After the demolition

Recently the forest department and Pahalgam development authority came in news when on the social media several videos went viral showing the authorities demolishing temporary hutments of nomads in Mamal village of Pahalgam.

This created a lot of resentment and reactions from the political parties. Mehbooba Mufti visited some of the areas where the authorities had done the demolition in Pahalgam forest and said that it was part of the plan of BJP, started by them on August 5, 2019.

She said that thousands of kanals of land have already been identified in Kashmir to be given to set up industries for the outsiders and now the health resort of Pahalgam is being cleaned and the land being identified to be given on sale to corporate friends of BJP.

Whether the allegations of Mehbooba Mufti, carry some weight or not is debatable but fact remains that the temporary hutments of Gujjars and Bakarwals in dozens of villages in the Pahalgam forest have been demolished and the people belonging to these tribes have been left without a shelter in these winter days.

It was followed by a high powered delegation sent by the National Conference to Pahalgam forests headed by influential Gujjer leader and former minister Mian Altaf Ahmad.

The delegation after meeting the affected families told the media that the BJP has been very hostile against the Gujjar and Bakarwals and are trying to evict them from the lands of higher reaches where they have been living for hundreds of years.

All the political parties in Kashmir valley have asked the government to stop such demolitions in the forests of Kashmir and allow these tribes to live a normal life without any disturbance.