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An anatomy of the Shrine Board crisis

Praveen Swami

How and why did the Jammu and Kashmir government allow the Board use of forest land?

For Hindutva groups, Yatra was a symbol of communal assertion
Yatra ties down nearly 40,000 security personnel

NEW DELHI: For the past week, an avalanche of hate swept across Jammu and Kashmir, driven by the State government’s decision to allow Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board to house pilgrims on 40 hectares of forest land.

Protestors have claimed that the decision is part of a plot to transform the State’s Muslim majority into a minority. Advocates of the land transfer say revoking it would erode the legitimate religious rights of pilgrims. Few, though, understand just how and just why land-use rights were granted to the Shrine Board.

The then Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, Lieutenant-General S.K. Sinha, and Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, who was Chief Minister at that time, had their first run-in on the management of the Amarnath Yatra back in 2004, four years after management of the Yatra was handed to the Shrine Board.

Noting that securing the passages to the Amarnath Yatra ties down the best part of 40,000 security personnel, Mr. Sayeed shot down General Sinha’s decision to extend the pilgrimage season to eight weeks from four.

Mr. Sayeed’s objections had the support of most security experts; this year, over 38,000 soldiers and police officers are committed to guarding the pilgrimage, severely straining the counter-terrorism grid. But the issue acquired communal overtones: five Congress Ministers from Jammu submitted their resignations in protest.

It wasn’t, perhaps, surprising that the Yatra had acquired such emotional significance. In 2000, 22 people were massacred during the Yatra, in one of a series of communal attacks executed by the Lashkar-e-Taiba that year. Seven pilgrims and five workers were killed in a strike the next year. In 2002, the last year that an attack took place, 8 people were killed and 30 injured.

Hindutva groups used these killings to transform the Yatra into a symbol of communal assertion. The ugly polemic and behaviour of political pilgrims sometimes provoked clashes with local residents.

Moreover, the Shrine Board’s regulatory apparatus irked the community. Porters and pony-owners began to be charged to ferry pilgrims. Local bureaucrats, who had long profited from the Yatra, also came to resent the Shrine Board, since it terminated their earnings they managed to skim off the top of government expenditure on the provision of services to pilgrims.

Struggle over land

Amidst this skirmishing, the Shrine Board asked to be allowed to use forest land to set up seven rest sites, to provide pilgrims with proper access to sanitation, shelter and security.

In April 2005, the Jammu and Kashmir High Court made clear the duration of the Yatra would be decided by the Shrine Board, not the State government, and also ordered that the State shall immediately permit the use of Forest Land by the Board, if not already allowed.

Anticipating the court’s judgment, and under pressure from the Congress, State Forest Minister Mohammad Afzal Qazi approved the request on March 28, 2005. But protracted wrangling on the land-use orders still lay ahead.

In May, 2005, the Chief Secretary shot down the government’s decision to allow the Shrine Board land-use rights, noting that the Minister of Forests was not advised properly. Days later, though, General Sinha wrote to the government asking for this decision to be reconsidered.

Finally, in 2007, the Conservator of Forests zeroed-in on 39.88 hectares on the right bank of the Lidder, in the upper Sindh forests. His recommendation was placed before the Forest Advisory Committee which, in turn, sought the opinion of the Chief Wildlife Warden. Armed with his approval, the Forest Advisory Committee cleared the use of the land by the Shrine Board.

However, one more hitch was soon encountered. In April, 2007, the Supreme Court made it mandatory for all non-forest use of forest land to be placed before it for approval.

While the State’s Law Department now said its clearance ought be sought, the Advocate-General argued that the Supreme Court’s direction did not apply to Jammu and Kashmir. Deputy Chief Minister Muzaffar Husain Beig, who led the PDP out of the coalition on Saturday, had the final word: “I concur,” he wrote in February this year, “with the view of the Central Empowered Committee and the learned Advocate-General.” In other words, the land-use deal was on.

Final clearance

The Forest Minister gave the final clearance for the land-use proposal on May 26, 2008. Nine days later, the Cabinet approved Government Order 184, giving the Shrine Board permission for raising pre-fabricated structures only for camping purposes of pilgrims without going in for construction of permanent structures. It made clear that that the proprietary status of [the] forest land shall remain unchanged.

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