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| APHC plans to internationalize issue of land transfer to Shrine Board | | | Gareeb Dass
Jammu | June 22
As a seasoned constitutional expert and a lawyer the Deputy Chief Minister,Muzaffar Hussain Baig,has said that over 380 hectares of forest land at Baltal were diverted and not transferred to the Amarnath Shrine Board on a temporary basis for construction of prefabricated huts and toilets for the pilgrims.He has emphasised that the land has been diverted and not transferred.If the Oxford dictionary is to be relied on one does not divert land.One diverts funds.One can divert the direction or course.When a road is to be constructed you divert the traffic on an alternate route.You can divert one's attention or you can amuse or entertain a person.Transfer means passing property,right or responsibility to another person. This way Mr Baig is possibly trying to make up for the mistake he and his ministerial colleagues belonging to the PDP commited by approving the plan of "diverting" forest land to the Shrine Board for setting p prefabricated tents and toilets,which the Board had been doing for the last three years.When the PDP headed the coalition Government it neither raked up the issue of threat to the eco system in the mountain belt leading to the holy cave nor it questioned the wisdom of allowing several lakh pilgrims to visit the cave which could lead to pollution or result in the change in the democratic character of the valley.If the then Chief Minister,Mufti Mohd.objected to anything it pertained to the duration of the yatra.He is in favour of a 15-day yatra duration or at the most one-month period.
The Mufti then had not raised the issue of inconvenience to A class tourists visiting Kashmir who may not find suitable accommodation at Pahalgam because the "poor and beggar pilgrims" would occupy rooms in hotels.He and his party leaders have started raising so much hue and cry over the yatra that the two factions of the Hurriyat conference decided to forge unity.The moderate separatists,led by Molvi Umar Farooq,and the hardliners,headed by Syed Ali Shah Geelani agreed to come on one platform for campaigning against the "diversion" or transfer of forest land to the Shrine Board.If the two sworn political rivals have decided to unite,even if it is for a special cause or for a temporary period.it is not as a result of the Governor,S.K.Sinha's plan of extending the yatra period to two months or to his plan on construction of prefabricated tents and toilets on the forest land that had been "diverted" to the Board for the purpose but the PDP leadership that introduced political element to the yatra.
It was after sustained deliberations that the PDP leadership decided to give a new twist to the yatra affair.The breast beating on the part of the PDP leadership was so much pronounced that two remarks of Dr Arun Kumar,Principal secretary of the Governor,enraged the Deputy Chief Minister to such an extent that he dubbed Kumar as a "disgrace to the bureaucracy,the state,Amarnath Shrine Board as well as his own parents."Dr Arun Kumar,during a press conference,had,in reply to a question posed a counter question.He asked whether the two lakh pilgrims,during two months yatra,can cause more pollution than the 50 lakh people who are inhabitants of the valley?His another counter question enflamed the minds of the PDP leaders and those belonging to the separatist camp.He had posed a question while replying on the pollution threat saying "Is it that Hindu pollution is more dangerous than the muslim pollution"?Possibly in a bid to secure peoples' support for the PDP Baig went to the extent of attacking even the Governor.He said "if the Governor is at his (Arun Kumar) back it is a shame."He did not stop there and his diatribe against the Governor and Arun Kumar continued.He said that the entire issue was concerning all political parties and not Hurriyat and militants alone as "by accepting accession we have not mortgaged our honour and dignity."
The motive behind all this fuss is well manifest.And no wonder that chairman All Party Hurriyat Conference,Molvi Umar Farooq,has announced that during his visit to Pakistan he and his party colleagues will apprise Islamabad of the current situation in Kashmir because he finds in the yatra bandobast nothing but cultural aggression.He would also discuss with Pakistani leaders the impact of cultural aggression having been unleashed on Kashmir in the name of sufism and Kshmiriyat.He would also discuss in Islamabad the transfer of forest land to the Shrine Board.One should not blame him for his plan because he himself has stated"we have geographical,cultural,emotional and religious relation with Pakistan which has been espousing the Kashmir case."This way the APHC leadership plans to rake up the forest land transfer to the Board in the Pakistani fora.No wonder it may try to seek UN intervention in this matter. |
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