Chapter 3
Disinformation Compaign

ECONOMICS OF MILITANCY

The total population of the State according to census of India, conducted in 1981, was 59,27389 of which 19,30,448 were Hindus, 38,43,451 were Muslims, 1,33,675 were Sikhs, 69,706 were Buddhists, 1,576 Jains, and 2,481 Christians. The population figures, quoted above did not include the two and a half lakh Hindus and Sikhs, who migrated to Jammu and Kashmir in 1947, and the Hindus and Sikhs who were displaced from the territories of the State occupied by Pakistan and who have lived in the State ever since. These people are still awaiting settlement in the State. This has been in contrast with the expedition and efficiency with which the Muslim refugees from Tibet, who claimed Kashmiri lineage and who migrated to Kashmir in the wake of the Chinese annexation of Tibet in 1950, the Afghan refugees and thousands of Muslim immigrants, who sneaked across the Cease-Fire Line, from the occupied territories, in the wake of the Indo- Pakistan conflict of 1965, and the Bangladesh War of 1971, were settled in both the provinces of the State. These ugly facets of the Indian policy towards Kashmir and the double standards of the State Government have hardly been known outside the State and have generally been lost in the din of the orchestrated tradition of tolerance and secular values of the Muslim leadership in Kashmir. 

The total population of the Hindus according to the Census of 1981, formed 32.4 percent of the total population of the State. The population of Sikhs formed 2.1 percent of the population of the State and the population of Buddhists constituted 1.1 percent of the population of the State. The population of the Hindu and Sikh Sharnarthis, refugees still awaiting settlement, constituted 4.1 percent of the population of the State. Added together, the population of the Hindus, the Sikhs and the Buddhists in the State, constituted 39.7 percent of the population of the State. 

The population statistics of the State have been cited here to provide a broad background of the demographic composition of the State, to 

• remove various misconceptions about the relative strength of the different communities in the State, including the Muslims in Kashmir, 
• bring to surface the consistent effort of the successive State governments to distort the population statistics of the Hindus in the State; 
• show that a large part of the Hindu population, the refugees who settled in the State in 1947, and the displaced persons of the occupied territories of "Azad Kashmir", were always excluded from the population statistics of the State during the last forty seven years; 
• expose the consistent efforts of the State Government, under whose instructions and supervision the census operations were conducted to tamper with the population figures of the Hindus in Kashmir, a fact clearly borne out by the stark contrast of the figures of the Hindu population estimated by the census authorities and the actual number of the Hindus who migrated from Kashmir; 

The per-eapita growth registered between 1970-71 to 1985-86 was from Rs 548 to Rs 2,204, at current price and Rs 548 to Rs 683 at constant price of 1970-71. The prosperity of the Muslims accounted for a greater share in the figures cited above due to more favourable allocation of financial resources for the Kashmir division, varying between 65 to 69 percent as compared to 35 to 31 percent allocated to the two divisions of Jammu and Ladakh. 

The widespread propaganda campaign about the so-called economic deprivation of the Muslims of Kashmir, was designed to conceal the real import and objectives of the militancy and was aimed to mislead the Indian public opinion in order to provide tactical advantage to the secessionist forces working against the unity of the country. The Muslims in the province were and still are, a prosperous community. The Muslims of Kashmir dominated the economic organisation of the State, as shown by the following facts: 

