[Reader-list] Hindu Communalists ! and Jammu keeps Burning

[Pawan Durani]

Amarnath - Fact sheets available for download at
http://thekashmir.wordpress.com/2008/08/04/the-truth-behind-holy-amarnath/


On Mon, Aug 4, 2008 at 7:49 PM, Shivam Vij शिवम् विज् <mail at shivamvij.com>wrote:

> The Economic and Political Weekly
> July 26, 2008
>
> STATE CULTIVATION OF THE AMARNATH YATRA
>
> by Gautam Navlakha
>
> The origins of the conflagration in June in
> Kashmir on forest  land allocation for
> construction of facilities for the Amarnath yatra
> lie in open state promotion of the pilgrimage.
> The yatra has caused considerable damage to the
> economy and ecology of the area.  The high-handed
> actions of the  Shri Amarnath Shrine Board only
> aggravated the situation.
>
> The Amarnath pilgrimage erupted into a major
> controversy last month entirely on account of the
> actions of the state. The Act setting up the
> Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) was passed by
> the National Conference government in 2001. On
> January 1, 2008, the SASB informed the
> legislature of Jammu and Kashmir, through a
> letter to the deputy chief minister, that "(t)he
> Governor is  sovereign ex-officio holder of the
> power...  who acts on his own personal
> satisfaction and not on the aid and advice of the
> council of ministers...the member (of the
> legislative council) may be explained that he
> does not enjoy the powers to question the
> decisions of the body" (Greater Kashmir, June 12,
> 2008).
>
> Disconcertingly, the SASB, when presided over by
> S K Sinha when he was governor, has been engaged
> in some controversial transactions. The chief
> executive officer (CEO) of the SASB is the
> principal secretary to the governor. The CEO's
> wife, in her capacity as principal secretary of
> the forest department, granted permission to the
> SASB on May 29, 2005 to use forest land for the
> pilgrimage. Because this action was not in
> accordance with the provision of the J&K Forest
> Conservation Act of 1997, the state government
> withdrew the order.  However, a division bench of
> the J&K High Court stayed the withdrawal of
> permission to occupy forest land. But when in
> mid-2008, the state cabinet gave its approval to
> "divert" 40 ha of forest land for the yatra the
> issue erupted into widescale public protests. The
> deputy chief minister, belonging to the
> Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) went so far as
> to claim that Congress ministers "black- mailed"
> them into giving this approval (Indian Express,
> June 16, 2008).  The Indian state has often used
> the yatra to promote a certain kind of
> nationalism.  During the Kargil war, in 1999, the
> Press Information Bureau put out a press re-
> lease stating: "(the) yearning for moksha
> (salvation) can move the devotees to the
> challenging heights of Kashmir and will be a
> fitting gesture of solidarity with our valiant
> soldiers who have been fighting the enemy to
> defend our borders" (pib.nic.in/
> feature/feo799/f1507992 <http://pib.nic.in/feature/feo799/f1507992> html).
>
> A Little Known Shrine
>
> Thus, what is otherwise a religious pilgrimage of
> the shaivite Hindus has been elevated to
> represent a patriotic enterprise. What is
> interesting is that the translator of
> Rajtarangini, Aurel Stein, found no  reference in
> 1888 in either the Rajtarangini or the Nilmata
> Purana to the Amarnath cave. For Kashmiri Hindus
> the holiest site was the Haramukuta (Shiva's
> Diadem) and Haramukh-Gangabal pilgrimage (see M
> Ashraf, 'Aggression At Its Worst', Greater
> Kashmir, June 20, 2008). The cave was in fact
> discovered in the 18th century and a Gujjar
> family and its descendants who found it were
> given the right to a share of the offering as a
> consequence. Even until the 1980s, this
> pilgrimage was not well known and in 1989, only
> 12,000  pilgrims visited the cave in a fortnight
> of pilgrimage. It is only after 1996 that the
> Amarnath cave acquired its prominence when
> militancy in Kashmir was at its peak.  The SASB
> is headed by the governor (until recently S K
> Sinha, a former lt general in the army) and his
> principal secretary, from the Indian
> Administrative Service, is the CEO of the SASB.
> Thus when the SASB pushes for movement of a
> larger and larger number of pilgrims and rejects
> the right of the legislators to even raise a
> question regarding the functioning of the   SASB,
> the Indian state is sending a simple message.
>
> Imagine if a Muslim governor of  Rajasthan were
> to ask to set up an independent Ajmer Sharief
> Dargah development authority, with say, control
> over  a large part of Ajmer city. What would  be
> the response of Rajasthan's BJP  government or
> the right wing Hindutva rabble-rousers?
