Dangerous divide: Jammu officials put it in black and white

In fact, the Jammu administration today gave data to the all-party team to underline the communal dimension of the agitation. The visiting team was told that 3,758 protests took place in Jammu city, 2,270 in Kathua, 1,850 in Samba, 1,480 in Udhampur, 740 in Riyasi, 115 in Doda, 74 in Ramban, 74 in Kishtwar, 37 in Poonch and 115 in Rajouri district.

The administration provided a detailed Hindu-Muslim population break-up which shows that Hindu-dominated districts saw the most protests and that any communal violence could have alarming repercussions.

As per population details provided by the administration, in Jammu and Samba, Hindus make up 86% of the population while Muslims constitute 5.68%. In Udhampur and Riyasi, Hindus are 73% of the population while Muslims 25.57%. In Doda-Kishtwar-Ramban, 41.46% of the population is Hindu while 57.92% is Muslim. In Kathua, Hindus are 89.8% of the population and 8.14% are Muslims; 37.28% of the population in Rajouri is Hindu while 60.23% is Muslim while Poonch has 5.2% Hindu and 91.92% Muslim population.

The salient points of the briefing:

* 18 cases have been registered in connection with communal violence in which 20 persons were injured, 72 Kulas (hutments) of Gujjars were burnt down, 22 vehicles damaged and several trucks carrying supplies looted. “These are only reported incidents. Many such incidents have taken place, which have not been reported so far,” the officers told the team.

* 117 police personnel and 78 civilians were injured including two policemen who were lynched and are “battling for life” in PGI Chandigarh while six civilians were killed, including three in police and Army action.

* 129 cases were registered against the rioters. A total of 1171 arrests were made but most of them are now out on bail.

* 10, 513 protest demonstrations and 359 serious incidents of violence have taken place across Jammu in which 28 government buildings, 15 police vehicles and 118 private vehicles have been damaged.

The violence has taken its toll on pilgrims bound for Vaishnodevi and Amarnath. In May and June, the average number of yatris per day to Vaishnodevi was 29,126 and to Amarnath 3310. These have dipped to 8619 and 347 respectively. All schools, colleges, government offices and services, including utilities — hospitals to post offices — were paralysed.

The administration was critical of the role of local media in Jammu. “Local media channels and newspapers not only supported the agitation but often fueled it by publishing inflammatory photographs and reports and glorifying violent incidents,” the administration said. “Two local cable networks repeatedly used highly provocative clips for long duration to encourage and incite violence and create law and order problems in gross violation of Cable TV Regulation Act 1995. National channels giving less coverage received threats from agitators”. The administration also talked about the misuse of SMS service to foment “communal violence”.

The administration also gave details about the economic blockade, saying that the “agitators stopped blocking the national highway repeatedly with a view to alter supplies to the Valley, including the supply of LPG, diesel, petrol.”