Paharis and local politics of Rajouri-Poonch
Ahmad Shannas
For the last couple of years we have been witnessing a strong campaign in the twin districts of Rajouri-Poonch for according Scheduled Tribe status to the Pahari speaking people of the area at par with the people of Gujjar and Bakarwal community who have already been granted this status. Any individual or segment of society nursing a grievance of neglect and unjust treatment has got every right to voice concern about it and demand justice from the government. The Pahari people, or to speak more precisely, Pahari speaking people of Rajouri- Poonch have also got an undisputed right to give vent to their feelings.
In the case of the Pahari campaign there has been a built - in element of opposition because the focal point of this campaign has been a controversial argument that the grant of Scheduled Tribe status to Gujjars and Bakarwals was not justified and was a politically motivated decision. In view of the distinctive character of the Pahari campaign - that it originated from Rajouri-Poonch, remained all through Rajouri - Poonch centric, did not spread to other larger Pahari areas, notwithstanding broader connotations of word Pahari, and ultimately turned out to be an exclusive issue of Pahari speaking people of Rajouri-Poonch or Uri, Karnah, it was only the local Scheduled Tribe population of Rajouri- Poonch who had to bear the brunt of the emotional fallout of this campaign. Therefore, whatever opposition or counter - opposition the high voltage Pahari campaign had, should be taken as its natural share. However, it would be an over-simplification to say that what is holding back the grant of Scheduled Tribe Status to Pahari speaking people is the opposition or resistance being put up by their opponents. The fact of the matter is that their opponents have not been able to stall even once the recommendations of successive State Governments to Government of India for accord of this status.
The question still remains why this demand has come to be seen with suspicion, causing fear and anxiety among the Scheduled Tribe population of Rajouri- Poonch? How to explain the phobic attitude of the people on both sides which is perceptible in every case and counter case, move and counter move? These questions can be better answered when we look at the psychological or psycho- political aspects of the issue.
The genesis of the problem can be traced to the history of Rajouri- Poonch which has been a society awfully divided on sectarian lines, troubled with inter class conflicts, where conservative mindset and dogmatic attitude in collusion with the new social order has lead to an unending tug of war for political supremacy between two major segments of population - the Gujjars and the non- Gujjars. Over a period of time people on both sides have developed a strong tendency of negative polarity, which has always been used by people with political motives as a tool. With the result that if one section of society happens to get a favour or benefit it is taken by the other section as if a political goal has been scored by their opponents over them. Since Gujjars and Bakarwals as the entire community throughout J&K State were granted Scheduled Tribe status the position would have been entirely different had the demand for parity come from any part of J&K State other than Rajouri- Poonch. But when this demand comes from politically hyper sensitive districts of Rajouri-Poonch, herein lies the difference.
When we talk of Pahari people we mean not only the people who speak a local dialect, namely 'Pahari', but also those residents of typical Pahari areas who are socially, educationally and economically similar but speak a different dialect, be it Kashmiri, Dogri, Gojari, Bhaderwahi, Siraji as people belonging to each ethnic group have their own mother tongue or local dialect.
There is no denying the fact that Himalayan State of J&K has number of population pockets located in difficult, inaccessible, mountain locked areas where people still lead a primitive life. A large number of specified areas in each and every district have been declared as backward areas for the purpose of reservation in government jobs and for admission to professional institutions. These areas are typically hilly and can be further divided into three broader categories of A, B& C signifying their position of being difficult, more difficult and most difficult Pahari areas or vice versa.
Although more than 80 percent of total land area of the state is hilly, the inhabitants of towns and municipalities are far more privileged than the scattered population of higher reaches or distant villages, which are located deep in the interior valleys or in between ridges and gorges surrounded by steep mountain ranges. How can we equate the towns of Bhaderwah, Kishtwar or Rajouri, Nowshera, Sunderbani or Poonch, Surankote, etc. with the most unusual Pahari hamlets of Dachhan, Marwah, Paddar or Kote Chadwal, Ghunda Khawas or Poshana, Sialan etc. of the same districts? A person coming all the way from Dachhan, Marwah or Kote Chadwal, Ghundha Khawas or Poshana, Sialan, traveling most of the distance on foot because of no road connectivity in his village, finds himself in an altogether different world when he reaches the town of his own district, humming with modern life activities. The feelings of the said person would be similar as that of one reaching the city of Delhi or Mumbai from the countryside.
