Former Union Minister Yashwant Sinha led Concerned Citizens Group (CCG) while releasing its much-awaited report on their successive Kashmir visit including the one post roll back of Article 370, stated that Kashmiris seem to be working within an ideological frame and they fear that there may be a demographic change through settlement of outsiders.
According to the wire service—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), the report released by the CCG reads that the Kashmiris seemed to be working within an “ideological frame.” “They (Kashmiris) believe that the Indian government wants to marginalise them if not annihilate them. This fear is expressed most vividly as fear of demographic change by creating new settlements for outsiders.There is also fear of the National Register of Citizens and how it could be used to legitimise settlers,” the report reads. “Three emerging strategies of the government are being watched with a lot of apprehension by Kashmiris: reconstruction and renovation of temples, setting up of a Medical City, and planning of settlements for Kashmiri Pandits and ex-servicemen.”It said that the Central government has announced a plan of renovating and reconstructing 50,000 temples in the Kashmir Valley. “However, Kashmiri Pandit activists in the Valley point out that in the entire Valley there are only 1842 temples, springs, caves and shrines that are considered holy and of these only about 1100 are big or small temples,” the report said. “Who is giving them this number of 50,000 when even after including the Jammu region the number of temples is not more than 4,000?”Kashmiris believe that the number may have come from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the mother organisation of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Delhi. A survey of broken or run-down temples is apparently being conducted by the Army. “This is a programme of the RSS. These temples will be their base. They could even be located near army camps.
They are saying that a priest and a caretaker will be appointed for each temple and even their salaries are being specified. That will mean one lakh RSS-men in these temples which we expect will be built by the Army. If they come with their families, the number could go up to three to four lakh outsiders,” observed a Kashmiri civil rights activist, as per the report. This plan of demographic transition, he believed, could be used in presently Muslim-dominated Poonch and Rajauri in Jammu as well. “The second prong of the government’s strategy for bringing about demographic change, Kashmiris believe, would be so-called development projects like setting up a Medical City or Medicity with hospitals, medical and nursing colleges, superspeciality treatment centres, and residential accommodation for doctors, nurses and other paramedics.They believe that it might be difficult for local residents to oppose such ventures, which will necessarily bring outsiders to reside in the Valley, because they will be packaged as development projects,” the report reads. “The third strategy, the locals believe the government may use for demographic change is to create settlement enclaves for Kashmiri Pandits and ex-servicemen (Sainik Colonies).These plans have been on the drawing board for long but now apparently the process of land acquisition for such settlements has begun. “These will be militarised ghettos.” On the internet ban, the report said that it continued since till the time of writing the report. “The ban has affected students, job seekers, entrepreneurs, businesses and ordinary citizens alike. “Why was internet not blocked when the terrorist attack of 26/11 took place in Mumbai? Why was it imposed on Kashmiris because of the actions of the Modi government?”It said that there are estimated to be 14 lakh children who were learning from online services. Those wishing to appear for NEET (National Eligibility cum Entrance Test) or other competitive examinations for higher education are unable to do so because of lack of internet.
On Kashmir’s economy, the report said that it has plunged into an abyss with the government advisory issued in early August asking tourists and the non-Kashmiri labour force to leave. “Even non-Kashmiri students studying in the Valley were advised to go home. In one move the entire economy was shattered across sectors ranging from tourism, handicrafts, Information Technology, industry and horticulture at a time which is normally their peak time,” the report said.“It hurt the economy grievously and that process has not stopped,” claimed a representative of the Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He put the total estimate of loss to Rs.12,000 crore and mounting. However, he also agreed that this figure may not be a correct estimate as lack of communication with different districts had made assessment of the overall loss difficult.”The report as per KNO, said that agricultural sector was one of the worst affected after August 5. The first sector to suffer was sheep-breeding. August 12 was the festival of Eid and this time because of the blockade imposed on the population, Eid was not celebrated publicly and not even 30 per cent of the sheep were sold (they are sacrificed on Eid).The report was prepared by Yashwant Sinha, former Finance and Foreign Minister of India Wajahat Habibullah, former National Chief Information Commissioner Air Vice-Marshall (R) Kapil Kak Bharat Bhushan, Senior Journalist. (KNO)