Today, Jammu and Kashmir stand sharply divided after the recent flare-ups. The divide is not only on communal lines, but can be seen in the much-reduced commerce between Jammu and the Valley.
In Jammu, a feeling of discrimination continues to be widespread and intense. The Jammu people claim that the people in the Valley have been pampered and their tantrums tolerated just because they have been demanding ‘azadi.’
A Jammu trader said, “The government is succumbing to the Valley’s demand to open Srinagar-Muzzafrabad road for cross-LoC trade, while the best route would have been Jammu-Sialkot.” On the other hand, the Valley claims that the Jammu region has been given preferential treatment.
Till June, everything was peaceful in Jammu and Srinagar. The land transfer order, which was later cancelled, caused the agitations and counter-agitations. In both the regions, one thing led to another. Soon, the situation became highly volatile, and took a communal turn. The emotional and political divide between the two regions had become the widest ever. Now the trade between Jammu and the Valley has been seriously affected.
The people in Jammu called the agreement of August 31 on the land issue as their ‘victory.’ The BJP claims that “whenever Hindus stood united, they won.” The city is back to normal but the 63-days agitation for a religious cause has left many scars here. Trade is yet to pick up.
Jammu’s only shopping mall - Kashmir Square – which opened with much fanfare, has changed its name to “City Square.” A newly inaugurated bar-restaurant - Kashmir lounge is simply called “Lounge.” Such is the simmering anger in Jammu against the Kashmir Valley that the famous Kashmiri apple, too, has lost its sheen in Jammu, and it is being sold as “Himachali” apple!
The Kashmir-based traders have similarly boycotted the Jammu trade. Trucks carrying wheat, rice, oil and other commodities from here to Srinagar were attacked in the Valley and sent back. Some days ago, a mob in Srinagar attacked a truck carrying television sets from here for a public school in the Valley, and after damaging the consignment, sent it back to Jammu.
The Valley’s reaction is linked with the alleged “economic blockade” imposed on them during the two months of agitation over the land row here. The Kashmir traders are ready to ‘import’ things from any part of the country but not from Jammu. They are firmly saying “no” to the medicines from Jammu as this business is controlled by Kashmiri Pandits, who were in the forefront of the land row agitation.
.Many Jammu traders are worried as they had paid money in advance to their Kashmiri counterparts. The annual trade of the state is said to be worth Rs 52,000 crore out of which the yearly trade exchange between Jammu and Kashmir regions is estimated to be around Rs 27,000 crore.
Experts claim that if the boycott by the Kashmiri traders continue, the traders in Jammu would incur a loss of Rs 11,000 crore out of the annual Rs 27,000 crore worth of trade between the two regions.
The president of the Jammu chambers of commerce and industries, Ram Sahai, is hopeful that the boycott from both sides would end soon. However, when Sahai recently visited Srinagar, Dr Mubeen Shah, chairman of the Kashmir chambers of commerce and industry, refused to meet him. Dr Shah has joined the separatist parties’ coordination committee, which is now spearheading the “azadi movement.”
Sahai has alleged that “it was one of the breakaway factions of the Kashmir chambers of commerce that wanted to snap ties with Jammu, because of the vested interests of Mubeen Shah who runs his business in Dubai and Malaysia.” The authorities claim that Shah has become a “puppet” in the hands of the separatist leader, Syed Ali Shah Geelani.
Sahai said, “I have interacted with various trade bodies, including the main body of Kashmir chambers of commerce and industries, and they agreed to restart the trade with Jammu.”
Both Jammu and the Kashmir Valley have accumulated a lot of grievances against each other over the years. The land row, which led to one issue to another in the two regions, was essentially an outlet for the pent up regional grievances. Militancy became the main outlet of popular alienation in Kashmir. As it started decreasing, the Shrine Board land controversy provided a deadly alternative outlet. Similarly, Jammu has been nursing a grievance against what its people call “the Kashmiri Raj” even when, they claim that their region has larger population but less assembly seats.
In Jammu, reactions take communal and integrationist (abrogation of Article 370) form. The Kashmir Valley people are of the view that “Jammu suffers from the phobia of nationalism.” Interestingly, the Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board, with which Jammu Hindus are directly involved, has not taken any land from the government for discharging its functions.
Basically, suspicion against each other made things worse. Balraj Puri, noted expert on the Kashmir affairs, says the Amarnath Yatra Shrine Board’s many activities did not inspire much confidence among the Muslims.
“The Shrine Board had become active in organizing cultural activities like inviting groups of Sufi philosophers, including dancing girls, organizing Santosh Trophy, proposed Sharada University for displaced Kashmiri Pandits, and as most of the Board members were non-state subjects, it did not inspire much confidence among the Muslims,” explains Puri, “and likewise Jammu’s discontent, which is mainly political, is long standing – it just needed a flash point to explode.”
Strategic affairs experts point out that Jammu is a vital geo-political bridge between the people of Kashmir and the rest of the country. It is high time that the Central and State authorities redress the local grievances of the two regions otherwise periodic outbursts will occur, to the glee of separatist leaders.
