An unquiet peace

Terrorism has given a communal twist to the economic struggle between the Gujjars and the Gaddis of Chamba in Himachal Pradesh, and the Government's decision to move to the plains the families of these shepherd communities following the August massacres has brought peace to the hills for now.

Text & Pictures:
PRAVEEN SWAMI

GUJJAR families have left the high mountain pastures of Chamba in Himachal Pradesh with their herds of cattle and begun their annual passage to the plains. However, this year, the exodus has begun earlier than usual. This has little to do with the onset of autumn. The Gujjars have been driven out by the fallout of the August massacre of over 35 people in the Tissa area of Chamba and the subsequent murder of three shepherds belonging to the Gaddi community near Langera. These terrorist acts, attributed to members of the Lashkar-e-Toiba based across the State's border in Doda in Jammu and Kashmir, have led to the first ever incidents of communal violence in the alpine forests around Chamba. Snow will soon bring to an end a long and bitter summer. However, the Gujjars will return to Chamba next year, and the communal tensions simmering in the mountains are likely to boil over again.

Keeping peace in Chamba. The Gaddi-Gujjar conflict seems certain to drive the communalisation of Chamba.

The depth of communal hatred that the August massacres caused was illustrated when the Gujjars began to leave the Tissa belt in the first week of September. Both the Gujjars (entirely Muslim) and the Gaddis (entirely Hindu) were ordered off their pastures by the Himachal Pradesh Police and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police in order to ensure that further massacres did not take place and the terrorists' supply and shelter lines on the heights were cut off. Down in Tissa, mobs led by relatives of the victims of the Kalaban and Satrundi massacres attempted to attack the Gujjars as they passed through the villages. Fakir Gujjar, who is based in Punjab, said: "They said that we harboured terrorists. In reality, the local Gaddis want to grab our pastures. If the police at Tissa had not saved us, many of us would have been killed." Arvind Sharda, Chamba's Additional Superintendent of Police, said: "It was a very dangerous situation. We had to explain to the people that what they were doing was wrong, and that we would not tolerate it."

Elsewhere, although there have been no incidents of physical violence against Gujjars, most Hindus in the Chamba region allege that they (the Gujjars) are complicit in the terrorist campaign. The Gujjars' deras (shelters) in the hill region are believed to have been used by terrorists for shelter. The Gujjars are also known to have occasionally complied with the terrorists' demands for food and transport. The fact that the three Muslims, who were kidnapped by the Lashkar-e-Toiba group after the Tissa massacres in order to guide it were let off, while the six Hindus who were also taken along are still missing, presumably killed, does not help matters. Nor does the fact that all the six persons who have been arrested for harbouring the Tissa killers are Gujjars. However, the Gujjar community is not generally supportive of Doda-based terrorists and insists that it has been wrongly defamed. "Terrorists," said Gujjar leader Sharif Mohammad, "do not go to all the deras, and in any case no one can refuse people with guns. If some people do help these murderers, shoot them. But do not blame all of us for their actions."

The high mountain pastures of Chamba. Much of the terrorist activity in Chamba is built around the traditional pattern of criminal acts in the hills.

The August 18 killings of Gaddis at the Sippa Chuli nullah above Langera illustrate just how terrorism works in the region. Bhim Singh, Diwan Chand and Angtu Gujjar were captured when they were tending their herds, tied up, tortured and shot at point-blank range. The killings followed the recovery of a cache of assault rifles, small arms, grenades and pressure switches for improvised explosive devices from the Sippa Chuli area. The Himachal Pradesh Police picked up one Kasim Khan on the basis of information provided by local residents who said that terrorists had been visiting his dera. Kasim Khan, who was arrested when he returned from Chamba to Gurdaspur in Punjab, owed the three murdered Gaddis around Rs.56,000 for sheep he had purchased from them. Sources told Frontline that Kasim Khan was contacted by the terrorists who had buried the arms cache. He is believed to have promptly blamed the recovery of the cache on the Gaddis, settling his financial problems through this simple expedient.

