Land row: It's Jammu Hindus Vs Kashmir Muslims

DIVIDED WE FALL? Protests have exposed a faultline between Hindu majority Jammu and a Muslim majority Kashmir.

          

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Jammu: The Kashmir Valley last saw protests like the ones over the Amarnath forestland transfer issue when armed militancy had just begun. On paper, Jammu and Kashmir is one state, but for decades has functioned as two entities, largely peacefully, until now.

These protests have exposed the growing faultline between a Hindu majority Jammu and a Muslim majority Kashmir Valley.

The Pathania family from Jammu were among the first yatris to Amarnath this year staying with Muslim friends in Srinagar on the way back. And then the shrine land issue erupted. As Hindus they now resent the revoking of the land use order and support the BJP's bandh call.

Monica and Vikram Pathania say that this is the first time something like this has happened and that they can't take it anymore.

"We are happy to say that we are supporting the curfew. Even though it's a problem for us, we are supporting the curfew," they say.

For the Kashmiri Pandits of the Nagrota migration camp, Chandji Khar's one room house is a kind of situation room, where they meet to plan their strategies. Khar is a self-styled Kashmiri Pandit leader who has learnt to walk the politically correct talk.

"I don't think we need permanent land in Baltal," says he, making his stand clear.

The Amarnath forestland transfer is a prickly issue for Kashmir Pandits. Nineteen years ago, these people left Kashmir leaving their land, houses, and orchards and came to migration camps on the outskirts of Jammu. Communal tension has not been part of the geography at these camps where more than 800 Kashmiri Pandit families live.

However, since the Amarnath row kicked off, the two communities avoid crossing paths, scared that one harsh word may spark off riots.

A resident of the Nagrota camp, Motilal says, "They have provoked us. We laud our youth for their calm."

However, at the Mutthi migration camp, the mood is openly hostile.

Twenty-four-year-old Ashwini Dhar doesn't even remember the journey his parents made with him on their shoulder, 20 years ago from Kashmir to Jammu. However, today he is the new face of the angry Kashmiri Pandit.

"It's just a small piece of land. They can't give it to us for a temple?" asks he.

Even the women are fighting this war for land.

Says a resident of the Mutthi migration camp, Sujata Kaur, "My blood boiled over when I heard that the land is not being given to us. What is this give and take thing? What kind of game is the government playing with us?"

Meanwhile, in Jammu, the Amarnath Sangharsh Samiti - a group of social, religious and political bodies - is the most vocal and their demands are clear that they want the land. Other older demands are also resurfacing - like the call for Panun Kashmir, a Kashmiri Pandit homeland in the Valley, to the north and east of the River Jhelum.

Professor Virender Gupta's Jammu State Morcha too has renewed its 20-year-old call for separate statehood for Jammu.

"The whole state which has been constituted was never one state. The people of Jammu want to stay with India whereas some people in Kashmir do not want that. So these aspirations are rather different," says Gupta.

Analysts say the mood on the streets reflect deeper anxieties.

Political Scientist Rekha Choudhary says, "There is a deep-rooted feeling of inter-regional rivalary. There is inter-regional discrimation and divide. It's a psychological feeling and it has not been addressed."

However, many feel that the idea of a separate Jammu state is not a feasible option. This region is home to several sub-regional identities, based on different languages, cultures and even religions.

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