CC_India

Whether it is the Gujjar-Bakarwal tribes or the Paharis, despite the
high level of rural women engaged in economically productive activities outside
the home, girls are regarded as a liability. Low investment is made in their well
being or education, early marriage is common and customary practices are
sexually exploitative, especially amongst the Bakarwal tribes.
language rather than religion. 12 Caste is the pre-eminent
category having continuity across the religious divide,
e.g. Rajputs and Gujjar-Bakerwal tribal communities
make up the third largest group in J&K. The Gujjar population
is concentrated in Rajouri and Poonch districts.
Of the Muslim population, they make up 54% and 43%
respectively. 13 Following the government’s decision to
accord the Gujjar-Bakerwal communities ‘scheduled
tribe’ status, the divide between tribal and non tribal
(Paharis) categories has got further entrenched. 13 New
faultlines are emerging Kashmiri Muslim vs Jammu
Muslim, tribal vs Paharis. “Today we are confronted with
the terror of division and communalisation of social
relations, not any more the terror of militants or the
army”, said a student leader.
Hindus and Muslims, we were told, feel culturally more
bonded with each other than with their co-religionists
in Kashmir valley (98% Muslim). The geographic separation
between Jammu and Kashmir is mirrored in their
socio economic and ethno linguistic distance which
has produced divergent political legacies. Kashmir’s
ethno nationalist identity politics do not cross the
Pir Panjal range into the Jammu division. The identity
politics of Jammu is characterise by the demands for
reorganisation of power relations within J&K. 14 Whereas
Kashmiri nationalism gets positioned in competition
with Indian nationalism, Jammu’s nationalism gets
positioned as pro India 15 and its Gujjar and Paharis
Muslims as pro Indian. Commonly voiced in Rajouri by
elected Panchayat members was the refrain, “we’re the
ones who hold aloft the tri-colour, we work shoulder
to shoulder with the army, yet we the ‘nationalists’ get
neglected.”
STATUS AND VULNERABILITY
Accustomed to the vocal and articulate women of the
valley, here the researchers were faced with the practical
problem of reaching the women and found themselves
‘going through the men’ to hear the women.
More surprising, was that when the rural women came
together from neighbouring villages as a victim/survivor
group as in Buddhal Tehsil, they spoke as individuals.
There was little evidence of bonding, solidarity or social
cohesiveness.
As Dr. Mushtaq of Surankot town explained,“The cohesiveness
of society has been ruptured by the Pahari–
Gujjar divide. The topography is such that people live
in scattered hamlets. If they report to the police, no
one will come to defend them. The level of oppression
and terror is so intense, no one will come forward.” Also,
the social position of women being very low, it only
increases their vulnerability. Whether it is the Gujjar-
Bakarwal tribes or the Paharis, despite the high level of
rural women engaged in economically productive activities
outside the home, girls are regarded as a liability.
Low investment is made in their well being or education,
early marriage is common and customary practices are
sexually exploitative, especially amongst the Bakarwal
tribes. Independent researchers drawing upon the
2001 census, estimate the sex ratio among the Gujjar-
Bakerwals to be 846:1000, literacy rate at 35% with
female literacy below 10%, pulling down the state average
of 883. Rajouri has a sex ratio of 863:1000, Poonch is
better at 890:1000. 16 The Indian Planning Commission’s
“J&K Development Report” (2003) acknowledges the
deprivation of the border areas.
30 UNEQUAL CITIZENS: Women’s Narratives of Resistance, Militarisation, Corruption and Security