One can identify such Pahari areas in each district that are characteristically different from the rest of the land because of their peculiar geographical position. For example Marwah, Dachhan, Paddar, Udil, Dessa, Bhalessa, Bonjwah, Pogal Paristan, Chamalwas in old district Doda; Bani Billawar in District Kathua; Gool Gulabgarh, Mahore, Dharmari, Dudoo Basantgarh in old district Udhampur; Sialan, Hari Marrot, Arai, Loran, Sawjian, Khetan Chamreh, Poshana in District Poonch; Mangota, Alal, Dhara, Ghambeer Mughlan, Parodi, Sakri, Swadi, Keri, Kote Chadwal, Ghundha khawas in District Rajouri; similarly higher reaches of Pahalgam, inaccessible areas of District Anantnag and Kulwama, Uri area of District Baramulla, Keran, Karnah and other inaccessible areas of District Kupwara, etc.
Subject to all possible additions and alterations, these are the areas which are fit to be included in the category of most unusually difficult Pahari areas of the State and none other than the residents of these areas deserve to be called Pahari people in the real sense of the term. It is the inhabitants of these areas who suffer pain, death, agony, disaster as they often fall victim to floods, drought, hostile climate, niggardliness of nature and vagaries of weather. Moreover, many of these areas have no road connectivity and remain cut off from the towns where better educational, medicare and other facilities are available. These are the areas where the march of progress comes to a halt and developmental programmes fail to make any impact on the life of the public. It is the residents of these areas who suffer deprivation and neglect and need to be brought at par with rest of the population by special dispensation plan with special focus on their socio- economic and educational development.
This could have been a simple but comprehensive and plausible version of the case of Pahari people acceptable to everyªbody. What we have seen is a truncated version of the case, a product of local political compulsions of Rajouri-Poonch.
In whatever way the local politics might have interpreted the grant of Scheduled Tribe status to Gujjars and Bakerwals, the fact remains that it was in recognition of backwardness and degraded social status of the community as a whole attributable to peculiar life style of the people who came to be stigmatized as a cattle rearing class which made them to suffer the afflictions of social inequalities. But in the backdrop of local politics of Rajouri-Poonch the accord of this status came to be attached extraordinary significance with all hidden meanings - as if the community had got a magic wand which will turn them into a formidable force to be reckoned with. So the best way to deal with this situation was to ask for similar status on the basis of parity and equality. On the other hand the people of Gujjar and Bakarwal community of Rajouri-Poonch reacted to this demand in a typical way as if it was an attempt to snatch the loaf of bread from their mouth. I have spoken to many sensible people on the subject with an intention to probe their mind as to what scares them most about this demand of their fellow inhabitants. The typical explanation came from one person which I could interpret in these words "that the perpetrators of hatred have now disguised themselves as sufferers with a design to marginalize their position." I could sense the under- currents of fear and anxiety in the thinking of the people. As a matter of fact it is a case of fear psychosis on both sides, superficially created in the mind of the people that their future is at stake.
One cannot lose sight of the fact that J&K is an exceptional state where every weaker section and socially and educationally backward class of the population has been covered under a well devised network of reservation schemes which are operational under different categories such as Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, Resident of Backward area, Resident of Actual Line of Control, Other Backward Classes, Physically Handicapped etc. It is not the case that there are only Scheduled Tribe doctors, engineers and other officers in Rajouri -Poonch. The non-ST doctors, engineers and other officers are more in number because of the quantum of reservation they are enjoying under different categories. As far as Central Services are concerned both S.T. and Non-S.T. candidates rarely opt for them because of their over attachment to their home district or state. Though it is another matter that both S.T. and non-S.T. candidates of Rajouri- Poonch are capable enough to compete even for overseas services, some of them having secured jobs in England and other foreign countries without any reservation, by sheer dint of their hard work. If we have statistical analysis and a realistic view of facts and figures, there are enough reasons for both sections of population to feel good, happy and satisfied.
