Jammu and particularly Chenab valley had so far displayed its secular, liberal character even when the Raghunath Mandir was attacked but repeated terror strikes like the recent one in Rajouri have triggered a sense of insecurity among Hindus, top government sources told CNN-News18. Though the tension is not palpable, it’s surely in the air and danger is lurking, said a senior serving police officer.
This is a step towards creating a communal divide, said former DGP SP Vaid. “After the killing of Hindus, God forbid, if something happened in a mosque in Rajouri, things will turn bad. The incident, I think, had been done with that intention,” he said.
Vaid said that terror groups did not find youth to radicalise in Chenab, but now that will happen.
After Independence, there has not been a single Hindu-Muslim clash in Jammu city, where Hindus in the old city would offer water to people taking part in Muharram processions. Before Independence, Muslims formed a substantial part of the population in Jammu city.
There are communal clashes in Kishtwar and other areas of Chenab. Now protests against killings of Hindus are an indication that a communal divide can take place, a Jammu university professor said.
“Many things including elections are to happen someday. The ruling party has to grab power. Communal tensions/ polarisation will help them…I do not think of any communal divide. Times have changed and they won’t be allowed,” he said.
A senior retired Army General said that in May last year, the union government had assured the people of Chenab valley that they will re-establish village defence committees (VDCs) in Jammu to fight terrorism, provide high-tech weapons and ensure equal salaries to its members.
The VDCs were credited with fighting terrorists and stopping the migration of locals from peripheries in the wake of several killings by terrorists, especially in 2001.
Areas like Doda, Kishtwar, Ramban and parts of the Pir Panjal range like Rajouri and Poonch, and Chenab valley have a mixed population and are seen as communally sensitive areas. Any incident can have a ripple effect in surrounding parts, the officer said.
“At present, some youngsters are reportedly missing from Chenab valley. It’s yet to be ascertained whether they have picked up arms or not but it has been speculated that they have,” he said.
In the 1990s, the senior officer said, when terrorism and violence were at their peak in Jammu and Kashmir, the VDGs helped people in remote areas and defended their areas from terror attacks. “Observing the prevailing situation, it is important to reactivate the VDCs again as terrorists might try to trigger more violence in the coming summer,” he said.
The VDCs, he said, will enhance confidence among members of different communities and also help stop migration. “Police and other security forces’ presence in upper reaches of districts of Chenab valley is very thin,” he said. “If an incident takes place, it takes hours for a person in uniform to reach the incident site. These groups will play a crucial role in such areas.”
In the past, Muslims and Hindus both participated in VDCs, but this time it has taken up a new narrative which is one-sided in nature. It has now been turned into a Hindu vs Muslim issue now, said the officer.
A professor who teaches history at Jammu university said that the decision to form powerful village defence committees is good, but precautions have to be taken. He said that one needs to understand that Kishtwar, Doda, Rajouri, Poonch and Ramban are communally sensitive areas and such steps at times might further deepen the divide between Hindus and Muslims.
“Residents of Chenab valley have seen a major transformation in VDCs over time,” he said, adding that initially, there were few Muslims who participated in the VDCs, but now they are dominated by Hindus. “People might see it as a machination of RSS and BJP to create strife in the region. Even if they want to create VDCs, they should make sure that equal Hindus and Muslims volunteer.”
A report released to the press by the Concerned Citizen Group (CCG) headed by former union minister Yashwant Sinha made some serious observations about the Jammu region. The report warned of growing communal polarisation in the region and stated, “There was a perception among the local citizens that in the coming days the situation in Jammu was likely to become difficult to handle. The increasing communal divide could make the situation in Jammu quite provocative.” Whatever may be the standing of the Sinha panel, the observations of the panel are alarming and their neglect will be at the peril of losing the unique identity of the Jammu region as a multi-ethnic, multi-linguistic, multi-faith and multi-religious heterogeneous mass of unity in diversity.
According to the 2011 census, the total population of the Jammu division is 5,350,811. Ethnically, Jammu is largely Dogra, a group which constitutes approximately 67% of the population. Jammu’s people are closely related to Punjabis. The Jammu division overall has a Hindu-majority population – 62% of Jammu’s population practises Hinduism, 36% practise Islam, and most of the remainder are Sikhs. The Hindus form a majority in the Jammu, Kathua, Samba, and Udhampur districts, and roughly half the population in the Reasi district.
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