Clearly, Kasim Khan's actions had little to do with the victims' communal identity. In fact, none of those arrested for the Tissa massacres has cited religious or political reasons for their actions. Significantly, the Gujjars in Jammu and Kashmir have reacted to terrorism there with either studied indifference or hostility, and the community has had little to do with chauvinist Islam, which is the Lashkar-e-Toiba's core ideology.

A lot of terrorist activity in Chamba appears to be built around the traditional pattern of criminal acts in the hills. Sheep theft has been its central theme, with Bakerwal herdsmen who live in Bhaderwah and Kishtwar making forays into the region to make off with the Gaddis' sheep. There is some reason to believe that the terrorists have also joined in this enterprise. Prem Nath, a resident of Langera, said: "Seventy-five of my sheep were stolen last year. Some people told me that they had seen two men with guns walking away with the herd." The Gaddis also allege that the Bakerwals who purchase sheep from them respond to persistent demands for payments with threats of terrorist reprisal.

Gujjar families leaving Chamba.

Interestingly, that problem is common to the Gujjars as well. The community has for long suffered encroachments on its pastures by the Gujjars living across the border in Doda. "We avoid any dealings with them now," said Sharif Mohammad, "because the fights over the last few years led to threats of terrorist reprisals." Many of these threats may be nothing more than bluffs, but not many are willing to test their authenticity.

Although local Hindus complain that the Gujjars refuse to disclose information about visits by terrorists to their deras, the silence appears to be in part based on fear. Rantan Chand of Pringul village said: "Last year, Makhan Gujjar, whose dera is on the same mountain where I graze my sheep, told me that terrorists had taken away two sheep and Rs.600 in cash. Although they beat him up, he did not want to tell the police, and I don't blame him. When my sheep were stolen in 1996, they (the police) first asked for Rs.7,000. However, they later refused to cross the border to search for the sheep."

This kind of common sense is, however, giving way to more and more bigoted voices. The Gaddis claim that although they live on the same heights as the Gujjars, they have not seen armed men and insist that Muslims sympathise with and support the terrorists. Given the fact that 300-odd Gujjar families live in Salooni tehsil alone, it is unlikely that any significant number of them would receive visits from the small number of terrorist groups now operating in Chamba. "But there is a kind of hysteria in the air," said Sharda. "After the Tissa killings, we got all manner of bizarre reports that invariably turned out to be figments of somebody's imagination." Pooni Gujjar, whose dera is above Badhuar, said: "People have started to behave strangely towards us. Nobody says anything straight out, but there is hostility in the air. It is just as well that we are leaving early this year. Things will have a chance to cool down."

Chamba's Hindus, however, do not believe that the situation will improve. They are preparing themselves for further battles. In Salooni tehsil itself, some 600 volunteers are undergoing arms training in order to be inducted into some 60 village defence committees (VDCs). These VDCs are modelled on those in Doda. Volunteers are given a 15-day course in handling 7.62 bolt-action and .303 Lee Enfield rifles. The State Government plans to grant arms licences eventually to those who have received training, and equip village panchayats to defend villages against terrorist attacks. By most accounts, the response to the scheme has been better than anticipated. Although no remuneration is offered to VDC members, more than half of those who have volunteered continue with their training despite the fact that they are losing out on their daily wage earnings. Ami Chand, a tea stall owner, said: "I don't want to be shot while I am tending my herds. I am not going to be scared off the mountains by anybody. I'd rather die fighting."

A camp in the hills for Gujjar families.

