By IRNA,
Srinagar, India : Nearly two month long violent agitation by Hindus of Jammu province in southern Kashmir has ended with the governor administration concluding a pact with the Amarnath Sangharsh Samiti, an amalgam of various Hindu organizations.
However a crippling curfew and protests continue unabated in Muslim majority Kashmir where the agreement has been out rightly rejected by both pro-India and resistance leaders.
The state, which is directly ruled by New Delhi, also agreed to demands of the Hindu agitators to look into the issues regarding withdrawal of cases registered against the rioters and the compensation against the losses incurred by traders and
industrialists.
Reacting to the deal between Hindu bodies and the administration, Kashmir Coordination Committee, which is spearheading the agitation in Muslim Kashmir, dismissed it outrightly saying their fight was for freedom not for a piece of land.
“The land issue was not important for us as we were striving for a bigger goal of freedom from India”.
The committee is backed by Hurriyat Conference, whose top leadership remains behind bars.
However, pro-India Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which was ruling the state when the controversial issue was born, said the solution arrived at with the Sangarsh Samiti was not a peace formula, as is being presented, but a “purely Jammu appeasement policy which will only further increase the alienation of Kashmiris where the popular sentiments and just aspirations are being throttled with brute force”.
In a statement party president Mehbooba Mufti said that the unilateral decision on land use for pilgrimage is a move to disrespect the popular sentiments in Kashmir adding any decision on this sensitive matter should have been taken only with consensus and after consultation with the Kashmir Coordination Committee and civil society here.
“Kashmiris have welcomed and taken due care of the Yatris for ages and we would continue to do so in future as well,” she said.
Referring to what is commonly perceived here as dual policy of Indian government in its dealings with Muslims of Kashmir and Hindus in Jammu, the PDP president said, “All voices of peaceful dissension in Kashmir have been muzzled throwing democratic norms to winds and by contrast the government has gone out of its way to provide space to the sword wielding cadres’ of communal forces (in Jammu) who are receiving ideological and material reinforcement from outside the State”.
Ms Mufti said her party had cautioned the Government of India against any such approach but unfortunately, no consensus was created between the political parties in Kashmir on the solution. While in Jammu, she said, Congress and BJP close their ranks to support the agitation.
The PDP president also urged India and Pakistan to immediately throw Srinagar-Muzafarabad road open for trade to defuse the tension arising out of “economic blockade” of the Kashmir valley by fanatic elements in Jammu.
She also stressed on release of all the detainees, repeal of draconian laws including AFSPA, and withdrawal of troops. Stressing on the government to pay compensation to traders, transporters, hoteliers, persons related with tourism industry, farmers and fruit growers for the loss caused due to economic blockade, Ms Mufti said that government should not adopt dual-policy while granting compensation to traders, transporters, hoteliers and other sufferers in the two regions of the State.
Taking a strong exception to the indiscriminate arrests made by law enforcing agencies in Muslim region of Kashmir, Ms Mufti termed gagging of press, indiscriminate arrests of politicians and youth as an emergency type of situation. She said the law enforcing agencies clamped down on the local media, thrashed the demonstrators and journalists broke into the homes and intimidate the inhabitants including elderly, children and women. “This is unfortunate that the government is imposing a collective punishment on Kashmiris by launching a manhunt throughout valley to nab the political leaders and the youth rounding up hundreds of peaceful protestors many of whom have been booked under draconian laws,” she added. Ms Mufti asked the government to withdraw all cases registered against the youth and political leaders who were booked in Kashmir during recent agitation and release them immediately.
Meanwhile in Jammu, leader of the Samiti Leela Karan Sharma described the agreement as the “victory of the people of Jammu” as Hindus celebrated by dancing on the streets, distributing sweets and bursting firecrackers.
The four-page agreement accords the Hindu Shrine Board exclusive rights to use 100 acres of forest land in the Kashmir valley during the annual pilgrimage for temporary shelters and toilets.
While the reconstitution of the Board has been made mandatory, the government has agreed to examine the criminal cases registered against the rioters in Jammu and also to compensate the losses suffered by businesses during the agitation.
The current crisis began when Congress party led state government announced in June it would transfer the forest land to the Hindu trust.
Muslims in Kashmir opposed the move saying diversion of forest land for the construction of facilities for hundreds of thousands of pilgrims can threaten the fragile ecological balance in the mountainous area.
The allotment was cancelled in July following mass uprising in Kashmir. This in turn angered Hindus in Jammu who blocked the only road link connecting Kashmir to India. The blockade which stopped supplies of food and medicine into Kashmir also re-ignited unprecedented protests in Kashmir and demands for reopening of traditional trade routes to rest of the World that have remained blocked since dispute over Kashmir began in 1947.
To control the rising tide of demonstrations authorities launched a crackdown arresting key Kashmiri leaders, clamped curfew and killed at least 40 people who defied restrictions to protest in the streets.
On Sunday authorities announced a period of relaxation in the curfew but reimposed it soon after protests broke out in various places across kashmir.
The United Nations last week called for a thorough and independent investigation into the killings urging Indian security forces to observe international principles when dealing with demonstrators. But the Indian government dismissed the UN’s comments as “unwarranted” and “irresponsible.”