BLUNT BUTCHER
JAMMU: Overt and covert attempts are apace to give rabid communal colour to widespread forest encroachments, especially in the outskirts of the capital city of Jammu. The so-called mainstream leaders, some of them main beneficiaries of the forest ‘loot’, are bizarrely ganging up with chronic secessionists and anti-national elements to thwart the efforts of liberating the State land from the clutches of unauthorised and illegal occupants, which is why terrorist turned separatist Yasin Malik has issued a threat to hold a day-long hunger strike against “evicting Muslims from their lands in Jammu”. This is not only a brazen attempt of providing shield to land grabbers but to divide the administration on communal lines also. Ironically, the man behind all this sinister machination is none else than a BJP minister, who is in possession of illegal forest land at a prime Jammu outskirt. Upon this stands the minister’s (an official turned turncoat politician who changed loyalties from Congress to National Conference and then to BJP) huge educational-cum-commercial complex. The alarming proportion of the administrative complicity lies in the fact that a portion of the complex stands rented out to Jammu and Kashmir Bank Limited. Nobody in the bank has bothered to verify the title of the land and authenticate the ownership rights, which is pre-requisite for such a prestigious public sector bank before entering into an agreement to occupy premises. The minister is not only fleecing the government, creating communal discord but also exploiting Gujjar community. If he is so keen about the welfare of this community, why doesn’t he rehabilitate some of the poor Gujjar families in this complex? By pushing forward the ‘Gujjar cause’ the BJP minister is actually shielding all the offenders who have entered into illegal deals and constructed palatial houses on the State land, irrespective of their religious affiliations. All communities stand benefitted from the forest land loot. Many of them belong to the Valley, who have raised winter lodges for themselves in cozy environs of Jammu.
For a split second, the Kashmiri votaries of the so-called Gujjar cause and the tainted BJP minister did not counter any of the separatist or mainstream leader from the Valley who raised hue and cry over ‘creating ghettos or Palestine type settlements’ for the native Kashmiri Hindus. Chief Minister Mufti Sayeed is on record having used the term ‘Israeli type settlements’ and his bête noire twitter-boy Omar Abdullah ‘ghettos’ for the composite townships. They can’t differentiate between acquiring and grabbing the land. The forest land in Jammu has given birth to a vicious circle which is fast spreading its tentacles in the entire region, the capital city peripheries in particular. The ‘most hospitable people of Jammu’, as some mainstream leaders keep parroting, have never raised the bogey of ‘demographic change’, unlike Yasin Malik and his ilk, who smell conspiracy in every move to harmonise Kashmiri society.
Freeing the forest land from the shackles of big sharks is a test case for Forest Minister Bali Bhagat. He has to begin the ‘charity from home’. He has a biggest challenge of getting the posh 10 to 15 Kanlas of land at Nawabad in Sunjwan, under Khasra number Min-56, vacated by removing all the encroachments, no matter the owner belongs to his own party. He is on record having stated at a press conference in Jammu that ‘whosoever will be found guilty of encroaching the forest land’ will have to face the law. Action will speak louder than the words he is making use of each day, as 3,200 Kanals of land is under the unauthorised occupation of grabbers at Sunjwan, Bathindi, Raika and Sidhra areas of the Jammu District. An unspecified land across the region or in the State has been grabbed under the pretext of ‘settlement of Gujjars’. A fact finding mission alone will unveil as to how much of this land has been alienated and who are the beneficiaries? Normally these panels end up in Guptam, Nishastam and Barkhastam but Jammu cannot afford this anymore. Equally important will be the fact as to which dispensation facilitated rehabilitation at the State land by providing utility services like power, drinking water and road connectivity.
Bali Bhagat’s four-member panel to identify encroached forest land in a few areas near the capital city will not be enough. It has to be tackled on wider range to dispel apprehensions among Jammuites. The hard pitch being raised by Kashmiri secessionists can’t be ignored. What are their intentions? This needs answers and the Forest Minister may have to take the call, sooner the better-for overall interest of Jammu.
