly elections and the general elections, then we should not be hesitant to capitalise on it," said Prof. Nirmal Singh, a BJP leader from Jammu. The CPI has asked for a special session of Parliament to discuss the matter. "Parliament can be convened to discuss any divisive issue, so where is the problem in convening it over the Jammu agitation?" asked CPI general secretary A.B. Bardhan. The Congress, which was in power when the dispute broke out, seems to be the biggest loser. Mangat Ram Sharma, Congress leader and former deputy chief minister, said his party was acting in the interest of the state.None of the national parties has an influential leader in Jammu. "Kashmir has Farooq Abdullah, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti. But political families are not active in Jammu," said Vikas Dutt, grandson of former deputy chief minister Trilochan Dutt. He quit the Congress to join the National Conference, a move which almost finished his political career. "We hope Jammu will witness the birth of new political leaders from now on," said Brigadier Suchet Singh.

Interestingly, while the struggle in Jammu has started a vicious street fight in Kashmir, some Kashmiris have come forward to support the agitation in Jammu. Notable among them is the leader of the Socialistic Democratic Party of Jammu and Kashmir, Darakhshan Andrabi, who is a staunch propagator of Indian nationalism. "My dream is to help Jammu forget all feelings of hurt and then I will launch a rally from Lal Chowk to Lal Qila with the Tricolour," she said. Andrabi is known as dukhtar-e-Hind or 'daughter of India' in Jammu.

The agitation had started on a religious issue and then gradually moved on to larger issues, leading to questions over its nature and future. Will the movement end with the conclusion of the Amarnath pilgrimage season on August 16? "We will intensify our struggle on August 18. On that day thousands of young people will court arrest across the Jammu region," said Sharma. "We will not give up until the government fully meets our demands on Amarnath pilgrims and Jammu's development."As both Jammu and Kashmir are boiling, the security system in the state is experiencing its worst days. "Jammu behaved well during the militancy days in Kashmir, but the last two months of protest have diverted our attention from anti-militancy operations. The past 40-plus days have been utilised by the militants to regroup and upgrade their operational abilities," said K. Rajendra Kumar, inspector-general of police, Jammu. According to him, despite the allegations of inaction and manhandling in the beginning, the police have managed the situation judiciously and stayed away from inflicting large-scale casualties on protestors. "The issue of land for Amarnath pilgrims is a political issue that needs to be resolved through a dialogue process involving people of both Jammu and Kashmir. We do not believe that political issues of this nature can be resolved by force," he said.According to Ram Sahai, president of Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industries, Jammu has incurred a loss of Rs 5,790 crore over the past couple of months. Another worry is the long-term impact of the movement on the region. "Kashmir is not the only place capable of producing terrorism. If the land for Amarnath pilgrims is not returned and Jammu's needs are disregarded, one cannot rule out rise of insurgency in Jammu also," said Kotwal.All the same, everyone is tired of the chaos. Meena wants to go back to work and give her kid a normal life; Kotwal wants to return to a life surrounded by friends and fun; Dutt wants to revive his political career. Yet normalcy is not returning to Jammu. It seems both sides of the Pir Panjal Mountain have become lost paradises.The situation is worse in the valley, where 25 protesters were killed. The killing of Hurriyat Conference leader Sheikh Abdul Aziz, who was leading a march to Muzaffarabad, capital of the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, seems to have set off the ultimate defiance. Around two lakh people defied curfew to attend his funeral at martyrs' graveyard in Srinagar on August 12. "He was deliberately targeted because of his association with Hurriyat and the Kashmir cause," said Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq at the funeral procession. "He is our martyr."The call for a march to Muzaffarabad was made by the Kashmir Fruit Growers' Association when their apple and pear crops worth around Rs 1,000 crore started rotting because of the SAYSS blockade of the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway. It not only caused severe shortage of essential supplies like fuel and medicine but also cut off the valley from the rest of the country.With the agitation in Jammu turning into a mass movement and the Hindu outfits hardening their stand, a dangerous divide is being created in the state. The separatists in Kashmir are making the most of the situation. They have even started saying that they would not oppose a separate state for Hindus in Jammu, in two and a half districts where they are majority."This is a dangerous situation," said a senior leader of the National Conference. "This is what we feared the most, especially at a time when the elections are round the corner." The immediate impact of the sharp polarisation would be the postponement of the Assembly elections. Obviously, the state needs some time to get back to normalcy. But reclaiming the lost trust will be the more difficult, if not impossible, job.