• The Muslims in Kashmir owned 97.4 percent of the agricultural land, leaving 2.6 per cent of agricultural land in the ownership of the Hindus and the other minorities, who together constituted about 11 percent population of the province. 
• The Muslims ouned 96 percent of the fruit orchard acerage in the Kashmir province, whereas the Hindus owned only 2.8 percent of the fruit orchards. 
• TheMuslims in Kashmir owned 98.7 per cent acerage of Kareva highland, growing saffron, whereas the Hindus owned 0.03 percent land yielding saffron. 
• The export of dry fruit: almond, and walnut, was a monopoly of the Muslims in Kashmir, the Hindus having negligible or no share in the export of dry fruit from Kashmir. 
• The export of precious walnut and willow-wood was wholly a monopoly of the Muslims, the Hindus having no share in it. 
• The employment of the Muslims in the horticulture industry approximated to 8 lakhs of people working on 4,81,000 orchard holdings. The employment of Hindus in the Horticul- ture indus try was less than 0.5 percent. 
• Of the industries using electric power in Kashmir province, 98.9 per cent were owned by the Muslims and only 0.02 per cent were owned by the Hindus. 
• The handicrafts and handloom industry of Kashmir division was almost wholly owned by the Muslims and provided employment to 91,941 persons, among whom only 0.4 per cent were Hindus. 
• The membership of the handicrafts and handloom cooperative societies in 1985-86, the years, when the Muslim fundamental its were getting militarised, was 17,776, of which only 0.3 per cent belonged to the Hindus in Kashmir. 
• In 1985-86, the number of small-scale industries and industrial units registered with the Directorate of Industries in Kashmir province was 46,293. The number of units registered in the name of the Hindus of Kashmir estimated to only 0.01 percent. 98.7 percent of the industrial units were registered in the name of the Kashmiri Muslims. 
• The Khadi and village industries registered under Khadi and Village Industries Board, provided employment to 28,110 persons. 98.8 percent of the employees were Muslims. 
• The road transport in the State, the primaty means of communication in the absence of any railways, was owned by Muslim transporters and transport companies, with the Sikhs having a marginal 4.2 percent share among them. The Hindus of Kashmir had a negligible share in the transport organisation of the State. 
• According to the statistics and figures collected from the Government sources for the years 1985-86, the State Transport Corporation employed 6,434 persons of which the Kashmiri Hindus accounted for 0.8 percent. 
• According to the figures available for the year 1985-86, from the government sources, the entire boat transport in the State was monopolised by the Kashmiri Muslims. The number of the various types of boats, was as follows: 

The entire fleet of the boats of various types, listed above, was owned by the Muslims. The fleet included the high cost luxury house-boats, which had considerable commercial value. 

• The hotel industry is a highly lucerative industry in Kashmir. It was always a closed preserve of the Muslims of Kashmir. The Muslims owned about 96 percent of the hotel property in Kashmir, the Hindus owned only 2.2 percent of the Hotel property in Kashmir. 
• 94 percent of the State subsidy paid on horticulture, agriculture, agricultural implements, fertilisers, pesticides etc. was appropriated by the Muslims in Kashmir with 2.4 per cent and less of the subsidies received by the Hindus. 
• The Muslims appropriated the whole of the State subsidies on industrial loans, exports, self employment schemes etc. The share of the Hindus of Kashmir in such subsidies was negligible; less than 0.1 per cent. 
• The share of the Hindus in the industrial loans, provided by the State Government, the loans on self-employment schemes, loans on small scale and handicraft industrial units and the lands alloted for the establishment of such industries, was negligible; less than 0.1 per cent. 
• The Hindus were almost excluded from contracts and public works undertaken by the Government and were given, on an average, a share of 4 percent in the works undertaken by the State. 
• The share of the Hindus in the exploitation of forest products till the forests were nationalised in 1979, was 6.2 percent. 
• The licensing for quarrying, mining of marble brick-kilns, was a monopoly of the Muslims. 
• The manufacture and export of carpets, of Kashmir was a monopoly of the Muslims of Kashmir. 
• The manufacture and export of shawls of Kashmir was a monopoly of the Kashmiri Muslims. 

The terrorist violence provided Muslim secessionism a militant dimension, which the Muslim elite in Kashmir and Pakistan realised would deal India and the Hindus a below, from which they would not recover. The Hindus, unarmed and without help, were unable to with stand the sudden military offensive which the Muslim militant organisations mounted against them. After having suffered heavy causalities, they withdrew from Kashmir, leaving the Indian Government to face the militant onslaught as best as they could. The tragedy is that the men who wield power in India are still unable to decide whether they are fighting Muslim communalism in Jammu and Kashmir or their own intransigence to bear the brunt of the truth, they concealed for the last forty-seven years.