Then why is the situation being painted as grim? Why has a false line of battle been drawn between two sections of population pushing them into a state of cold war? Why are people from both sides so scared of each other that they are always either on the offensive or defensive? All these questions point to only one direction, that perhaps people on both sides have fallen prey to the politics of divide and rule. Redemption is nowhere in sight for the people who have been polarized for petty political goals. Even if Pahari speaking people attain the status of Scheduled Tribe, the pot of conflict will still be kept boiling by using the fuel of new problems and issues likely to arise out of the resolution of the existing issue.
The traditionally rival communities of Rajouri- Poonch are most likely to be confronted with a situation where the benefits arising out of available schemes will reach their future generations only in a diluted form, so much so that their predominant representative character too will gradually get eroded as a natural consequence of their senseless infighting. It is not going to benefit the politicians either to cling to the old policy of divide and rule because the biggest irony with this policy is that nobody knows who will rule in future.
Once during independence struggle an informal debate was going on among certain prominent leaders. One of them retorted that it is wrong to say that the English divide and rule. As a matter of fact, we divide and they rule.
*(The author is a retired KAS Officer and President, Society for Peace and Environmental concerns (SPEC)

Disentangling the Naxal-Tribal Marriage-II
Playing with separation: Naxals have hijacked justified tribal grievances for their own purposes
The Naxals use these issues to their best interests. They provide a listening ear and healing arms. They provide medicine and run schools where the tribals can find support, understanding, and, most importantly, hope. It is not difficult to rally the soul of the daily survivor, tribal or not. When the state cannot guarantee if or when you will get your next meal, when you don't know what will kill you first, starvation, disease or the bullet, you stop worrying about higher moral and ethical issues of right and wrong. The desperate tribal experiences the moral, ethical, social and legal neglect of Indian society every day. Modern-day Birsa Mundas and Kanu Santhals are born daily and readily join hands with those who have i) influence in such far-removed areas as Bihar, Maharashtra, Nepal, and beyond, ii) can get you food and money to feed your family, and iii) most importantly, instill a sense of security by fighting for you and alongside you. This is similar to how the support for Hamas in the West Bank comes from the moral backing they receive from their common Palestinian followers, even as their ideological 'masters' operate thousands of miles away from Iran or Syria.
As first stage of radicalisation, the adroit Naxal provides emotional and social help. He then uses varying local grievances to create a pan-regional solidarity of suffering: stark poverty and hunger in Orissa; rape, murder and militancy by non-tribals in Chhatisgarh; unemployment and few benefits from industry-driven wealth generation that goes into private and government coffers in Jharkhand and Maharashtra. Thirdly, he drives wedges against India and Indian-ism, aided and abetted by a callous government and its strange policies, highlighting the ostracisation, exploitation and persecution of tribals. Finally, he seeks 'conversion' into the religion of Maoist ideology. In the minds of those used to collective lifestyles, democracy is still in its infancy - fertile ground for religious or communist fundamentalism to take root. Democratic leaders in Jharkhand, Chhatisgarh and elsewhere use poor tribal youth for economic and power gains; Naxal ideologues use them as foot soldiers for their greater cause. The strategy is comparable to how local grievances in Palestine, Chechnya and Kashmir are given a pan-Islamic cause as promoted by Al Qaeda. Note that these are places where democratic practices are rudimentary and the use of bullet rather than ballot is the norm rather than exception.
The broader Naxal agenda is definitely not a tribal agenda. It is for a Maoist tract of land to extend all the way from China, through a Tibet that is being increasingly sterilised by repression, Maoist Nepal, despotic Burma, north-eastern states not culturally aligned to 'India' or Indian-ness', and the so-called 'Red Corridor' states in mainland India. The global environment is sensitive to such attempts to realign ideological, political and security architectures; the world is increasingly fragmented through nationalistic right-wing jingoism, a reduction in freedom, and unbridled capitalism in liberal democracies of the West. A Maoist super-state is the communist equivalent of the 16th century Caliphate that Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden promise their band of religious followers - one that will sandwich a democratic Hindu republic between religious Islam on one side and communist despotism on the other.
