Hurriyat stronger after row, Kashmir admn tells team led by Patil: The Indian Express>Monday August 11 ,2008

SRINAGAR, AUGUST 10

Muzamil Jaleel

: The Kashmir administration today told the visiting all-parties delegation led by Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil that the June protests against the land transfer to Amarnath Shrine Board were “by and large spontaneous” across Kashmir Valley and the “Yatra was not affected by the protests and no harm was done to any Yatri in Kashmir”.

The detailed power-point presentation given by the Kashmir administration, however, emphasised that the separatist Hurriyat Conference emerged “stronger and more confident” which had “otherwise witnessed an erosion in its credibility in recent years”.

On the impact of the land transfer row, the administration said that besides the fall of the elected government, there was “decline in (mainstream) political activity” and “loss to the tourism industry which had witnessed an unprecedented arrival of tourists (prior to the crisis)”.

Listing immediate priorities, the Kashmir administration said “the disruption of the National Highway in Jammu and Punjab should not be repeated” and “safe passage must be provided to merchandise and transporters moving from the Valley to the rest of country and vice-versa”. The administration,
however, warned that if the “economic blockade” was not lifted, the problem will be “exploited by both factions of the Hurriyat, there will be an attempt to march to Muzaffarabad by fruit-growers which may lead to further complications besides attempts by separatists to catch attention of the international media”.

In the calendar of events that fuelled the crisis, the Kashmir administration quoted the then Chief Executive Officer of Amarnath Shrine Board Arun Kumar saying “that the land transfer was permanent and not temporary” during a press briefing on June 17. Besides, it also quoted the public mobilisation call given by Hurriyat leaders Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq.

The Kashmir administration’s presentation came a day after a similar briefing by the Jammu administration. A comparison reveals the different prisms through which the civil and police administration of the two provinces view the recent developments. Consider these:

•The Jammu administration terms the protests in Jammu as an “agitation” while the Kashmir administration calls the demonstrations in Kashmir a “crisis”.

•The Jammu administration emphasised that the “land revocation order has hurt the religious sentiments of the Hindus of the State... the agitation has assumed the dimension of a mass movement... manifestation of perceived discrimination with the Jammu region for the last 60 years”. The Jammu administration stressed that “there is a very urgent need to find some solution to the vexed issue which will be acceptable to the people of both the regions”. The Kashmir administration, however, prioritised the need to end “disruption of the national highway” and “safe passage for merchandise and transporters” to the Valley. It said the protests were “spontaneous” and people did not “follow the detailed programme given by the Hurriyat-sponsored Action Committee against Land Transfer”.

•The Kashmir administration said the crisis had strengthened the separatist Hurriyat and if there was no amicable resolution, the Hurriyat would exploit the situation. The Jammu administration kept silent on the role of Sangh Parivar and even the few arrests made by it during the agitation.

•The Kashmir administration said the green flag displayed by the crowd at Lal Chowk in Srinagar on June 27 were an Islamic banner and not the Pakistani flag. But the Jammu administration said that the “Awami Action Committee flags which resembled the Pakistani flag were hoisted at Lal Chowk”.