[Reader-list] Kashmir simmering - Aditi Bhaduri in The Hindu

[Aditya Raj Kaul]

http://www.hindu.com/mag/2008/08/31/stories/2008083150010100.htm **
*Kashmir simmering *

ADITI BHADURI

  Kashmir is being suffocated more by the hartals called by the local
leaders. Snapshots of life in the valley as the unrest unfolds…

 Twenty-year-old Laila sighed  "Why are we being made to pay for whatever is
happening in Jammu?"

No cause for concern

Kashmir's leaders were protesting against the alleged "economic blockade"
imposed on it by Jammu by calling for strikes.  Yet, Kashmiris seemed to be
stocked with food. Ghulam Mohammed Dar, a resident of downtown Zeina Kadal,
faced no food problem. Even during the bandh, his local butcher and
vegetable vendors are able to stock him up with food. This is pretty much
true of most residents in Srinagar.

"We have our supplies, enough rice and pulses to last us a couple of months
and meat supplies from our local supplier," says Tariq, owner of a modest
hotel in Lal Chowk. The problem is with buyers — customers were few and far
in between.

 A  resident of Aish Muqam, working in Srinagar, complains *that shopkeepers
have been taking advantage of the blockade and rumours of impending shortage
by hiking prices of vegetables and rice.*

*And though "economic blockade" is on the lips of many, few seemed to be
affected by it as far as food is concerned. There is no starvation. Kashmir
is a society where people are used to hoarding food that sees them through
the long winter each year.*

*Rather than by the "economic blockade" from Jammu, Kashmir is being
suffocated by the hartal and bandh calls given by Hurriyat leaders.*

Forced to comply

The owner of a handicraft shop on Srinagar's upmarket Poloview Road -- ,is
often forced to keep his shop closed. "I don't care which party calls for a
shutdown, I'd rather continue with my business, but I don't want to take
risks. Miscreants can easily damage my shop and goods and then who would
compensate me?" So against his will, he heeds the bandh calls.

And then there are the fruit growers —According to Butt, 60 per cent of the
packed fruits ready for transportation to markets have been spoilt. *Yet,
there was really no need to launch the march to Muzzafarabad, *foreseen to
fail in any case —* the fruit growers wanted to get to India through
Muzzafarabad*! That Hurriyat leaders would support the march came as no
surprise. People have also been wondering why no preventive curfew was
imposed on the day of the march.

What followed is there for all to see. But as of now, *Kashmir is not
starving*, simply simmering.

 **

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