KASHMIR V/S SANGH PARIVAR

By: Tahir Muzter

After four years of   Amaranth Land Row (2008). This year once again right wing Hindu parties in India are going to spew poisonous misinformation campaign against Kashmir. This is not something unusual, but a usual course of dictum they have pronounced. They have in very clear words declared that they   will forcefully counter the propaganda allegedly unleashed by separatists; their supporters and valley based main stream political parties against the facilities being provided to pilgrims of holy Amarnath shrine by the Government. The leaders of various Hindu organizations, social activists and intellectuals who participated in a meeting organized by Baba Amaranth & Buda Amarnath Yatri Niyas (BABAYN) on this September to frame a roadmap to counter the   (alleged) propaganda against the yatra. We will not allow anyone to interfere in the religious affairs of Hindus reports “EARLY TIMES”, Jammu.  This is again politicization of Amaranth by   the right wing Hindu   parties, done in 2008, and   still remembered. by all ,    as a renowned   Jammu  based correspondent,  Bini  Joshi, has  very recently    wrote :  “ The  BJP  was playing politics with the sentiments of the  people, became very clear, when it fuelled  the Amarnath Land Row   in 2008”(GK)

What  Bino  Joshi    confessed now   a few days  back  ,  Kashmir    has  faced it very bitterly in 2008, and  is  going to  face again,  as the right  wing Hindu Parties  have chalked out   the   program  as mentioned   above. –Kashmir  talked  logic then,  when land was allotted  to the  Shrine Board, intriguingly, and  Kashmir is talking logic now , when  new political lovers of Amarnath ,  are pleading for  the construction of road ,or nationalization f the Amaranth Yatra  Route. But the fact is Kashmir was    always trampled, instead of giving Kashmir heed. 

Yes!    It is  Syed  Ali Shah  Geelani , who took  the stand  on  new  development of Amarnath  road  and   its expected  fall back.  But this too is a fact, that this time, Kashmir Civil Society, under the influence of highly enlightened Prof. Naeema Ahmad   who came with a   well-meaning resolution on the new development. 

What Kashmir’s fault is?  

What  wrong   Civil  society  of  Kashmir   did, and  what crime,  Mirwaiz Maulana  Omar Farooq,  Mohammad  Yassin Malik   or    Hurriyat  leader  Syed  Ali  Shah  Geelani    committed  against  Amrnath  Yatra,  or  yatries  or Hindus,   as alleged   by the  right wing Hindu  Parties.   It  is  nothing like that.  It  is   a   statement  issued  by  the  Mirwaiz Maulana Omar  Farooq , expressing   concern  on   big  danger   to   the   environment  ,while  Syed  Ali Shah  Geelani   took  a note   of   the    controversy on  Construction of  road to  Amaranth and   voiced    the people’s  concern   on the  issue. This  is for the first time, after 2008 Land Row on environment, that  Geelani  Sahib   felt the need   of   speaking   on   this issue ------- beyond   the ‘Freedom Movement’.  Certainly his stand on this important, has been welcomed   not by the people in general     but even by   the people    who differ   with    his ideology. This writer is    one among such people. Geelani’s   stand on protection of environment   is not being   appreciated   in Kashmir only but it is being welcomed    outside    Kashmir as well. 

Madhu Purnima Kishwar, a professor at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies in Delhi and Founder of MANUSHI—an organization committed to protect democratic rights in India,  who is also   a member of   Kashmir Committee (Ram  Jaith  Malani ) has  congratulated Geelani Sahib for having voiced concern for the environmental damage being caused to the eco-sensitive zone due to the massive increase in the number of yatris that have begun visiting the Amarnath Shrine  now. I have personally seen how much garbage and filth, the Yatra generates, and how the extension of the Yatra to two months has caused further damage to the delicate ecology of the area.”

Madhu Purnima Kishwar ----in an open letter to Geelani Sahib in ‘tahlaka.com’   has said “On behalf of Kashmir Committee, I fully endorse your demand that just as 153 km area from Gomukh to Devprayag has been notified as an eco-sensitive zone by the Government of India, so also the area around the Amarnath shrine needs to be declared as an eco-sensitive zone. All those who value the Amarnath Shrine as a sacred site, should join hands with their Kashmiri brothers in preserving the pristine purity of the area.” She also admitted --------“You are also right in alleging that the creation of the Shrine Board by Faros Abdullah government was an ill conceived political move. However, the Board stayed within its limits till General Sinha as the Governor of J&K did all he could to communalize the Yatra as well as its management.  Your demand that the management of the Yatra be handed over to the Kashmiri Pandits of the Valley and that they along with their Muslim brothers take care of the needs of the yatris is a welcome suggestion, especially considering that Kashmiri Muslims have played a stellar role in ensuring that the yatris feel welcome and safe no matter how disturbed the conditions in the Valley. This well-meaning Indian lady, with a positive and constructive   approach has not hesitated to confess that ----- “While there is no denying that certain vested interests are using the Yatra as “a show of Hindu strength”.

But  she  added  “ it is wrong to attribute the growing numbers of Amarnath Yatris to the political games being played by Government of India or the Sangh Parivar. ‘’     She appealed   to    Geelani Sahib to resist the temptation of “politicizing” this issue to settle other scores with the Government of India.  This is the surest way to lose the environmental battle.’’

This appeal to Geelani Sahib is very positive. She also hoped that Geelani sahib will also extend his concern to the pathetic plight of rivers, lakes and the fast depleting forest cover in Kashmir.  The land that was once celebrated as a virtual paradise on earth has become an ecological disaster. ------ 

But her  interpretation or  clarification  of   Government Of India, and  Sangh  Parvar  on this  issue , is no  doubt  debatable.—which this  limited column   cannot accommodate .But  for a cursory  reference, this  writer   wants to  convey   her , on the basis of  my  4-years research, that  ,  soft ad Hard Hinduvata swooped down  on Kashmir   with  imposing ----economic  Blockade ---  a war crime   against Kashmir, in the  name Land  Row, in 2008. ----Its detail is very long, and dreadful.  The  fact is   that  the restoration of the land to Board, that  too  exclusively   on  the dictation of Jammu Sang rash Semite,--------and that too   after the  revocation of original  land transfer order , by the elected  Government  is  one sided, illegal, immoral, and comparative,  as declared  by  the renowned  constitution  expert A. G Noorani.  This too is  an open secret  and    a  naked  reality  that   800  kanals of   forest  land   was  transferred to the  Shri Amarnath  Shrine   Board , ,  illegally ,  clandestinely, and  in a consparative way------ with   one  mission   of   Shrine  Board  with  communal  minded  S k Sinha  as its  Chairman    to     make  the  yatra  bigger  and bigger with  every year, ignoring law of the land, the Kashmir ethos , environment, and other drawbacks  Because the mission is all political but in   the name   of religious   yatra.   Kashmir   has   enough  to prove   the  bigger  and larger  yatra as  a political  conspiracy------  One  simple  question in this regard is, which  helps  to understand   the   use of  majority  might  ,  and colonial  attitude with Kashmir. Why  the   criminal    double standard  in  Uttrakhand and  Kashmir.   ?

Tahir Muzter is a well known Journo of J&K, He has been the first Editor of the Daily Chinar & Nawa-e-Subah. Tahir Muzter is also known for his poetry, he is the Author of the book "Neelam Ghar" a collection of poetry in Urdu, Tahir Muzter is one of the content contribution to Only Kashmir. He can be reached at:  tahirmuzter.s@gmail.com