UPSC GK: Who are Gujjar Bakarwals II (POLITY)

“Usey apney haath aur paun mein pata nahin tha, ki mera daayan haath kaun sa hai aur baayan haath kaun sa hai. Kabhi usney yeh nahin samjha ki Hindu kya hota hai aur Musalmaan kya hota hai (She couldn’t tell her arms from her legs, couldn’t tell which hand was right and which left. She never thought who was a Hindu, who a Muslim).”

The words of a distraught father on his daughter’s brutal gang rape and murder, as told to The Indian Express, sums up the disturbing angle behind one of the most gruesome crimes the nation has seen in recent times. The Bakarwal community, to which the eight-year-old belonged, is a Muslim pastoral tribe situated in Jammu and Kashmir, and along with the other tribal Muslim Gujjar group called Banihara form the third largest community in the state. While the Baniharas deal in dairy farming, the Bakarwal herd sheep and goats. A nomadic tribe, the Bakarwals are often recognised by the hundreds of kilometers long journey they take with their cattle every summer to Kashmir and Ladakh and back to Jammu in the winters. While the incident and what followed, has revealed much about the communal divide that exists in the valley, it is interesting to reflect upon the religious identity of the Bakarwals, wherein we find an interesting blend of Hindu-Muslim theological systems.

Bakarwal Gujjars and a Hindu-Muslim identity

The Bakarwals are known to be part of the larger ethnic group known as Gujjars who dominate large parts of Northern India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Interestingly, the Gujjars in different parts of the subcontinent variously follow Islam, Hinduism and Sikhism. In Jammu and Kashmir, the group practices Islam, but was listed as a Scheduled Tribe in 1991. However, despite professing the Islamic faith, anthropological study of the community shows that they have retained large parts of the Hindu belief system followed by Gujjars across the country.

The Gujjars of Jammu and Kashmir, essentially the Baniharas and the Bakarwals, are a migratory group. It is difficult to ascertain the precise date of their migration, but a plausible theory is that they moved to the hilly terrain from the plains of Punjab in response to insufficient grazing facilities, increasing population and religious persecution. Another theory also states that the Gujjars moved to Jammu and Kashmir from Rajputana and Kathiawar owing to a serious famine that broke out in the region.

Having broken away from the Gujjar population in the plains, however, they retained intrinsic cultural ties with them nonetheless. “They have a common history, culture, ethnic affinities beliefs and languages with the Hindu, Sikhs and Muslim Gujjars of the Indian plains,” writes Professor K. Warikoo in his work, “Tribal Gujjars of Jammu and Kashmir.” It is interesting to note that the Muslim Gujjars of J&K continue to follow the Gotra system with names of Gotras being the same as that among the Hindus. They believe that their ancestors were Hindus and hence they share the same blood and history with their Hindu counterparts.

Warikoo goes on to explain in his work that “religion has had little impact on the Gujjar brotherhood and affinity. The women folk of Jammu and Kashmir Gujjars still perform traditional practices in their homes and also celebrate Baisakhi, Lori and Goverdhan festivals.” It is noteworthy that the popular Hindu mythological figures like Lord Krishna, Rama and Sita are also as much a part of the religious identity of the Bakarwal Gujjars.

But keeping alive a Hindu belief system in their identity has not prohibited the group from following Islam as well. They swear allegiance to the local Pir, or a Sufi spiritual guide of the respective area in which they move about. They also aspire to visit sites of religiosity associated with Sufi Pirs like Hazrat-e-Naga-Baji Saheb, Khanyar in Srinagar and Nariyan in Rajouri.

Bakarwal Gujjars and a history of alienation

The fluidity in Bakarwal religion, however, has often resulted in an alienation of the community, particularly when their tribal identity has come in conflict with their religious identity. Troubled by the tussle between the two, the Bakarwal Gujjars have often complained of being under-represented in government services, educational institutions, and also the census. Since 1975 a number of welfare schemes came into existence for them. A major breakthrough for the Gujjars came on April 19, 1991 when after years of protest, they were listed in the Scheduled Tribes, thereby making available to them the rights conferred upon other tribes of India.

But the welfare schemes for the Gujjars were never fully implemented and they continued to face discrimination, particularly from the urban Kashmiri population. In recent years, the community has been facing the wrath of Hindutva forces, especially the cow-protecting groups who target their mode of living that is dependent on cattle.

The gangrape incident follows the ongoing tussle between the community members and the BJP-PDP government’s land eviction drives in the region. In the recent past, BJP’s Chaudhury Lal Singh has promised the retrieval of hundreds of forest lands, a move that the Bakarwals believe would take away their traditional rights on the forests. Reportedly, since the Bakarwal Gujjars are Muslims, the BJP is feeding into communal fears by propagating the idea among the Hindu population of the state that the former is skewing up the area’s demography and that they are the ones responsible for the encroachment of large sections of forest areas there.

