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Jammu begins to choke Kashmir - Shortage of essentials in valley as confrontation escalates
Srinagar, Aug. 6: Haji Ali Mohammad Bhat has been driving up and down Srinagars troubled lanes for hours in search of his daily dose of insulin.I have gone to several localities in Srinagar in search of insulin but I am not able to get a vial. Many medical shops are closed because of a strike, but the few that are open say they have run out of stock, Bhat, a diabetic and an owner of J-K Radios, a shop in Lal Chowk, said. A two-week-long economic blockade of Kashmir, enforced by the Amarnath Sangharsh Samiti in Jammu by jamming the life-supporting Pathankot-Srinagar national highway, has begun to bite the common people. The Jammu blockade, allegedly supported by the BJP, and a gathering Kashmir backlash are also threatening to slice the tenuous umbilical cord that has held the state together for so long. In an intra-state feud rarely seen before in India, one part of Jammu and Kashmir is pitted against the other in a confrontation that can assume communal overtones. The army opened fire and killed a man on the highway today when the protesters demanding land for the Amarnath board stopped a military convoy escorting supplies to Kashmir. The 400km Pathankot-Srinagar highway is the only dependable road that connects Kashmir with the rest of the country. The Valley is dependent on this road not only for its supplies but also for export of fruit and handicrafts. The other route via Manali and Leh is longer and not all-weather. The Centre is thinking of airlifting supplies to the Valley if an all-party initiative spearheaded by the Prime Minister fails to make headway soon. Air Chief Marshal Fali Homi Major said in Delhi that the IAF was at the ready for an airlift and was waiting for orders. Army headquarters is worried that there should be so much unrest in the rear areas of the state in which the defence force is heavily deployed along the Line of Control and also for counter-insurgency. The agitation in Jammu is blocking the supply lines for the troops, too. The Valley is running short of almost everything: fuel, medicines, edible oil and food, although the government claims it has enough stock. Most of our stocks will last at least a month, but there is some shortage of petroleum. Some life-saving drugs were airlifted from Delhi. The supplies are coming but they are not up to the mark, said Kashmir divisional commissioner Masood Samoon. Not many are willing to buy the argument. Our stock could last for a week and we are feeling the pain now. The government is lying. A number of vehicles on the way to Kashmir have been looted, said Jan Mohammad Koul, president of the Kashmir Traders Federation. From drinking water to consumer goods and vegetables, the Valley gets everything from outside, said Nisar Ali, a professor of economics at Kashmir University. The blockade has affected every aspect of life, even the marriages that are numerous at this time of the year. Many have cancelled marriage parties as no event is complete without wazwaan the local cuisine of mutton and chicken. Abdul Khaliq, a mutton dealer from Hazratbal, said stocks had run out. Not just supplies but exports, which Ali estimates to be worth Rs 3,000 crore, have taken a hit, too. Fruit growers say their losses have crossed Rs 100 crore. We cannot send fruit to Azad Pur and other markets in the country. Some have rotted in vehicles and some are rotting in the orchards. We have no cold storage here. What shall we do? asked Ghulam Rasool Bhat, president of the Baramulla Fruit Growers and Dealers Association. But angry voices are slowly making themselves heard. The fruit growers have given the government time till tomorrow to re-open the highway, failing which they have threatened to cross the LoC and sell their produce in Pakistan. The traders have, on the other hand, decided to boycott all goods manufactured in Jammu. Anybody who buys any product in Jammu will be treated as a traitor. This has been communicated to all traders here and we are publicising the names of the products that come from Jammu and have to be boycotted, Koul said. Nisar Ali said the economic blockade would hit Jammu harder than Kashmir. We have no industry here. Some industries have come up in Jammu because it enjoys some natural advantage. Kashmir is a big market for their products and their loss will be bigger. Posted by: john frum 2008-08-06 |
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