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| Jazia on Amarnath pilgrims: Is J&K a secular polity? | | | EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, June 2: However, what was more intriguing and disturbing was the role of the country's some of the leading historians like Professors RS Sharma, Suvira Jaiswal, DN Jha, Irfan Habib, Shireen Moosvi, Iqtidar Alam Khan, RL Shukla, to mention only a few, as far as the issue of land virsion was concerned. These "distinguished" historians, according to Chair Professor, Maharaja Gulab Singh Chair, University of Jammu (Jammu and Kashmir: Conflicting Perceptions, 2008, PP. v-vi) Prof Hari Om, "did cross the line when they objected to the agreement reached between the Jammu-based Shri Amarnath Yatra Sangharsh Samiti (SAYSS) and Jammu and Kashmir Governor, N.N. Vohra's administration on August 31 over the Amarnath land controversy and suggested that the same needed to be scrapped."
The Chair Professor writes in this regard: "Their concrete suggestion was: The government must take back from the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) that piece of land at Baltal which it had diverted to it on temporary basis for use during the period of pilgrimage, asserting the said 'piece of land belonged to Kashmiri Muslims'. The demand put forth by these historians did serve to indicate their ignorance about what led to the eruption of senseless violence in Kashmir in the last week of June 2008, as also about what provoked the people of Jammu to start a massive restore-land-to-SASB- movement on June 28."
He further writes: "These historians opposed the agreement basically on seven counts. One: 'Over four weeks the agitators in Jammu were allowed by the administration to impose a blockade of Kashmir'. Two: 'Those whom… LK Advani and others call 'nationalists', committed crime, arson and mayhem in Jammu while waving the national flag'. Three: 'In the talks with the Jammu agitators through an all-party delegation headed by the Home Minister, the agitators secured exclusion of the representatives of the Kashmir parties despite an invitation issued to them'. Four: 'No compensation for those killed and injured by the army and police firings in the Kashmir Valley has been so far announced, in contrast to what was done swiftly in Jammu'. Five: '…Revocation of the Governor's order of 28 June and the re-allotment of the 800 kanals of land 'exclusively' to the SASB'. Six: '…The special concessions, under paras 9 and 10 of the agreement, about withdrawal of cases and compensation to agitators are confined to Jammu and not made applicable to the Kashmir Division'. Seven: '…This deal (is)…unjust and provocative act'. Besides, "these historians", according to the Chair Professor, also "wanted the government to 'let them (Kashmiri Muslims) decide what to do with their land."
Again, as per the Chair Professor, "The upshot of their whole argument was that 'by allowing them (Jammu agitators) to do (launch a movement against the decision of the Congress-led Government to revoke the May 26 land transfer order) so and by making concession after concession to them the Government of India cannot escape the stigma of colluding with them."
Not only these "distinguished" and so-called secular historians, but a number of Hindu writers, human rights activists and so-called liberals had also denounced the Hindus of Jammu province for what they called launching an anti-Kashmir movement in the garb of the Amarnath land issue. It appeared as if they were the spokespersons of the Kashmiri secessionists and communalists. They not only condemned the people of Jammu and the powers-that-be in New Delhi, they also sought to create an impression that it was a crime to be a Hindu; it was a crime to fight for the religious rights of the Hindus. Some of them included Apoorvanand, Arundhati Dhuru, Dhruv Sangari, Anuradha Bhasin Jamwal, Dunu Roy, Ganesh Dev, Ghanshyam Shah, Indu Prakash Sangari, Lalit Surjan, Mahendra Sangari, Mansi Sharma, Nandita Das, Kumkum Sangari, Ram Puniyani, Sandeep Pandey, Tapan Bose, Uma Chakravorty, Prof KM Shrimali, Prof KM Panikar, Dhiraj Nayyar, Inder Malhotra, Praful Bidwai, Brij Bhardwaj, Yoginder Sikand, B Raman, ML Kotru, Arundhati Roy, Rajmohan Gandhi, Kuldip Nayar, Harish Khare, Vidya Subramaniam, Pankaj Mishra, J Sri Raman and Justice Rajindar Sachar. (To be continued)
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