The Bakarwal Gujjars, on the other hand, continue to fight against such allegations, emphasising upon the patriotism they have exercised since the country’s independence. It is noteworthy that these are the same people who stood staunchly loyal to Maharaja Hari Singh during the Pakistani aggression of 1947. Yet again, when India fought Pakistan in 1965, the Bakarwal Gujjars were the ones to have extended a helping hand to the Indian army, restoring the territorial integrity of the country.

Credit: Indian Express Research (http://indianexpress.com/article/research/kathua-gang-rape-murder-bakarwal-muslims-jammu-kashmir-5136293/)

UPSC GK: Who are Gujjar-Bakherwal? (POLITY)

The Indian Express explains the events and divide leading to protests targeted at a nomadic group.

Why are lawyers’ groups protesting in Jammu?

The protests are over a number of issues that underline a communal divide in Jammu. Among these is a police chargesheet, which concludes that the alleged rape and murder of an eight-year-old Bakherwal girl in a Kathua village was committed to evict the Bakherwal, a nomadic Muslim group; the alleged motive has triggered protests. The protesters have also demanded a rollback of a purported decision by the state government on Gujjar-Bakherwal rights to forest land, alleging a conspiracy to change the demography of Jammu.

What traditional rights do the Gujjar-Bakherwal have over forest lands in J&K?

The two communities, together 11% of J&K’s population, are the single largest Muslim group and were together designated a Scheduled Tribe in 1991. Both groups are pastoral. The Gujjars are in the dairy business, and settled in several parts of Jammu through to the Chenab Valley. The nomadic sheep and goat-herding Bakherwal migrate with their flock to Kashmir and Ladakh in the summer and to Jammu in the winter, camping at forest sites they have used for centuries.

What has happened now?

Recent eviction drives have left both communities fearful that the PDP-BJP government is planning to take away these traditional rights. The forest portfolio is with the BJP’s Choudhary Lal Singh who has promised to retrieve hundreds of kanals of “encroached” forest land and impose a blanket ban on cultivation inside forests. In response, Bakherwal and Gujjar leaders have demanded that the central Forest Rights Act, 2006, be extended to J&K as well. The ST and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act provides for ownership and access rights to forest dwellers by giving them a right to live in the forests and carry out their traditional occupations for livelihood, access to collect, use and dispose of Minor Forest Produce, conservation and management of forest resources, and the right of access to biodiversity and community rights.

How do the ruling parties stand?

Ironically, this is the one issue on which the BJP holds dear the primacy of Article 370. With both Gujjars and Bakherwals being Muslims, the party is feeding into fears of Jammu’s Hindu community that the two communities are changing the demography. On the other hand, the PDP views these two communities as a constituency. Tribal Affairs Minister Chaudhary Zulfikar is a Gujjar.

Earlier this year, the government decided to come out with a tribal policy. Following a meeting of the Tribal Affairs Department on February 16, chaired by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, news spread on social media that she had “taken a historic decision” and provided a “sigh of relief” to J&K’s nomadic population by directing that they should not be evicted from forest land. In Jammu there was widespread anger that encroachment of forest land by the two Muslim groups had been green-lighted. Later, an RTI activist in Jammu circulated the purported minutes of the meeting, this time with the accusatory comment that the PDP was implementing its “Kashmir-centric agenda” in Hindu-dominated Jammu.

What did the purported minutes say?

That it had been decided not to dislocate tribals until formulation of a tribal policy. In cases where their dislocation was considered necessary, according to the purported minutes, it would be carried only in prior consultation with the Tribal Affairs Department. Signed by Special Secretary (Tribal Affairs) Mohammad Sharief Choudhary, the “minutes” also recorded the CM’s instruction to all police and district authorities not to provide any police protection for eviction of tribals without approval from the department. The meeting was attended by PDP minister Zulfikar and MoS (Forests) Ajay Nanda (BJP).

What has the government said of this?

Officially, the government has been silent on the minutes. But after the controversy broke, all BJP ministers except deputy CM Nirmal Singh went to meet the CM, where Nanda gave a written submission that no such matter had come up for discussion in his presence. Later, at BJP headquarters, Nanda and Health & Medical Education Minister Bali Bhagat claimed the CM too had said no such discussion had taken place and there was no issue of her giving any such instruction to police and deputy commissioners. The ministers declared that in any case, the minutes of the meeting, in the absence of subsequent government orders, hold no legal validity. No orders have been issued.

Then why the protests even now?

In a state where both Hindus and Muslims read between the lines of any government decision seen to be facilitating one community or the other, not many were convinced by the BJP ministers’ clarification. There has been no official explanation for why the purported minutes record decisions that ministers claim were never taken.

What are Gujjars-Bakherwals saying?

That the eviction drives against them are driven by local misconceptions that they are responsible of large-scale encroachment of forest land. They say they have been on the side of Indian security forces since 1947. In Kashmir, they are perceived as helping security forces against militants. Tribal leaders have demanded a government white paper identifying those encroaching upon forest and state land and take action; they say these are influential people, both Hindu and Muslim, who connived with officials and sold such land to those who had migrated to Jammu during the militancy-hit 1990s. Rather than a tribal policy, tribal leaders have sought laws safeguarding the rights of nomads over forests.

Credit: Indian Express Explained