30 Minutes: Land, an emotional issue in J&K

A STATE DIVIDED: The riots over the Amarnath land transfer have has been the worst in J&K in 20 yrs.

          

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Rajdeep Sardesai

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Keywords: PDP, Congress

Jammu: They have has been the worst riots in Jammu and Kashmir in two decades - protests, street battles and curfews. The twist this time is the religious anger across the two cities, that threatens to turn Jammu against Kashmir.

Discontent is spilling on to the streets of Srinagar, with political parties keen to exploit the issue in an election season.

Why is the crisis in Jammu & Kashmir growing? Why is there a dispute over land near Baltal, which the Government wanted to transfer to the Amarnath Shrine Board? Here is a look at why land is such an emotive issue in Kashmir.

Last month, the Jammu and Kashmir government offered 100 acres of forestland near Baltal to the Amarnath Shrine Board to build facilities for yatris. The backlash was instant.

The PDP gave an ultimatum to the state government to revoke the order, or else suffer the consequences. Meanwhile, pitched battles began on the streets of Srinagar, and fast spread across the state.

People say that conversion of land "means civil aggression". And that is exactly what happened.

Three people were killed and over 200 injured in the violence that rocked the state in the aftermath of the government's order. On June 28, PDP President, Mehbooba Mufti formally announced that her party was withdrawing support to the state government.

The pressure worked and a day later, J&K Chief Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad climbed down, saying, "The Amarnath Shrine Board does not need to pursue its earlier request of forestland."

Two days later, he revoked the order. However, this did not help and the violence didn't end.

It merely shifted from Srinagar to Jammu, where the BJP and the Shiv Sena went on the offensive. The BJP even called for a nationwide bandh, the issue resonating as far as Indore in Madhya Mradesh, where violence claimed five lives.

And a crisis still looms over Jammu and Kashmir, and it's centred around the land at Baltal.

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(With inputs from Pawan Bali, Mufti Islah, Aasim Khan and Nilanjana Bose)