Back to the Future: Cyclical times for tribals
Many commentators and activists are saying that vital government machinery is absent in Naxal-influenced areas and if government agencies did their jobs properly, the Naxals would not have a leg to stand on. They are wrong. The state is not absent. In the minds of the tribal, it is present. It is actively perpetuating violence through public militias, police and now military threats. It is passively sustaining abuse by negligence in the form of extortion and exploitation by aligning with those who are persecuting the tribals. The tribals believe that dead ancestral spirits return as time is cyclical - all that has happened before will happen again, and that forces of good and evil will continue to clash. These are the key ingredients of tribal mentality that contribute to their negative view of the government today.
For them nothing has changed. In a 'Back to the Future' scenario from a century ago, the British have been replaced by state and central governments of India, government officials by repressive police forces, landlords and moneylenders by industrialists who make millions and offer a fraction in compensation. The current crop of democratic tribal leaders like Soren or Marandi, are much like the tribal chieftains of the past: keen to copy their political brethren in order to rise in New Delhi's political esteem. Hence they look for ministership in cabinet positions and consequently provide dismal leadership. Finally, the places of the deceptive missionaries and Hindu priests of the 19th century have been taken by the Naxals, who are visibly a more potent force. What conversion to different religions could not achieve for tribals, acceptance and respect in the eyes of his 'Indian' counterparts, he hopes to gain through armed struggle.
The Naxals cannot help the tribals with promises of distant Utopia, but who will explain this to those tribals? It's common sense: if you are driven back to the wall, the only way out is by driving forward. The desperate have nothing to lose except their lives. But the tribals are an evolutionary older and a martial race. It's their duty to protect their ancestral lands and pride of being a people, even if this happens posthumously like the Birsa Mundas.
Alienation of Public Opinion: Aliens in their own lands
But why has the common Indian been so insensitive to the plight of the tribal? The answer lies in the human psychology of groups. We all have an inbuilt system whereby obvious differences between groups set them apart. The average Indian 'commoner' with a political voice is usually Hindu, male, speaks Hindi or English, believes in the Indian way of life which itself is based upon Hindu traditions, follows cricket, watches Bollywood movies, believes that modern India is an economic giant making great strides into the league of front-ranking nations and takes pride in all these things. The tribals automatically fall into the 'alien other' group on account of at least five different reasons, as a result of which they have not found many supporters of their cause amongst either mainstream politicians or in popular culture. Indeed the most an average Indian knows about the tribal is handicrafts, notions of bows and arrows, and freakish singing and dancing.
1. Tribals look different and are racially and genetically different from 'mainstream' Indians who are already sensitized to notions of purity and contamination through sensitivity to skin colour, caste and class.
2. They live differently. They tend to live in forests or non-agricultural lands, are pre-agrarian or use a primitive technique of cultivating with axes, and are generally not pastoral. These differences set them apart from similar socio-economically disadvantaged groups (Dalits, SCs, OBCs) and their socio-political structures and voices.
3. They speak differently. Tribals speak ancient dialects of Indo-Aryan, Dravidian and Munda languages, which inhibit many from communicating with, and engaging in, mainstream Indian lifestyle, relatively isolating them from their neighbours in various states.
4. Their religious practices are different. Although many converted to Hinduism (90 percent) or Christianity (6 percent), they practice ancient animism, i.e. the belief that nature is full of good or evil spirits and is alive. This marginalises them from the safety net of religious evangelists of all hues. They are unattracted to and thus unattractive to both the right and left-wing parties. Their martial lifestyle is well-suited to align itself with the pariah Maoist parties in the country.
5. They are emotionally attached to their lands. Their animistic religion leads them to attach a spiritual life-force to hills and mountains, earth and rivers, forests and trees with which are thus accorded the same reverence, respect and love many reserve for their religious gods. They may be seen to be anti-development, for they often neither make use of the land nor allow others to make use of it. As a result, they often refuse rehabilitation plans leading many to read this as intransigence at the behest of Naxals. This completes the mutual alienation of, and from, Indians.
Waging war through the Media: Who is winning the propaganda war?
