[Reader-list] Amaranth Yatra

[Aditya Raj Kaul]

"Nothing is being said against the Pilgrims". Sad to see a few people here
pushing this point a bit too much; maybe because they are out of their usual
stock of arguments; because the situation is very clear here.

The current situation in Kashmir has nothing to do with the so called
environmental laws and ecological imbalance. The situation there hasn't
reached a point yet where 40 hectare's of land for Hindu Pilgrims would
bring with it mass destruction of trees, greenry and life. In turn, it would
multiply the revenue generated by local Kashmiri Muslims and to some extent
the government.

The current communal protests in the valley come at a time when elections
are round the corner and Amarnath Yatra is being carried on with lakhs of
Hindu Pilgrims visiting it from across India. The main point here is the
questions of Tollerance. Its a sad state. I don't think Muslims would have
felt the same restrictions and protests in case of their Haj House's,
structures etc. across India in every nook and corner.

Its a sad state indeed. Communal Politics is being played to garner votes.
Rather, PDP, CONGRESSS and NC are trying to score each other in the race for
becoming the most communal outfit.

The entire hue and cry on Land Transfer and the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board
is completely tragic and absurd. Isn't the Shrine Board and Kashmiri Hindus
part of Kashmir ? Then why these protests. Should we also demand that funds
and land to various mosques in Kashmir including Hazaratbal be held back ?

The violence in Kashmir has been sparked by a man called Mufti Mohd. Sayeed.
A former Congress chamcha, he now has his own Peoples Democratic Party. He
is famously known because his daughter's kidnapping and thereafter releasing
of terrorists from Indian Jails in her exchange became the reason for unrest
in Kashmir. Killing thousands. Mufti played a very active role in it; many
say, he had all information about her daughter's kidnapping.

This isn;t the first time Mufti's mouth blabbered and violence erupted on a
non-issue. He with his old time Congress Party friend Arjun Singh were
involved instigating and taking part in Communal Riots in Kashmir; back in
1986. In 1989-90, he remained a mute spectator to the exodus of an entire
community from Kashmir. Rather, he became a part of those anti-national
forces.

This time around; he cautiously waited for the opportue time to act and turn
things in his favour.. Rightly so. He had to appease a certain section as
elections were round the corner. Sadly, he might not get what he expected.
Anyways, lets leave that to time to tell.

Those who scream at top of their voice about Demographic Changes are nothing
but taking a bit too far. How much polulation would a 40 hectare land
accomodate anyway ? The biggest demographic change was with the exodus of
more than 3 and half lakh Kashmiri Hindus from the valley. Sadly, its a
forgotten tragedy.

As my great-grandfather was the first Ornithologist of Asia, I've some if
not all information on Environment, its protection and also tilted
government policies in relation to Kashmir especially. Major ecological
imbalance occur when locals push tons of waste material and toxic substances
into the lakes like the Dal. Many know what it has resulted it now. Also,
the land mafia in Kashmir (Mufti being strong part of it) is another major
force. They cut thousands of trees to clear land and sell illegally or maybe
legally through corrupt administration and revenue officers.

The massive destruction of the Pir Pangal range three years ago again by
Mufti Mohd. Sayeed is now a wide known fact. No protests, no cabinet
meetings etc. were seen in Kashmir then. Strangely, this questions the
entire base of the protests today ?

Its time people who blabber too much to know about Kashmir; for a change
read history and understand the facts and details about Kashmir and its
Politics.

Lets cut the crap about protests in Kashmir about the environmental reasons
behind Baltal Land Transfer. The locals don't give a damn to it. Its economy
that runs on tourism through Amarnath Yatra.

"Naara E-Takbeer - Aalah Hu Akbar" is no environmental slogan invented by
Greenpeace. Shuddha, maybe you can enligten us on this.

Its time the impotent Governmnet of India shows a strong force at the
speratist and terroist elements in Kashmir who are sparking violence and
encouraging and brainwashing locals against Hindus.

