Jammu: A proposal by Hindus to divide Kashmir along religious lines has united many
minorities in the embattled Muslim-majority region who are venting their fury not
against Islamic rebels but against the state government.
The Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) wants the Indian state to be divided into
three, the Hindu-dominant Southern region of Jammu would become a new state, while
Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley and the Eastern Buddhist area of Ladakh would be run
by governors appointed in New Delhi.
The division would come on top of Kashmir's international split - two-thirds is
administered by India, while most of the rest is controlled by Pakistan and a sliver
is ruled by China.
The RSS proposal reflects the resentment of Kashmir's Hindus and Buddhists, believed
to make up more than one-quarter of the population, who say that their interests,
have been overshadowed by a bloody Islamic separatist insurgency and a provincial
government led by pro-Indian Muslims.
The state's ruling party, the National Conference (NC), responded angrily to the
proposal by the RSS, the ideological parent of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), calling it a "communal outfit".
"This land belongs to all the people living in the state, irrespective of their
religious faith," said a statement by NC, itself an ally in Vajpayee's coalition.
The RSS has found an ally on the other side of the mountains in Ladakh, whose
leaders have long argued that their Himalayan region has little in common with the
rest of Kashmir.
"The discriminatory attitude of successive state governments towards the Jammu and
Ladakh regions over the last more than five decades has only deepened the distrust
and suspicion of the people of Jammu and Ladakh towards Kashmiris," said Tsering
Samphel, president of the Ladakh Buddhist Association.
Officials in New Delhi are conscious of the rift and studiously refer to the state
as "Jammu and Kashmir" in official documents.
The controversy comes ahead of elections due by mid-October in Kashmir. Muslim
separatists have said they will boycott the polls, alleging that past votes have
been rigged in favour of Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah's NC
