Tag: Dogra rulers

Throughout History, Demographic Changes to J&K Have Only Deepened Conflict

The domicile law denies peoples’ efforts for rights, recognition and justice its true place in history. It could possibly end up alienating residents further.

On August 5, 2019, the Narendra Modi government revoked Jammu and Kashmir’s special status and statehood, dividing it into two union territories. In this series – ‘One Year in a Disappeared State’ – The Wire will look at what the last year has meant and what the region looks like now.

The story of historical injustices in Jammu and Kashmir is a never-ending saga.

The most recent chapter to be appended to the series is the new J&K grant of domicile certificate procedure rules, 2020. Proposed amidst lockdown, the new domicile rules are another form of the NRC exercise for the citizens of Jammu and Kashmir who hold the permanent resident certificate (PRC).

All mainstream political parties in Jammu and Kashmir including Apni Party, which is often perceived to be party representing the interests of the central government in Kashmir, has voiced opposition to the domicile law. Meanwhile, recent reports on the issuance of domicile certificates to over 25,000 individuals (non-locals) that would allow the entry of nonresidents – as per Article 35A – into the state have further precipitated chaos in the region.

Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty

The new law replaces ‘permanent resident’ (based on the 1927 notification) with ‘domicile,’ extending eligibility to persons who have resided in Jammu and Kashmir for 15 years, or have studied for a period of seven years, or appeared in Class 10 or Class 12 exams, and refugees from West Pakistan – mostly Hindus who have migrated from Pakistan – registered as migrants by the Relief and Rehabilitation (R&R) Commission-Migrants. The law also includes punitive action in case the domicile certificate is not issued within a period of seven working days – a recovery of Rs 50,000 from the salary of the competent authority (tehsildar or R & R Commission-Migrants).

There is a famous Machiavellian quote: “Whoever wishes to foresee the future, must consult the past.” While changes are being made to erase Kashmir’s history, it is important to learn from the history of people’s struggle for recognition of their very existential citizenry rights in the region.

In the year 1886, Dogra ruler Maharaja Gulab Singh ‘bought’ the state for Rs 75 lakh from the British under the Treaty of Amritsar. The Dogra Ruler was a monarch of Jammu, he owned the proprietorship hereditarily. Once Kashmir was purchased by the Dogra monarchy, the proprietorship rights belonged to a Darbar consisting of closed relatives, courtiers, and top officials (mostly Kashmir Pandits).

Also read: J&K’s New Domicile Order: Disenfranchising Kashmiris, One Step at a Time

After a long period where the people struggled for full proprietary rights to Kashmir peasants, the Big Landed Estates Abolition Act passed in the year 1950 finally abolished the large chunk of jagirdars, including the Kashmiri Pandits who were the revenue officials in the darbar of Dogra monarchy. It transferred a large amount of land to the tillers. Later, the Agrarian Reforms Act, 1972 (later modified in the year 1976) provided proper ownership rights to the cultivators and abolished the system of absentee landlordism.

The years of a spate of people’s struggles for recognition of their rights also involved the demand for justice and recognition of the Muslim community in government jobs and education. They were finally recognised as ‘permanent residents’ under the notifications of 1927 and 1932. The rights and privileges (state government jobs, scholarships in education, and land ownership) under the two notifications were later conferred under the Delhi Agreement of 1952 (signed between Jawaharlal Nehru and Sheikh Abdullah). This, later provided a basis for provisions relating to the ‘permanent resident’ in the Jammu Kashmir constitution of 1956.

The definition of ‘permanent resident’ could be incorporated after a long process of efforts and struggles by the people of Jammu and Kashmir. The fresh law denies the historical significance of peoples’ efforts for rights, recognition and justice and could possibly end up alienating the residents further.

The process of bringing the new domicile policy has been shrouded in secrecy without involving consultations with relevant stakeholders. There is angst among the critics and residents, who have compared the new domicile law with settlements in the Israeli occupied West Bank.

A Kashmiri woman walks past an Indian security personnel as he stands guard in front of closed shops during restrictions, after scrapping of the special constitutional status for Kashmir by the Indian government, in Srinagar, August 22, 2019. Picture taken August 22, 2019. Photo: Reuters/Adnan Abidi/File Photo

As per a recent report by the Indo Pak Conflict Monitor, the reading down of Article 370 has emboldened the longstanding conflict in the region and the situation of Kashmir’s security has gradually worsened, raising a question mark over the Union government’s non-consultative and hard-line Kashmir policy.

Also Read: J&K Govt’s New Domicile Certificate Rules a Move to Undercut Resistance from Kashmiri Officials?

The new domicile law is turning out to be another reason for conflict in the region. At present, there are over seven lakh migrant labourers residing in the Valley. There are an estimated six lakh security personnel deployed in Kashmir. As per recent reports, the government is opening up a 6,000-acre land bank to woo major corporate houses and traders to invest in the region.