Best Regards

Aditya Raj Kaul


On 7/1/08, Shuddhabrata Sengupta <shuddha at sarai.net> wrote:
>
>
> Dear Rahul,
>
> Why is it naiive to believe that tens of thousands of protestors
> would take to the streets for environmental reasons? Are you trying
> to say that tens of thousands of protestors do not turn up on the
> streets for environmental reasons? As far as I know, tens of
> thousands of protestors routinely protested in the Narmada Valley for
> environmental reasons, on several occasions, across several years.
> Why should Kashmir be different?
>
> Having said that, I would like to underscore that I am not for a
> moment making a categorical statement, either way, about the
> sincerity of the sudden display of 'ecological consciousness' by
> elements within the Kashmiri separatist constiuency, or within any
> other segment in the Kashmiri political spectrum today. I have no way
> of gauging the sincerity of these entities when it comes to
> environmental issues. No one has any means of gauging their
> insincerity either. I am, in fact, not interested in sitting on
> judgement on whether the protestors are 'sincere'  or not. I can see
> why there should be protests. And if there are protests, I think they
> ought not be dismissed on the basis of speculations about the
> purported 'sincerity' of the protestors.
>
> Furthermore, there is nothing that demonstrates to me that a
> sentiment against a change in the demographic profile of a region is
> identical to a sentiment against Hindu pilgrims. No one has said
> anything either implcitly, or explicitly about pilgrims. I will come
> to my take on the question of 'demographic shifts' later.
>
> Pilgrims are transients. They do not settle and change the
> demographic profile of a place. The protests are against the transfer
> of land. The transfer of land can legitimately raise the suspicion
> that permanent structures will be build on that land, (why else argue
> for a change in the status of the owner of the land). It is clear
> that the permanence of these structures does not have any relation to
> the duration or necessities of the traditional 'Pilgrimage Season' in
> Amarnath. It may be remembered, that even at the height of the
> Kashmir insurgency, when some groups had sought to attack the
> Amarnath pilgrims, the Hizbul Mujahideen, the largest and most
> significant armed Kashmiri secessionist outfit, issued statements
> against any attempts to attack Amarnath pilgrims.
>
> The Action Committee Against Land Transfer, the organization co
> ordinating the Anti land Transfer movement in Kashmir has
> categorically stated that it has nothing against pilgrims or the
> pilgrimage to Amarnath.
>
> None of this amounts, in my book, to an adequate amount of
> circumstantial evidence for 'sentiments' against pilgrims. Would it
> not be better if we saw the reality of this anger against the pattern
> of the forcible acquisition of land by state agencies in Kashmir.
>
> Let me conclude by saying that I do not think that anything done on
> 38.99 acres of land can amount to a demographic shift. And those who
> (in Kashmir) , even within the Action Committee Against Land Transfer
> are talking about a 'demographic shift' with reference to the
> Amarnath issue are pursuing a red herring. There is a real issue of
> the forcible acquisition of land by agencies of the state and the
> armed forces in Jammu and Kashmir, that is much wider in terms of its
> ramifications than the single issue of Amarnath alone.
>
> I for one, do not think that the presence of Bangladeshi immigrants
> in say, Assam, needs to be attacked because it represents the threat
> of a demographic shift to some people. There are good reasons why in
> some parts of India (in J&K under article 370 and under the Fifths
> Schedule of the Constitution in certain notified tribal areas in
> different parts of the country) non aborigionals or non-state
> subjects (in the case of J&K) are barred from acquiring landed
> property. These have to do with the histories of disposession and
> land alienation in these areas.  But that does not mean that such
> people (non aboriginals and non state subjects) cannot live in these
> areas. To state that would be to confuse lived practices of
> habitation with  the ownership of property, and to confuse the
> category of the citizen with the reality of the denizen.
>
> best
>
> Shuddha
> Shuddhabrata Sengupta
> The Sarai Programme at CSDS
> Raqs Media Collective
> shuddha at sarai.net
> www.sarai.net
> www.raqsmediacollective.net
>
>
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