FIGHTING whom is not yet clear, but if Doda's experience is anything to go by, these VDCs could prove to be a mixed blessing. In Doda, a near-complete, vertical communal divide led VDCs to view themselves as defenders of the Hindu community alone. On occasion, that meant VDC involvement in attacks on and intimidation of Muslim villagers. Although some effort appears to have been made in Chamba to involve the area's Muslim population, which has considerable representation in some pockets, the VDCs are overwhelmingly Hindu-dominated. Given the presence of communal sentiment just below the surface in Chamba, undisciplined VDCs could easily become involved in engineering reprisal attacks and inflicting collective punishment on Muslims. "We are sensitive to these issues," said Chamba's District Collector Tarun Kapoor, "and we will not allow the VDCs to become private armies. We do need to set them up because given the terrain, the security forces simply cannot defend everyone."

A SENSITIVE approach is needed to tackle the problems. Terrorism has sharpened the economic struggle between the Gujjars and the Gaddis, and there is reason to believe that the shepherds sense an opportunity to settle old scores in the communally tense environment. "Why did the Gaddis join in the attacks against us?" asked Guddu Gujjar, who left his dera at Dhuriyali to arrive in Tissa at the time of the violence. "It has nothing to do with terrorism. That was a pretext. The Gaddis know that we have the best pasture land, rightfully conferred on us. If they can make us targets of attack, they can also grab our lands." It is a sentiment that is widely shared. Bashir Gujjar said: "The dispute between the Gaddis and the Gujjars has been going on for years. They now believe that they can settle it once and for all in their favour. That is why they are making up stories that all of us are helping terrorists and spreading rumours that we are out to kill Hindus. We have always lived with other people in complete peace, but now some people want to destroy this relationship."

If claims of a Gaddi plot against the Gujjars have an element of hype, so do the Gaddis' claims. Satish Mahajan, a shopkeeper, said: "Gujjars have a government-run Gujjar Development Board catering to their needs. They have large herds of buffaloes, worth lakhs of rupees. The Congress(I) supports them since they are rich and are a vote bank." Although the idea of a tiny community being a vote bank for any party appears to be bizarre on the face of it, these ideas have considerable currency in Chamba. The Gujjars have improved their economic status over the years, with many of them choosing to leave their best dairy cattle in Punjab during summer to earn cash. Yet, the community remains backward, cut off from education, health care and public welfare programmes. "It is ironic," said Collector Tarun Kapoor. "The worth of their buffaloes means they have assets above the level that would entitle them access to Integrated Rural Development Programme schemes. So while they have assets, they remain backward."

Members of a village defence committee being trained.

The Gaddi-Gujjar conflict, a macabre battle at the bottom rung of society for resources, seems certain to drive the communalisation of Chamba. This year's State Government-sanctioned moves by the security apparatus to move the Gujjars and the Gaddis from the mountains have so far meant that peace has, by and large, held. Both communities are united in their belief that next year they will have to return. "We have to go to the mountains to feed our animals and collect herbs for sale," said Prem Nath from Langera village. "We may be scared to do so, but we have no other choice." The Gujjars agree. "Since time immemorial," said Fakir Mohammad, "we have made our way with our animals to the pastures. There they regain their strength and improve their milk yield, which we use to make ghee for sale. If we stop travelling to the high pastures, our herds and our way of life will be destroyed."

Although 1993 and 1994 saw a string of terrorism-related incidents in the region, only one civilian was injured in the exchanges and the pastoral society has remained largely untouched. Now, with both the Lashkar-e-Toiba and the Harkat-ul-Ansar having launched a programme of mass murder, violent Hindu reprisals against Gujjars have become a real prospect. Should such attacks generalise themselves into assaults on the region's Muslims at large, the consequences will be tragic. Chamba has already seen the beginnings of right-wing Islamic activity led by preachers of organisations such as the Jamaat-e-Islami, although it remains marginal. Attacks on Muslims will give the Islamic right precisely the legitimacy it seeks. So far, both the Congress(I) and the Bharatiya Janata Party have refrained from attempting to capitalise on the communal fissures in Chamba. However, this unquiet peace is unlikely to last long.

Table of Contents

Home | The Hindu | Business Line | Sportstar