Author: Arun Sharma
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: August 2, 2008
URL: http://www.indianexpress.com/story/343523.html
Introduction: Regional polarisation has never
been so evident in this terror-torn state
Jammu has been burning for over a month now.
As the bandh in the city entered its ninth day on Friday, hundreds of protesters
laid siege to the airport here, leaving NC patron Farooq Abdullah and PDP
chief Mehbooba Mufti stranded.
It's clear that the agitation has the support
of all sections of society. The traders, for instance, are supporting the
bandh, despite having suffered losses to the tune of Rs 3,500 crore in one
month. Chamber of Commerce president Ram Sahai alleged that the state Government
collects 70 per cent of its revenue from Jammu, but looks towards Kashmir
when it comes to developmental work.
The police, on the other hand, are finding
it difficult to control the situation. Though SSP, Jammu, S D Singh Jamwal,
said they were trying their best to curb the agitation, another senior officer,
on condition of anonymity, said "the more we try to check it, the more
it gets intensified". "What can the police do when such a large
number of people are involved," he added .
With government offices non-functional due
to absent staff, commuter services off the roads, banks and educational institutions
closed, normal life has been thrown out of gear. However, despite facing numerous
hardships like scarcity of essential commodities, the agitators seem to be
in no mood to stop without arriving at a solution to the Amarnath land row.
Many claim this is the only way to give vent to their ire at being discriminated
against by those who ruled from the Valley over the past 60 years.
"It is a fight to end the discrimination
being faced by us at the hands of Kashmir-centric rulers. This discrimination
is faced in every sphere - be it sharing political power or recruitments in
government offices. The Amarnath land row has united people to fight against
this discrimination," said president of Jammu Bar Association B S Salathia,
one of the leaders of the agitation.
"Land was given to the Board for raising
temporary structures when Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was heading the coalition
government. As the Government cancelled its order, the Board approached the
high court who directed the Government to hand over land to the latter,"
said Shakeel Ahmed, an advocate who is supporting the agitation. The state
Government appealed to the high court, and a Division Bench allowed the Board
to use land for raising temporary structures during the yatra. On May 26,
the Government issued an order allotting 800 kanals of land to the Board for
raising pre-fabricated temporary structures for pilgrims. Following widespread
unrest in the Valley over the allotment of land, CM Ghulam Nabi Azad cancelled
the order on July 1, sparking off protests in Jammu.
While the unrest in Jammu continues, the Congress
and the NC- which had a mass base in the region - appear to have become increasingly
irrelevant. Most people in Jammu have nursed a grudge against the PDP. It's
viewed as a Kashmir-centric party; all its 16 MLAs were elected from the Valley
during the 2002 polls. But people were distressed when the Congress and the
NC followed the PDP over the Amarnath land issue.
During the 2002 Assembly polls, the Congress
had emerged as the single largest party in the region with 15 seats and had
promised to give people a CM from Jammu. The National Conference got nine
seats in the region and became the second largest party. However, when it
came to the issue of allotment of land to the Board, both ignored Jammu and
sided with the PDP to get the order cancelled.
During the last budget session of both the
Houses of the state Legislature, there were unruly scenes in both the treasury
and opposition benches over the issue of lower wages being paid to daily workers
of the Public Health Engineering Department working in Jammu, as compared
to those in the Valley. Similarly, during the recent shortlisting of candidates
for the posts of clerks by the state's Subordinate Services Recruitment Board,
there were less than half-a-dozen candidates selected from Jammu, as against
250 from the Valley.
"These instances are the tip of the iceberg
of the discrimination faced by Jammu," said Dr Ajay Charngoo, chairman
of Panun Kashmir, a frontline organisation of Kashmiri Pandits. "To maintain
hegemony of one community over state politics, the Government deferred delimitation
of Assembly constituencies, due to be held this year, following opposition
from the PDP and NC at an all-party meeting convened by Azad last year. The
previous government of Farooq Abdullah had enacted a legislation against increasing
the present number of Assembly seats till 2026, as fresh delimitation would
have increased the number of Assembly seats in Jammu region in view of the
increase in its population following migration by three lakh Kashmiri Pandits
and thousands of Muslims from the Valley during the two decade-long turmoil,"
he added.
While Mufti described the agitation as a "rhetoric
of hatred", the chairman of Jammu and Kashmir People's Conference, Sajad
Gani Lone, termed the agitation as "an expression of venom against the
Kashmiris".
Omar Abdullah's recent speech in Parliament
also raked up passions when he said that the land belongs to them (Kashmiris).
The suicide by a local resident, Kuldeep Dogra the next day in protest against
Omar's statement turned the agitation into an uprising against Kashmiri politicians.
"If the Kashmiri politicians are not
prepared to allow temporary usage of 800 kanals of land to provide facilities
to pilgrims, how will they tolerate Pandits permanently returning to their
native places in the Valley," asked a Kashmiri Pandit.