The fresh law manifolds the fears of people of Jammu and Kashmir. They are already very small in number – around 12.5 million. It provides ample scope to ‘outsiders’ in terms of resources and jobs in the region.

There is a famous couplet by Muzaffar Razmi:

Wo daur bhi dekhe hain tareekh ki ankhon ne,
lamhon ne khata ki thi sadiyon ne saza payi.“

‘History is witness to such times too
When moments made a mistake and centuries had to pay for it.’

In the year 1947, the region of Jammu was the first region to witness the most horrific episodes of violence during Partition, in which thousands of Muslims were massacred and others sent to West Punjab (later to form a part of Pakistan) by mobs and paramilitaries led by the army of then Dogra ruler Hari Singh. As per the August 10, 1948 report published in The Times, London, 2,37,000 Muslims were systematically exterminated – unless they escaped to Pakistan along the border – by the forces of the Dogra state.

The historians claim that the killings were carried out to change the demography in the region of Jammu as the Maharaja preferred to remain independent of the new dominions. This had been disputed by some of the Muslim groups in Jammu region. After the horrific months, the demography of Jammu was completely changed – Muslims who constituted more than 60% of the population of Jammu region, were reduced to a minority.

The violence in Jammu region became one of the major reasons of conflicts in Kashmir – the valley that had remained peaceful during the time of partition. An effort to change the demography of a region by the then Maharaja Hari Singh ignited violence that became a perpetual source of conflict in the region, even when the documents related to the Jammu massacre were mostly destroyed by the then Dogra monarch. Demographic changes have often pushed regions and their people to the brink.

When seen together, another question rises from the history of land conflict in the region of Jammu and Kashmir and the new domicile law: Whether the provision for mostly Hindu west Pakistan refugees in the new domicile law is indeed a humanitarian gesture or another partial step to appease a specific section of religion or community.

The new domicile law is another project aimed at creating homogeneity in the region, turning its residents (primarily Muslims), into a minority. It will further deepen the conflicts with demographic flooding of people based on scant documentary proof. The taking over of jobs, opportunities and resources from Kashmiris, quashing the legal rights and privileges after years of people’s struggle for justice, rights and recognition in the region, is certain to make things worse.

Without any wider consultation and proposed during the COVID-19 pandemic when the country is under lockdown, the domicile law has proven to be yet another blow to Indian democracy.

Also read: J&K: IAS Officer Becomes First Bureaucrat to Be Granted Domicile Rights

A Kashmiri poet Amir Wani wrote:

“Main khamosh hoon, bezubaan nahi
Laraz uthoge tum, jab lab khulenge mere.”

One who remains quiet carries a thunderstorm within.

Shweta Tripathi has been working with the social sector for over 16 years.

The High Court is Right in Suggesting J&K’s Annual Darbar Move Ritual Be Stopped

The J&K high court recently prodded decision-makers to review the 148-year-old practice keeping in mind the financial implications incurred by the “hopelessly fiscally deprived Union Territory”.

The Jammu and Kashmir high court has rung its bell in its recently delivered judgement on the legacy of the Darbar Move, a 148-year-old tradition in which the capital of the region is relocated twice a year — from Srinagar to Jammu during winter months and vice versa in the summer.

The honourable high court had recently taken suo moto cognisance of the order issued by the Union territory’s administration which had delayed the darbar switch from Jammu to Srinagar in view of the coronavirus pandemic. The high court after considering the material placed before it pronounced:

“Our judicial conscience compels us to “ring the bell” else we would fail in discharging our judicial duty or to perform our Constitutional function as demanded in the interest of the Nation and the people of Jammu and Kashmir especially its common woman and man, the poor and the weak. We hasten to add that conscious of the limitations of our jurisdiction, we shall confine ourselves to “ringing the bell” without anything more”.

The bench headed by Chief Justice Gita Mittal observed that there were no grounds or reasons forthcoming in terms of administrative efficiency, legal justification or constitutional norms for effecting the darbar move. The division bench, citing limitations on the extent of its jurisdiction, deferred the task of reviewing this practice to the best wisdom of those upon whom the constitution of India bestows this solemn duty, i.e. the executive.

The high court, however, went on to prod the decision-makers, including the Centre, and directed them to look into the necessity of continuing with the 148-year-old biannual darbar move, keeping in mind the financial implications of over Rs 200 crore per annum that is incurred by the “hopelessly fiscally deprived Union Territory”.

Also read: In Supreme Court, Centre and J&K Admin Oppose Pleas for 4G Network in Kashmir

The legacy of the darbar move

Historical references indicate that the practice of switching darbars or headquarters was prevalent much before, in 1325-1350, when Mohammad bin Tuglaq, on an experimental basis, kept shuttling his capital between Delhi and Daulatabad. The sultan adopted this new methodology keeping in view the strategic value and safety it brought along.

A similar practice was adopted by the Mughals under the reign of Emperor Jahangir when he temporarily kept on shifting his capital to Kashmir during the harsh summer months in mainland India. The British also employed a similar practice of shifting capitals to the hills of Simla during the summer and preferred to work from Calcutta during the winter.

