Discontent over the Jammu and Kashmir High Court’s decision last month to enforce an eight-decade-old ban on beef has widened the divide between Hindu-majority Jammu and Muslim-dominated Kashmir and reawakened memories of the Ragda movement ‒ the name given to the period of mass unrest in 2008 that left about 80 people dead.
On Monday, public transport stayed off the roads in Kashmir Valley, shops and other business establishments were closed, and government offices saw poor attendance in response to a strike called by the Kashmir Traders and Manufacturers' Association and Kashmir Economic Alliance. The shutdown was supported the separatist Hurriyat Conference and Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front.
The immediately provocation for the demonstration was the burning of a Kashmir-bound truck in Jammu’s Udhampur district on Friday. The arson attack occurred during a protest in the Hindu-majority area in response to rumours that a cow had been slaughtered in the district. The petrol-bomb attack on the vehicle, which was plying Jammu-Srinagar national highway, left its three Kashmiri occupants with significant injuries.
The police later said that the cow had died of natural causes.
Old memories
In 2008, similar attacks had been carried out in Jammu on trucks run by Kashmiris during a dispute over the transfer of forest land in Kashmir to the board of the Amarnath temple to build facilities for Hindu pilgrims. At that time, the Jammu-Srinagar highway was blocked for weeks
This week, however, the business communities of the two regions have united to condemn the attack. Addressing a press conference in Srinagar with his Kashmir counterparts on Monday, the Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industries president, Rakesh Gupta said that they have learnt their lesson after 2008 economic blockade.
“Let me be frank, we got nothing out of it,” Gupta said. “We have to work hand-in-hand to develop. There are many agents, whether government or non-governmental, they are hell-bent to divide us and we warn them it will have serious consequences. There are various unaccounted security funds. Neither politicians nor security agencies want peaceful atmosphere in J&K.”
The battle over the beef ban has been playing out intensely in the political arena. Over the weekend, the opposition National Conference and Congress accused the ruling Bharatiya Janata party of supporting the people who attacked the truck. But BJP leader and state minister Sukhnandan Kumar accused the opposition of engineering the petrol bombings in order to discredit the government.
“NC, Congress, and Panthers Party do not want our alliance with PDP [Peoples Democratic Party] to continue so, they are carrying out such communal attacks in Jammu,” Kumar said. “Our government will complete its six-year term. The opposition parties are living in a dream world and they think that attacks like Udhampur will weaken the government but that will not happen.”
The Udhampur attack came a day after BJP legislators had assaulted an independent MLA in the state assembly on Thursday after he held a party at which he served beef.
Court order
The eight-decade-old ban that forbids the sale, slaughter and possession of beef in the state was reinforced by the state High Court last month ahead of Eid ul Azha. The order sparked widespread protests. Last week, the Supreme Court suspended the ban for two months last week. It asked the High Court to form a three-judge panel to resolve the issue.
On September 17, the National Conference, Congress and independent lawmakers had come together to push for a discussion on a new bill to supersede the old one. However, the PDP-BJP coalition government killed the proposed legislation by refusing to facilitate a debate on the issue.
On the street, residents in Kashmir say that the ban has vitiated the situation in the Valley. Despite this, Javaid Ahmad, who runs a barbecue cart on the banks of the Dal Lake in Srinagar every evening, feels the ban will not be successful in Kashmir. “I have been selling beef barbecue for several years now and I won’t stop,” Ahmad said. “But since the ban has been imposed there is shortage of beef. Several sellers have stopped. If the government strictly imposes the ban there will be another Ragda.”
On Monday, public transport stayed off the roads in Kashmir Valley, shops and other business establishments were closed, and government offices saw poor attendance in response to a strike called by the Kashmir Traders and Manufacturers' Association and Kashmir Economic Alliance. The shutdown was supported the separatist Hurriyat Conference and Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front.
The immediately provocation for the demonstration was the burning of a Kashmir-bound truck in Jammu’s Udhampur district on Friday. The arson attack occurred during a protest in the Hindu-majority area in response to rumours that a cow had been slaughtered in the district. The petrol-bomb attack on the vehicle, which was plying Jammu-Srinagar national highway, left its three Kashmiri occupants with significant injuries.
The police later said that the cow had died of natural causes.
Old memories
In 2008, similar attacks had been carried out in Jammu on trucks run by Kashmiris during a dispute over the transfer of forest land in Kashmir to the board of the Amarnath temple to build facilities for Hindu pilgrims. At that time, the Jammu-Srinagar highway was blocked for weeks
This week, however, the business communities of the two regions have united to condemn the attack. Addressing a press conference in Srinagar with his Kashmir counterparts on Monday, the Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industries president, Rakesh Gupta said that they have learnt their lesson after 2008 economic blockade.
“Let me be frank, we got nothing out of it,” Gupta said. “We have to work hand-in-hand to develop. There are many agents, whether government or non-governmental, they are hell-bent to divide us and we warn them it will have serious consequences. There are various unaccounted security funds. Neither politicians nor security agencies want peaceful atmosphere in J&K.”
The battle over the beef ban has been playing out intensely in the political arena. Over the weekend, the opposition National Conference and Congress accused the ruling Bharatiya Janata party of supporting the people who attacked the truck. But BJP leader and state minister Sukhnandan Kumar accused the opposition of engineering the petrol bombings in order to discredit the government.
“NC, Congress, and Panthers Party do not want our alliance with PDP [Peoples Democratic Party] to continue so, they are carrying out such communal attacks in Jammu,” Kumar said. “Our government will complete its six-year term. The opposition parties are living in a dream world and they think that attacks like Udhampur will weaken the government but that will not happen.”
The Udhampur attack came a day after BJP legislators had assaulted an independent MLA in the state assembly on Thursday after he held a party at which he served beef.
Court order
The eight-decade-old ban that forbids the sale, slaughter and possession of beef in the state was reinforced by the state High Court last month ahead of Eid ul Azha. The order sparked widespread protests. Last week, the Supreme Court suspended the ban for two months last week. It asked the High Court to form a three-judge panel to resolve the issue.
On September 17, the National Conference, Congress and independent lawmakers had come together to push for a discussion on a new bill to supersede the old one. However, the PDP-BJP coalition government killed the proposed legislation by refusing to facilitate a debate on the issue.
On the street, residents in Kashmir say that the ban has vitiated the situation in the Valley. Despite this, Javaid Ahmad, who runs a barbecue cart on the banks of the Dal Lake in Srinagar every evening, feels the ban will not be successful in Kashmir. “I have been selling beef barbecue for several years now and I won’t stop,” Ahmad said. “But since the ban has been imposed there is shortage of beef. Several sellers have stopped. If the government strictly imposes the ban there will be another Ragda.”
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