| NEW YORK | RUPEE NEWS | August 9th, 2008 | Moin Ansari | Just when pundits and politcal pundits in Washington, London and New Delhi were claiming that the Kashmir problem had been resolved in “Incredible India”. This is one level of violence that has not been blamed on Pakistan. Kashmir has to be resolved.

Ladakh has a Muslim majority map. Kashmir valley map

This violence has been instigated by the Hindu extremists. The  Amarnath Yatra Sangharsh Samiti, a conglomerate of 30 groups including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has blocked the only route from India to Kashmir blocking the Jammu to Kashmir Highway.

The anti-land transfer movement can be seen as filling the “liberation” space that had sunk into a vacuum due to the gradual rusting of the jihadi guns. The alienation of ordinary Muslim Kashmiris from the Indian government did not subside with the decline of terrorist violence by “freedom fighters”. It was waiting for an opportune symbolic issue to explode, and the Amarnath land transfer issue emerged as the perfect cause.

It is worth recalling that symbolism playing on the religious fears of Kashmiri Muslims has a history of inciting unrest. In 1963, the disappearance of a strand of hair believed to belong to the head of the Prophet Mohammad kicked off a major storm in the Kashmir Valley. Likewise, the razing of the shrine of Kashmir’s patron saint in 1995 by the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen stirred a massive commotion among Kashmiri Muslims suspicious of the shenanigans of “Hindu India”.

SRINAGAR, Aug 8: Occupied Kashmir is facing a shortage of food, fuel and medicine as the violence-hit region is gripped by the worst Hindu-Muslim tensions in decades, locals say.

Kashmiris protesting Indian occupation in 2008

Angry protesters in Hindu-dominated Jammu have been attacking trucks ferrying food, drugs and other essential supplies to the Muslim-majority valley, seeking to impose an economic blockade and defying a curfew.

Radical Hindu groups have told Muslims living in Jammu to leave and the latter’s houses have been set ablaze.

Kashmiris protesting Indian occupation in 2008

Meanwhile in Srinagar, urban hub of a 19-year movement against New Delhi’s occupation of the disputed region, brick-hurling Muslims have been staging running battles with police and the city has been paralysed by strikes.

Some residents say they have never seen the region so divided.

Insurrection in Kashmir against Indian occupation

“Even at the insurgency’s peak we never faced such a grim situation. These religious riots are the worst I remember,” said shopkeeper Manzoor Ahmed, 50.

“They’ve driven a wedge between Hindus and Muslims who were living as brothers.”

Kashmir protests world wide En Francias

The latest turmoil in which three Hindus have been killed in the past week erupted after authorities reneged on a plan to transfer land to a Hindu trust.

The government backed down on the plan after days of protests by Muslims who charged it was the start of “Hindu colonisation” left six dead and hundreds injured. The Congress-led regional regime said it devised the plan to transfer land to the shrine trust as pilgrim numbers were rising and more shelters were needed.

Kashmiri woman fighting against Indian occupation

The state government collapsed over the issue last month after its main ally withdrew support and the scenic region has been put under federal rule.

The row has given new life to the freedom struggle and stoked divisions in Kashmir which was enjoying a lull in violence against the backdrop of India’s peace process with Pakistan to settle the region’s future.

“This is the most polarised situation I’ve seen in a generation,” said Omar Abdullah, head of the Kashmir-based National Conference Party.

Kashmiri women asking for freedom from Indian ocucpation

India’s Premier Manmohan Singh held an all-party meeting late Wednesday in a bid to defuse the tensions but there was no concrete progress.

Northern Areas are not part of Kashmir and Azad Kashmir

Hospitals in the Kashmir valley say they are running out of medicine due to the blockade and fear a rise in deaths of children and elderly. Kashmiri farmers are complaining their produce is rotting as they cannot transport it to New Delhi and beyond. Despite army efforts to clear the road, hundreds of trucks are stranded on the 300km highway to the valley that is the only surface link between occupied Kashmir and the rest of India, traders say.-AFP