In the erstwhile princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, the practice was begun by Dogra king Maharaja Ranbir Singh in 1872. It was during his reign that the construction of the Banihal cart road was also started, which facilitated his move from Jammu to Srinagar. Some historians assert that it on the ‘advice’ of the British regent – to address the grievances of Kashmiris, who felt neglected at the hands of the Dogra rulers – that this practice was adopted while many also claim that it was out of the maharaja’s own volition to have the best of both the worlds: respite from the scorching heat of Jammu during the summer and the chill of Kashmir during the winter. This method of governance culminated in a convention which has stood the test of time till now.

Implications of undertaking this exercise

The enormity of this exercise can be gauged by the fact that when the capital shifts, so does the civil secretariat, important subsidiary offices, files and government documents, and the assembly. Official documents and other equipment are packed in hundreds of bundles, cartons and metallic trunks, and loaded onto more than 250 trucks which ferry them the 300 km distance between Jammu and Srinagar, and vice versa.

The general administration department in its affidavit to the high court stated that about 9,695 government officials were involved in this biannual exercise in November 2019, while it stood at a figure of 10,112 in April 2019. On each move, an allowance equivalent to Rs 25,000 (an amount of Rs. 50,000 per annum) is paid to employees involved in the shift.

Also read: J&K High Court Says it Is Not the ‘Proper Forum’ to Scrutinise PSA Detentions

Additionally, a temporary move allowance of Rs 2,000 per month is also paid to each moving employee, bringing the annual expenditure to Rs 75,000 per employee. The managing director J&K SRTC informed the court that in April 2019, 152 trucks and 56 buses were provided by the government company for transportation of records. IGP (Security), J&K, in his report to the court, stated that surveillance and security for the darbar move are given from the point of loading of the records, en-route to the National Highway up-to destination by deploying Police/CAPF personnel for road opening and meticulous anti-sabotage checks to ensure proper area domination for the secure movement of the darbar move convoy.

It was also submitted that 1081 personnel from the Jammu and Kashmir armed police, J&K security, police in Kashmir and Jammu zones were engaged in providing security for the move in October 2019. Additionally, 15 companies of the Central Armed Police Force provided security to this exercise in October 2019.

Similarly, J&K’s estate’s department, which is responsible for providing accommodation to civil secretariat employees after a darbar move, in its affidavit disclosed that Rs 127 crore was spent for providing accommodation to such employees during 2018-19 and 2019-20. All this provides an insight into the enormity of this exercise and its bearing on the public exchequer.

Previous attempt to reform

In 1987, when the then prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi, got stuck in Kashmir due to bad weather on a visit to J&K, the headquarters and administrative seat of governance was in Jammu. As this seemed ironic and strange, the PM asked the then chief minister Farooq Abdullah to review this age-old practice keeping in mind the changing times.

Abdullah then constituted a committee with then finance commissioner Sheikh Ghulam Rasool as its chairman and Shafi Pandit and Sushma Chaudhary as its members to suggest measures to reform this practice. The committee submitted its report titled Darbar Move: The Reality which recommended certain measures to revamp this age-old practice. When its recommendations were taken up for implementation, some vested interests inflamed passions under the banner of regional discrimination, because of which the report had to be shelved.

An informal effort in this direction was also made when Omar Abdullah was chief minister but again such attempts were looked at with suspicion across the state. The stranglehold this issue has on the false prestige and psyche of the people of the two provinces has been the biggest impediment for the requisite political will to bid this practice its long-overdue farewell.

Also read: Kashmir: In Labour, Woman From ‘Red Zone’ Turned Away From 4 Hospitals

Call for reforms

Way back in 1872, the practice of the darbar move might have seemed pragmatic and rational, keeping in view the aspirations and the governance needs of the provinces of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. The rugged and mountainous topography further complicated by the geographical disconnect owing to lack of road and air travel facilities prevalent in those times seem to have been eased to a great extent in the present era.

It also needs to be appreciated that since the state was dismembered, its size has shrunk and it has fallen to 18th rank in terms of its area in the Indian Union and bigger states like Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh have managed governance efficiently with a single, permanently stationed capital. With the advancement of technology, distances have dwindled and the outdated method of ferrying truckloads of records involving large scale money and manpower appears retrograde.

The digitisation of all records has already been undertaken to a great extent and it is expected that by 2021 this exercise would be complete, thereby making the practice of ferrying records redundant. The high court has been gracious in suggesting a number of viable alternatives that could be adopted.

But for their implementation, the onus to a great extent lies on the people of Jammu and Kashmir. It won’t be too hypothetical to imagine the savings that the rationalising of the practice could bring along in terms of  money, resources and time. All these could be deployed in tacking much more pivotal issues of unemployment, healthcare and better infrastructure.

The people of J&K need to acknowledge the fact that attaching ego and emotion to issues of governance has bled us profusely over the years and the time has come be rational.

B.M. Amin is a lawyer.