With No Land to Live, Where Will These Gujjar Families in Jammu Go?

Fear underlines the lives of the nomadic community – Gujjars or Bakarwals - in Jammu and Kashmir. For centuries, they have moved around the mountains with their herds, pitching camps on land for a few months and moving on. But this nomadic life is now under threat, especially in the Jammu region of the state.

In the latest of such incidents, at least 33 Gujjar families of Jammu region have been asked to vacate state land on the ground that they had illegally encroached upon it. The State government served notice to these families living in Thathar village in North Jammu. The notice reads: “Whereas, it has been sought to my notice that you have illegally encroached upon the government land, by way of raising structures on the state land under Khasra No. 458, 459, and 482 of village Thathar, Tehsil Jammu North District Jammu.” The notice has been issued by the Tehsildar of the region as per the local daily, Kashmir Monitor.

Calling the families “illegal encroachers”, they have been asked to explain why they should not be evicted from the land. “You are hereby called upon to show cause as to why you should not be ejected from the state land and structures raised illegally in the shapes of houses, plinth etc on the state land be demolished. Your reply should reach the undersigned by or before July 30, 2018, failing which it shall be presumed that you have nothing to say in your defense and action under law shall be initiated,” the notice reads.

Talking about the notice, Javaid Rahi, President of Tribal Association told Newsclick, “There is immense pressure on nomadic families who live on state land or say, forest land. 33 families asked to vacate the land is just one case, there are several other families who face threat of eviction because there is no law. There are no laws for tribals. There is no Forest Rights Act. There is no option other than state land. There is a law for rehabilitation, state can rehabilitate them to alternate location but even that is not taken seriously. If they have no land where will they go? This is the question I want to ask.”

Also Watch: Kathua Narrative: The Reality of Being Gujjar-Bakarwal

According to the 2011 census, Gujjar and Bakarwals constitute about 11.5 per cent of Jammu and Kashmir’s total population. This is not the first time, the community of Gujjar and Bakarwals living in the state are facing an existential crisis. “We are fighting for the Forest Rights Act to be extended to the state of Jammu and Kashmir. They are not extending it because of Article 370. We are planning to approach the Governor regarding this and we are hopeful that he will listen to us and some action will be taken,” said Rahi.

Recently, the rape and murder of an 8-year-old Bakarwal girl highlighted the increasing intolerance towards the community. As per Rahi, besides growing intolerance, his community is also facing social exclusion. “There have been immense pressure and growing intolerance towards the nomadic community because of which they are facing social exclusion in Jammu and in Kashmir as well. We have been demanding the extension of Forest Right Act, 2006 to J&K, so that people of our community can also enjoy rights and live a life of dignity. By implementing Forest Right Act, most of our problems will be redressed,” said Rahi.

Newsclick had recently visited Doda district of Jammu region to understand the problems faced by the nomadic tribes. Members of the community revealed cases of continuous harassment fearing which they had left the area and moved to other places.

“In Jammu, we have to prove our nationality on a daily basis just because we are Muslims although our community had helped the Army during wars. We are often reminded of the 1947 massacre. Why is it so? We often fear for lives,” Ghulam Ahmed had told Newsclick earlier.

“Tribal community complaining of the cases of harassment is nothing new. Time and again, they are asked to vacate state land or forest land. Recently, when PDP was in power, former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti had issued directions to not dislocate Gujjar and Bakarwals until there is a policy into force. This development had come as a major relief for our community but unfortunately, this was given a communal undertone,” said Rahi.

Meanwhile, as per Kashmir Monitor, Zahid Parwaz Chowdary, President of Gujjar Bakarwal Youth Conference, has said that the call for vacating the land is a deliberate attempt by the state to target Gujjars. “We were expecting some sort of relaxation during Governor’s Rule, but things have worsened. Instead of helping us, they are hell-bent on dislocating us from our respective places,” Parwaz told Kashmir Monitor.

Newsclick tried to contact the Tehsildar of the village as well as Zahid Parwaz for comments but was unable to get through.