>
> Ironically, it is the deposed custodian of the
> shrine Deependra Giri who has been crying hoarse
> over SASB's promotion of pilgrimage as tourism,
> flouting the principle of penance inherent in
> such pilgrim ages as laid down in the Hindu
> scriptures! The point is this promotion
>
> of Amarnath can be faulted on temporal, religious
> and secular grounds. In other words it is
> downright duplicitous when the Indian state
> promotes religious tourism (tourism in any event)
> in the guise of the welfare of Hindu pilgrims.
> This is an extension and/or part of the process
> of  acquisition of a huge mass of land (orchard
> and cultivable fields, including the precious
> saffron fields of Pampore) by  Indian security
> forces and water management and control through
> the National Hydro Power Corporation.
>
> Implications
>
> The implications are far-reaching. The SASB runs
> a virtually parallel admini- stration and acts as
> a "sovereign body" promoting Hindu interests,
> increasing the number of pilgrims from 12,000 in
> 1989 to over 4,00,000 in 2007 and ex- tending the
> period of the pilgrimage from 15 days to two and
> half months (the first fortnight is meant for
> families of service personnel). The SASB has
> virtually taken over the functioning of the
> Pahalgam De- velopment Authority, laying claims
> to forest lands and constructing shelters and
> structures even on the Pahalgam Golf Course!
>
> As part of the latest instances of land grab the
> SASB received the approval of the state
> government on June 3, 2008 to transfer 800 kanals
> of forest land. And  it wanted another 3,200
> kanals. The  SASB has also staked claims to set
> up an "independent" Amarnath Development
> Authority between Nunwan, Pahalgam, and Baltal
> (ahead of Sonmarg). It is true that the state
> government shot down this  proposal and has
> publicly claimed that only temporary structures
> can be set up in the 800 kanals, but two things
> should be kept in mind. Firstly, the brazen
> manner in which the SASB has gone about staking
> its claims. Secondly, but for public anger it is
> doubtful if the state government would have found
> the courage to oppose the demands of the SASB. It
> has not done anything to prevent or rollback the
> annexation of parts of Pahalgam Golf Course in
> order to provide security for  pilgrims. If it
> were not for the widespread protests in Kashmir
> and the PDP's withdrawal from the government, the
> new governor of Jammu and Kashmir would not have
> been compelled to revoke his predecessor's order.
>
> Environmental Damage
>
> Be that as it may, probably the most damning
> evidence against the SASB and its  dangerous
> exclusivist policy is the dam- age being caused
> to the environment in and around Pahalgam. A
> noted environmentalist told Greater Kashmir (June
> 10, 2008) that "The yatris during their Amarnath
> yatra do not only defecate on the banks of the
> Lidder river but throw tonnes of non-degradable
> items like polythene, plastic items directly into
> the river. This has resulted in the deterioration
> of its water quality." One expert, M R D
> Kundangar, told Greater Kashmir that "(t)he
> chemical oxygen demand of the Lidder has been
> recorded between 17 and 92 mg/l which is beyond
> the permissible level. Such enriched waters with
> hazardous chemicals ranges can no way be
> recommended for potable purposes.  It has crossed
> all permissible limits due to flow of sewage and
> open defecation. Lidder has been turned into a
> cesspool." It has been estimated that every day
> during the pilgrimage 55,000 kg of waste is
> generated. Apart from this waste, the degradation
> caused by buses and vehicles carrying pilgrims,
> trucks carrying provisions and massive deployment
> of security forces contributes further to air
> pollution.  Another fallout is the threat posed
> to local inhabitants from crowding of the
> ecologically fragile area where they have to
> compete to retain their access and rights to re-
> sources, both water and land.  Indeed such was
> the arrogance and clout of the previous governor
> that he sent an  ordinance to the state
> government to establish Shardapeeth University in
> Baghat Kanipora in Srinagar. Prominent jurist  A
> G Noorani was constrained to point out to Greater
> Kashmir (June 9, 2008) that this move of the
> governor was "unheard of in parliamentary
> democracy". General Sinha would have gotten away
> with this had it not been for the fact that state
> coalition government did not have enough time to
> promulgate this while he was still the governor.
> The same governor, who also headed the Shri
> Vaishno Devi Shrine Board, had also created a
> special facility for rich Hindu pilgrims visiting
> Vaishno Devi by paying an additional Rs 200-500.
> Had it not been for the strike by residents and
> ordinary pilgrims in Katra this decision would
> not have been withdrawn.
