The police and security forces were on tenterhooks in Kashmir Valley on Friday to maintain law & order situation following separatists’ call for protests against Reasi district administration’s plan to facilitate full-fledged pilgrimage to famous Kousar Nag lake located an altitude of 12,000 feet above sea level in Pirpanchal Hills in Shopian district of south Kashmir. Though ritualistic worship (puja) have been going on at the place for many years, the number of pilgrims earlier were just around 600 each year.
The lake is accessible through treks from Shopian in Kashmir and Reasi district in Jammu. The yatra is going on smoothly from Reasi side, but Shopian district authorities have ordered the stoppage of the pilgrimage to the lake. While the Union Home Ministry has sought a report from the State Government seeking details about the reasons for the stoppage of the yatra, separatists have called for a shutdown in Kashmir on Saturday to protest against the Reasi district administration’s plan to start “another Amarnath-like pilgrimage” in the Valley. They described the plan as part of the agenda to project Kashmir as a sacred place for Hindus, and accused the Government of indulging in the demographic change in the region.
Earlier, Jitendra Singh, MoS Personnel in the Modi Government, had met Home Minister Rajnath Singh demanding action against the “unilateral decision” of the State Government. The BJP alleged that the J&K Government was giving the usual pilgrimage a communal tinge. Warning that a situation like the Amarnath Yatra land row of 2008 could recur, BJP State spokesperson Nirmal Kamal said, “It only speaks about separatists’ agenda being carried forward by the State administration.”
The lake and the surrounding glaciers are feeding points for several fresh water bodies in the area. The controversy erupted last month when the district administration in Reasi decided to hold the Kousar Nag Yatra at a larger scale indicating that the helicopters would be pressed into service to fetch pilgrims.
The debate over the issue intensified when a group of displaced Kashmiri Pandits sought permission from district authorities in Kulgam to embark on the “pilgrimage”. The Pandits had plans to hold six-day puja at the banks of expansive lake, known as one the purest reserves of water in Kashmir that irrigates millions of acres of agricultural land in the plains.
Sources said that protesters resorted to stone-pelting and clashed with police and security forces at several places in the Valley. The protests remained peaceful by and large. The authorities had placed most of the separatist leaders, including Syed Ali Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, under house arrest. In north Kashmir, minor stone-pelting incidents were reported from Sopore, Palhalan Pattan and Baramulla towns.
J&K MoS for Home Affairs Sajad Ahmad Kichloo said that Kousar Nag was not a traditional pilgrimage like Amarnath. “Some 150 to 200 people visit this place annually for the last four to five years and the Government has nothing to do with its management. These special prayers are being organised by the local management of this place,” Kichloo added.
Hurriyat leader Geelani said the yatra would “destroy the fragile environment and water resources of Kashmir”. He linked the proposed pilgrimage to “RSS agenda to eliminate the Muslim identity of Kashmir”, while justifying protests and shutdowns on the issue.“India is following in Kashmir the policy Israel implemented in Palestine. If this process is not stopped, we will have to face the same humiliation and bloodshed the Palestinian people are facing,” Geelani said.
He said that all this was being done in a systematic way in order to undermine the Muslim majority character of Jammu & Kashmir, which can jeopardise the communal harmony of the region besides changing the distinct culture and identity of Kashmir.A spokesman of Mirwaiz-led Hurriyat said that the group has always been strong advocate of communal harmony, and has passionately been pleading for the return of Kashmiri Pandits to their ancestral homes besides calling for the protection of religious places of the Pandits.
“There are some powerful non-State communal elements who under the pretext of protecting the Hindu shrines want to spoil the centuries old communal harmony of Kashmir. It is strange that these elements have all of a sudden made Kausar Nag as a pilgrimage site which otherwise everybody knows as a famous tourist destination,” he said.
Home Secretary Suresh Kumar dismissed claims that traditional pilgrimage was ever held to Kousar Nag. “For the last few years, some people of a particular community offer prayers at the place. No yatra as such has ever been scheduled or taken place in the area,” he told a local news agency. He said the State Government has no proposal of conducting yatra and that only usual prayers are being held by some people every year near the stream. He ridiculed the separatists for issuing calls for a non-issue. “By issuing strike calls against the so-called yatra, separatists may have their own agenda but as far as the Government is concerned, no proposal for yatra is there,” he said.
Tourism Minister Gulam Ahmad Mir said the Kousarnag was a tourist destination and there was no proposal to convert it into a pilgrimage site.