[Reader-list] Fwd: Re: Amaranth Yatra - Sonia Jabbar's response

[Iram Ghufran]

>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Subject:
>  Re: [Reader-list] Amaranth Yatra
> From:
> "S. Jabbar" <sonia.jabbar at gmail.com>
> Date:
> Tue, 01 Jul 2008 10:17:30 +0530
> To:
> Shuddhabrata Sengupta <shuddha at sarai.net>, <rahul_capri at yahoo.com>
>
> To:
> Shuddhabrata Sengupta <shuddha at sarai.net>, <rahul_capri at yahoo.com>
> CC:
> sarai list <reader-list at sarai.net>
>
>
>
> Dear All,
>
> Whether overt statements have been made against the pilgrims or not, the
> point is this protest over the land transfer to the SASB has been
> communalized from the beginning. As I pointed out in my article the PDP
> communalized the issue the moment it raked up the Muslim areas in Rajouri &
> Poonch and pitted it against 'Hindu' Jammu.
>
> The fires were further stoked when the Hurriyat came out on the streets
> claiming a demographic change, not over the environment. This is dangerous
> and brings out the worst in the Kashmiris, whether the chauvinism is
> religious or regional. Sajad Lone crowed that this has demonstrated the
> monolithic identity of the Kashmiris.  That this so called unity is achieve=
> d
> through manipulating xenophobic sentiments is appalling.
>
> A couple of years ago the presence of the poorest Bihari migrants during th=
> e
> summer months who are either plumbers and carpenters or labourers was
> similarly made into an 'issue'.  When the Biharis fled the violence the
> Kashmiris found there was no one to harvest their fields they were forced t=
> o
> reconsider their position.  Now Bihari migrants are welcome, as are Bengali
> brides who are married off to men too old to find second wives among
> Kashmiri women.  The Hizb, concerned by the trend that would obviously lead
> to miscegenation, tried to stop this practice but failed.  The trafficking
> of poor Muslim women from Bangladesh, Bengal, Assam, Gujarat and Andhra goe=
> s
> on unchecked because it suits all parties, never mind the slow demographic
> change.
>
> Of course individuals have come out and organized langars and sheltered
> pilgrims who have been stranded.  But so have individuals through the worst
> communal riots from Partition to the Sikh riots and even Gujarat, but that
> tells us only that some individuals have always resisted the call from thei=
> r
> community to gang up against the 'other,' and nothing about the 'othering'
> itself.  In a laudable move Geelani came out with the  statement that they
> are not against the pilgrimage.  But let us not be na=EFve. The yatra
> represents lucre as does the tourist season through the summer months.  The
> separatists for the last 8 years have tried to strike a balance between
> agitprop politics and a constituency that wants business from the
> 'outsiders.' Is there any link between the reports of complaints by the
> tourism industry of 70% cancellations and the scaling down of rhetoric?  I
> won't be surprised.
>
> In the meanwhile the BJP wants to make this a 'national' issue, tying the
> hands of the Congress that now cannot rescind the land transfer order for
> fear of violence around the country ... And I want out from this madhouse.
>
> -sj
>
>
> On 7/1/08 6:18 AM, "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=20
>   
>> Collective
>>     
> shuddha at sarai.net
> www.sarai.net
> www.raqsmediacollective.net
>
>
>
>   
>
>
>