How often have you seen images of mutilated tribals, women and men raped and killed, the signs of torture, the atrocities perpetrated by Salwa Judum activists, armed militia created by the Chhatisgarh government to hunt down Naxals, but which have been turned into tribal deathtraps? I bet you have seen scores of photographs of blown-up vehicles, rail tracks, police 'martyrs', tribals dressed in camouflage fatigues and engaged in military-style training. If one photo speaks a thousand words, the war of propaganda is fairly and squarely being won by government agencies. The state feels justified in describing the 'Naxal in a manner that fills the average person with disgust. Much as the Jews were depicted as scavenging and rampaging vermin by Nazi Germany, the Indian government and media uses terms such as 'Naxal infested', or 'riddled with Naxalism', etc. The tribal is just 'collateral' that might be 'damaged' should armed battle with Naxals commence.
Those trying to explain a different point of view are either not given enough airtime, or are ridiculed by self-professed representatives of India's best interests. Much like Bush's clarion call of "If you're not with us, then you're against us," if you're not aligned with the strategy of using ultimate force of eliminate Naxals, then you are a Maoist or at best a sympathiser of violence against state, and thus a legitimate target yourself. The tribals, by being at the centre of the Naxalbari uprising nearly 50 years ago, have increasingly become synonymous with the tag of 'Naxals', much as Muslims are now globally being stigmatized and scapegoated as, and equated with, 'terrorists'. Much like how all freedom fighters and their sympathizers were labelled 'terrorists' by the ruling British in pre-lndependence India. How quickly we forget history! As the saying goes, one man's terrorist is another's freedom fighter - in the case of tribals, Naxals are one's only sympathizers and often rescuers. Naxal ideologues know this well.
-(To be concluded)

Against all odds
Dil Speak
Streets littered with Indian security forces greeted us as we set out to deliver medicines in Downtown, Srinagar. Flagged down by the forces, we explain the purpose of our visit. Surprisingly, they let us drive on. Perhaps because I am a female journalist, accompanied by a male colleague. Finding an open chemist shop in a city that has witnessed an undeclared curfew since six days was a task by itself.
After steering off the main road, we reached our destination to deliver medicines and essential food items to a family in need. After all, when the authorities call for a complete shutdown of the city, the effect it has on the population is not even the last thing taken into consideration. Who cares if people have food to eat or if people are given a chance to earn a livelihood or if students miss their exams or if the sick require medical attention?
Considering the urgency of the situation, I decided to stay put in the parked car after reaching the house while my colleague delivered the items. Then came a knock on my door. Members of the CRPF were asking questions. I told them who I was and what I was doing there, when one of them replied, "Mai dekhta hu yeh gaadi yeha se wapis kaisey jaati hai. Jhoot bol rahi hai aap ki dawai deni hai." I barked back in response, "How can you say I was lying when you didn't see what was in the plastic bag my colleague was carrying? What do you mean you won't let us go back? You expect me to sit here in the snow all night?" He retorted, "I don't care who you work for. You can't go back." I shut my car door at that point - a befitting reply, I thought.
As he continued the bickering, a sick woman who could barely walk emerged from the same building my friend had entered. She was escorted by her relatives - a man and another lady, so the attention was diverted to them now. The forces refused to let them through and told them to go back. Just then, my colleague returned and I told him we should drop this family wherever they wanted to go, as the poor woman was clearly unwell.
We drove up to the gathering about eight feet away and offered them a lift. By then, some senior officers had arrived at the scene and the family managed to convince them to let them go. We drove on and dropped them to the nearest hospital which was ten minutes away. They thanked us and left.
On the drive back to work, I wondered why and how human beings, despite facing strife and loss, continued to be inhumane, difficult, uncompromising, unjust, hard-headed and needlessly aggressive. It was obvious the sick lady was in dire need of medical attention. Why then would anybody want to stand in her way and make it worse for her? At what cost, and with what reason, purpose or justification? Had the senior Kashmiri officers not arrived at the right time, she would have had to turn back for sure. What difference would it have made to them if they let her pass unhindered? But as they say, orders are orders. And orders see no grief, pain, fairness or suffering. But against all odds, I am hoping human beings do. -(DB)