Irshad Hussain/ Zafar Dar
“Two women were injured because initially, women resisted the forest officials, the men were working in the fields and the forest officials landed in the area all of a sudden, so panic spread, but the elder women of the locality faced the forest officials and gave them a befitting response,” a Gujjar activist said, adding, “nobody can drive us out of these forests, they have been home to us since many ages.”
Last year, months after the new land laws were drafted by the Central Government, the High court ordered the administration of Jammu Kashmir to map the forest areas in the Jammu Kashmir region and start the process of eviction of the forest dwellers, who perhaps know forest as their only home, for the past many generations.
The Forest Department along with many other departments of Jammu Kashmir in November stormed into several areas of famous hill stations in Pahalgam and demolished several structures. On November 16, The Kashmiriyat reported, Shock and Grief, Scenes of Demolished Houses in Gujjar Areas in Kashmir’s Pahalgam as they Fear Mass Evacuation.
Two days after the story was carried out by The Kashmiriyat, The Jammu Kashmir administration said that it will implement the Forest Rights Act, 2006 which provides for the granting of rights of forest lands to forest dwellers. However, the rights conferred under this act shall be “heritable but not alienable or transferable”
The departments of tribal affairs, and forest, ecology, and the environment started working on its implementation in October this year.
On Monday, 24 May, Clashes broke out between the forest officials and the Gujjar Bakarwal community, in South Kashmir’s Shopian district, a photograph of a man with blood ridden face has hit social media. The photograph, which is doing rounds on the social media of the injured man was captioned, “Forest department officials ruthlessly beat up a man in Shopian district of South Kashmir. But you won’t see any action against such officers because admin already has corrupt officers and forest looters in it.”
An eviction drive started by the forest department in the upper reaches of the Zampathri area, turned violent after the Gujjar community members resisted the eviction drive. Showkat Shabir Choudhary, a Tribal Rights Activist told The Kashmiriyat that amid the covid-19 pandemic, forest officials have brazenly violated covid protocols by enabling the eviction drive.
From @TheKashmiriyat film which ensured the implementation of FRA.
On the road to the right r concrete structures of white-collared. Towards left, Gujjars were asked to evacuate land in the name of Forest protection. Why do forests need protection only from the powerless poor? pic.twitter.com/n6rT3BcZWf— Choudhary Irshad Khatana ارشاد (@Irshad_0003) May 24, 2021
“It’s not only violation of covid protocols, but also the Forest Rights Act. They should be held accountable for this act,” he said. He alleged that these officials came up with batons sticks and terrorized the locals into leaving, without issuing any notice. “We strongly condemn this act, and it needs intervention from higher authorities,” he added.
During the eviction drive, some journalists also got injured on the spot, the administration said.
When The Kashmiriyat contacted the Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Mr. Ayoub, he said that they had received directions from the honorable High Court to evict the locals. Adding that, the department had already issued notices to them about three months ago. “Our employees were also attacked, our Range Officer has been hospitalized after being attacked by the Gujjar community,” he alleged. He also added that the Gujjar community had blamed them for attacking instead, questioning that why’d the journalists receive the injuries then.
Tribals were ruthlessly beaten by officials of forest Deptt at Zampathri @shopiankmr,not Understanding where Implementation of FRA is going why tribals are being harnessed,is this upliftment of tribals?@manojsinha_ @QaziShibli @pzfahad @listenshahid @TribalArmy @HansrajMeena pic.twitter.com/H5NpGJwSiV
— Showkat Shabir Choudhary ( شوکت شبیر چوہدری ) (@Showkatchodhary) May 24, 2021
When asked about Forest Rights Act, he said, “We have started the relevant process regarding this, about those who claim about the land belonging to them. So far, none has claimed their lands, as for as the act is concerned, so the department is under pressure from the court to evict them,” the Divisional forest officer added.
Showkat Shabir Choudhary, around ten people were injured, which includes two women as well. One of the injured who was injured Farooq Ahmed Deedad along with the two women are being treated a nearby hospital as they have received serious injuries. “The women were injured because they resisted the forest officials, the men were working in the fields and the forest officials landed in the area all of a sudden, so panic spread, but the elder women of the locality faced the forest officials and gave them a befitting response,” he said, adding, “nobody can drive us out of these forests, they have been home to us since many ages.”
Zahid Parwaz Choudhary, President of the Jammu Kashmir Gujjar Bakerwal Youth Welfare Conference, is of the opinion that these eviction drives are a way to make maximum use of the abrogation of Article 370, which allows anyone to own land in Jammu Kashmir.
He said that it is not impossible to think of these demolition drives as a means to get the land vacated and later allot it to some industrialist or hotelier.
A gujjar from Kellar in Shopian was beaten to pulp by the Forest department. On one hand this administration makes tall claims about the implementation of Forest Rights Act while at the same time they continue to hound & persecute these communities. pic.twitter.com/xaCxa3uS6F
— Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) May 24, 2021
“Earlier, the governments claimed that the Forest Rights Act cannot be implemented in Jammu Kashmir due to the special status of the state due to Article 370 and 35A. But, other major policies including the Food Security Act and GST were implemented without any issue. There can be no justification for demolishing houses of tribal people,” Choudhary told The Kashmiriyat.