>
> The special time allocated for the pilgrimage to
> the armed forces personnel, the acquisition of
> land, introduction of helicopter services (which
> causes its own attendant problems), crowding of
> the area and slowly pushing out local people from
> these locations because of the environmental
> degradation or because their livelihood is
> adversely affected (for example consider the
> protests by the Pahalgam- based tourism industry
> for squeezing them out), all pose a huge
> challenge.
>
> Limits in Gangotri
>
> Significantly, even the Bharatiya Janata Party in
> Uttarakhand on May 1, 2008 limited the number of
> pilgrims visiting Gangotri and Goumukh to 150
> persons per day so as to protect the fragile
> ecology of the area. Yet, in the case of
> Amarnath, and despite overwhelming evidence of
> environmental degradation posed by the huge
> increase in the number of pilgrims and large
> number of security forces  deployed for
> protection of such pilgrims, there is no one who
> dares challenge the SASB's stubborn extension of
> the yatra.  Indeed if the CEO of SASB is to be
> believed since "the population of India will
> increase we will have to consider further
> extension of the yatra period".
>
> Arguably, when the yatra was halted between 1991
> and 1996 due to the threat by a section of the
> militants it played into the hands of the extreme
> right wing elements in Indian society who have
> since then played an integral role in mobilising
> large numbers of pilgrims.
>
> However, it is equally important to note that
> earlier, school- children and college youth used
> to act as volunteers and provide assistance to
> the yatris. Even when this was discontinued after
> 1996, the main indigenous militant organisation
> the Hizbul Mujahideen and Muslim Janbaz Force
> always supported the yatra and consistently
> demonstrated its opposition towards those who
> tried to dis- rupt it. And even today there is no
> section of people who opposes the yatra. What
> they resent is the horrendously jingoistic turn
> that it has taken under the SASB.  Verily the
> more things change more they remain the same.
>
> On Sat, Aug 2, 2008 at 5:59 PM, Pawan Durani <pawan.durani at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > *KASHMIR IMAGES, August 2, 2009*
> >
> > *Good you talked about Hindu communalists of India, why not about Muslim
> > fundamentalists of Kashmir?*
> >
> > *By Vimal Sumbly*
> >
> > Dear Omar,
> >
> > please accept my heartiest congratulations for an impassionate speech you
> > delivered in the parliament on July 22.
> > It would be remembered as one of the best speeches ever delivered in the
> > parliament. I have always felt proud about your secular and nationalistic
> > credentials. Unlike most other politicians in Kashmir, you and your
> > illustrious father Dr Farooq Abdullah have the distinction of never
> playing
> > with the secessionist sentiments of people in Kashmir. As you began your
> > speech in the parliament that you are a Muslim and you are an Indian and
> > there was no difference between the two, you were speaking straight from
> > your heart. In fact you never needed to say that, you have always proved
> it
> > indeed.
> > However I beg to differ with the widespread public opinion generated by
> your
> > "extempore speech". For the speech was not at all addressed to the
> > parliament, nor to the billion Indians who were watching you live on the
> > television. It was aimed at the select "secular Muslims of Kashmir" whom
> you
> > are going to ask for their vote very soon. I salute you for the courage
> to
> > call a spade a spade. You rightly criticized the Bharitya Janata Party
> for
> > its communal agenda. I believe your regret and apologies were obviously
> > aimed at the Kashmiri Muslims. You rightly criticized the Communists for
> > being self proclaimed guardians of the Indian secularism, while not
> minding
> > to side with the "communal BJP" in toppling the government.
> >
> > Dear Omar, I know and you know that you paid a heavy price in 2002
> assembly
> > elections in Kashmir for not having resigned on the Gujarat riots. You
> and
> > your party were defeated in the elections, mainly because you were blamed
> > for sharing power with the "communal BJP" at the centre. That ghost might
> be
> > still haunting you. But you showed enough moral courage to apologize to
> the
> > Kashmiri Muslims. You berated the BJP to the maximum possible extent.
> That
> > is for you and the BJP to decide. Your speech was rated among the best by
> > various television channels. Taking it on the face value everybody would
> > like it. Because, it was rhetoric at its best. Particularly when you had
> > chosen the two best targets, the Communists and the BJP, who were
> obviously
> > not liked by many across the country for their opportunistic
> "understanding"
> > to topple the government for entirely different reasons.
> >
> > I wish you gathered the same moral courage, which you showed in the
> > parliament to denounce the Hindu communalists, to condemn the Muslim
> > communalists in Kashmir. I feel sorry the way you defended the anti
> Amarnath
> > land transfer agitation in the parliament. And hats off to you that you
> > presented it to be a "secular" agitation for the land. Let you tell me
> and
> > the whole of nation who was going to take away the land from you. Had LK
> > Advani been allotted the land to settle down his "communal brigade"
> there?
