Amarnath - The Politics of Religion

From: Nagindas Khajuria

To: Asian Voice

Sent: Sunday, 6 July, 2008 

Subject: Land of Amarnath Yatris trigges political tremors

I feel very sad about the events described in your article “Land of Amarnath Yatris triggers political tremors” (P1 & 30, also P4, .AV 5 July). While holy places have spiritual energy, our entire life is a pilgrimage and the real temple is a place of inner worship.

The tit for tat subsidy dispute between the Amarnath Cave Shrine for Hindu pilgrims and Haj flights for Muslims in Kashmir is a symptom, not the disease. The immense potential in the state will continue to remain unutilised until a permanent solution is reached.

The disease is the inability of both countries peoples to resolve the issue while their leaders continue to bury their heads into the sand.

Pakistan invaded the state on 22 October 1947 and secured 78,114 sq. km (35%). China invaded the Aksai Chin part of Ladakh and managed to secure 42,839 sq.km (19%) and India has ended up keeping 101,283 sq.km (46%) out of the original 222,236 sq. km (100%). Maharaja Hari Singh had signed the instrument of Accession to India on 26 October 1947 and that should have been honoured by Pakistan and China.

The population facts are: Pakistan 150 million Muslims (12%), Bangladesh 138 million Muslims (11%) and India has 138 million Muslims (11%) and 828 million Hindus (66%). Total sub-continent population is 1,254 million excluding Shri Lanka. Overall about 34% Muslims and about 66% Hindus live side by side. All originally “Indians” over 2000 years.

Nargis Dutt (real name Fatima A Rashid), Madhubala (real name Begam Mumtaz Jehan Dehlavi, Mohammed Rafi, Shah Rukh Khan, and many more are cherished and enjoyed with equal force by both Hindus and Muslims.

The ethnic, religious and linguistic conflicts of 10 million people in Jammu and Kashmir have had most damaging repercussions on the welfare of 1,254 million people over the past 60 years.

In the 2004 general elections, in Jammu and Kashmir, of a total of 87 seats, Jammu and Kashmir National Conference won 28, Indian National Congress 20, Peoples Democratic Party 16 and Independent Party 13.

Across India, in 2004 Congress and its allies won 218 seats; National Democratic Alliance won 187 seats, Left and its allies 60 and others 64.

It is incomprehensible why these political parties are fighting among each other on religious, ethnic and linguistic grounds while they should be fighting on social justice issues such as literacy skills, education, health, equal opportunity, clean drinking water, shelter, etc. Surely the latter should be the battleground for the coming general elections in 2009.

Punjab-Haryana-Delhi (PHD) Chamber of Commerce based in Delhi now covers 10 states and one union territory, namely Chhatisgarh, Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Madya Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal and the Union territory of Chandigarh. It is known as PHDCCI. It was formed in 1905. These states together account for 40% to 45% of India's GDP. "PDH" became an accronym for Progress-Harmony-Development since 1981 when other states joined the Chamber.

It has compiled important data on Jammu and Kashmir and how it compares with other Indian states. Please visit www.phdcci.in. Its per capita income in 20005-06 was Rs 17,463 compared to the national average of Rs 21,005. Its urban population is 25%. Its literacy rate 55%. It has 75 towns and 6,653 villages.

The principal crops are rice, barley, apples, and saffron. Major industries are handicrafts, sericulture, horticulture and tourism. I flew to Srinagar from Delhi in 1976. The view below from the aircraft was like heaven on earth: Switzerland multiplied by 1000 times.

In Srinagar, I and my wife were received by Mr & Mrs Lal. Mr Lal was then the Governor. We had become their friends during the previous two years when Mr Lal was First Secretary at the Indian Embassy in Tripoli, Libya and I was working for Umm Al-Jawaby Petroleum Company as an Internal Auditor for four years.

Both countries have lost billions of dollars of tourist revenue because of this bitter greed on both sides to hang on to status quo and/or rely on a feeble United Nations to resolve the issue which they themselves can easily resolve if they had a modicum of common sense.

My message to both countries is: stop dithering on the Heaven on Earth piece of land and get cracking on attracting tourists after a permanent solution is implemented by mutual long lasting agreement.

Nagin Khajuria