> > It was just a temporary transfer to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board to
> > facilitate the pilgrimage of lakhs of pilgrims coming from across the
> > country. And is the Shrine Board an outside agency? Isn't it just a state
> > agency controlled by the state government itself? The matter of the fact
> is
> > that you joined the course of competitive communalism that was initiated
> by
> > your rivals, the People's Democratic Party and hijacked by secessionists
> > like Sayeed Ali Shah Geelani. And how brilliantly you presented it in
> > "secular colours". What if the Hindus outside Kashmir rebel in the same
> way
> > and seek vacation of Haj houses? That has never been done and it will
> never
> > be done.
> > Not everybody across the country knows that the grave of your
> grandfather,
> > Sher-i-Kashmir, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah still needs a heavy posse of
> cops
> > and mostly drawn from central paramilitary forces to be defended against
> the
> > same "secular" Muslims of Kashmir. And we all know Sheikh Sahib was a
> true
> > secular leader who opted for secular India against an Islamic Pakistan.
> Had
> > it not been for him, Kashmir would not have been with India. So, who is
> > wrong your grandfather or the "secular" Kashmiri Muslims, whom you
> defended
> > with such a strong conviction? Like you apologized to the Kashmiri
> Muslims
> > for "sleeping with the communal BJP", you should also apologize to the
> > people of Jammu whom you accused of being communal. This was too hurting.
> > Let you not forget that you still feel safer in Jammu than in Kashmir and
> > there has not been a selective communal killing in Jammu despite so much
> > provocation in Kashmir valley. You certainly owe an apology to the people
> of
> > Jammu also and the current phase of violence was provoked by "the best"
> > speech you delivered in the parliament.
> >
> > And please don't mislead the county that no Amarnath pilgrim was ever
> > attacked. There have been scores of attacks resulting in scores of deaths
> > during the past two decades on the pilgrims. And also let the record be
> > straightened that the Amarnath cave was not discovered by a Muslim about
> 150
> > years ago. Its mention is in Neelamat Puran as well. Besides, when the
> > Kashmiri Pandits were subjected to atrocities during the regime of
> > Aurangzeb, they (the Kashmiri Pandits) had gone to Amaranth to seek
> divine
> > intervention. It is here that they decided to approach Guru Tegh Bahadur
> in
> > Anandpur Sahib and that is over 300 years ago.
> >
> > I am sure, you are an honest and a well meaning person. I not only see a
> > bright future for Kashmir in you, but for the entire country. We need
> > leaders like you, passionate, forthright, honest, brilliant and daring.
> To
> > conclude I tell, rather I request you one small thing. This is too
> personal.
> > That I am myself a Kashmiri like you. I am thorough Kashmiri in language,
> in
> > culture, in life and in everything. I have been thrown out of my Kashmir
> 18
> > years ago. Even remaining away, I have maintained my language, my culture
> > and my lifestyle as a true Kashmir. You will say that, I was not thrown
> out
> > as it was Jagmohan who prompted me to move out. Presuming that I went out
> at
> > Jagmohan's behest, but can you help me now to return my piece of land,
> less
> > than half an acre, no big deal. It has been occupied by one of my
> "secular
> > Muslim" classmates with whom I used to go to school for twelve long
> years.
> > He knows I cannot do anything. You said, you will fight for the rights of
> > your land. Will you help me to return my land, like you pleaded the cause
> of
> > other fellow Muslim Kashmiris. I am also your fellow Kashmiri who still
> > cherishes the memories of his home. Don't disappoint me. Because I think
> you
> > are not only brave but bold as well. Have courage to speak for me.
> Whether I
> > get my land back or not, would not bother me, but I would feel consoled
> that
> > a fellow Kashmiri stood for me, like he stood for other fellow Kashmiris.
> > I understand that writing to you this way is enough to get me pronounced
> as
> > communal and an activist of RSS and Shiv Sena. But let me put it on
> record
> > that ours was among a few exceptional Pandit families that always voted
> for
> > the National Conference and not the Congress. You can verify it from my
> same
> > friend who has grabbed my land. We used to participate together in
> National
> > Conference processions. And I still believe that the National Conference
> is
> > the best bet for the people of Jammu and Kashmir, particularly under the
> > dynamic leadership of a young, brilliant, brave and daring leader like
> you.
> >  My sincere apologies if I have been harsh to you, I never wanted to
> cloud
> > the glory of your speech in parliament, I only wanted to set the record
> > straight. Because truth must be told howsoever bitter it may be.
> > _________________________________________
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