What is the fuss all about? Why are some so-called mainstream Kashmir valley parties crying themselves hoarse? Why are they trying to project a minor administrative maneuvered as if some unknown spacemen or their ilk had seized the entire valley, endangering, as it were, the very peace the valley has been seeking ever since Pakistan launched, aided and abetted an insurrectionary movement in the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir. How come the Deputy Chief Minister of the State and his mentor, party chief and former Chief Minister, Mufti Sayeed is seeing some hidden ghosts planted by some unscrupulous Indians in the jungles of Baltal, near Sonmarg? Why do these stalwarts see the temporary allotment of some forest land to a body whose job it is, to facilitate the annual pilgrimage to Amarnath, famed cave home of the ice Shiva Linga?

Baltal offers a shorter route to the cave, from the more familiar Pahalgam route, and for this purpose the body managing the pilgrimage was given use on temporary lease, land to set up temporary camps for the pilgrims to walk up and down the mountain tracks to the cave and back. The Shrine Board has been arguing that it is not planning to build permanent structures on the forest land, only temporary structures; they have also agreed to plant more than the number of trees that are felled. So why the so-called mainstream parties should join the separatist Hurriyat conference in painting the temporary allotment of lands as it were an act of aggression committed by an enemy nation.

In the bargain a mainstream party, the People’s Democratic Party of the Mufti father-daughter duo, has managed to bring the extremist Geclani and moderate Mirwaiz factions back to a common anti-India platform and also encouraged students of Kashmir University to take to the streets to expose the Shrine Board’s cover attempt to illegally occupy land that does not belong to it. The duration of the pilgrimage extended from the original fortnight to two months having destroyed Pahalgam as a tourist destination. It would prove less stressful for the security agencies, help places like Pahalgam to regain their primacy as a tourist attraction, help the local economy of Pahalgam and above all we must not lose sight of the environmental degradation which an extended pilgrimage, involving several lakhs of pilgrims and hundreds of security personnel who must make the routes on either side their home for even longer, causes. A shorter version of the pilgrimage would offer a more satisfactory solution to the problem.

So far as the State politicians are concerned the less said of them the better. Surprisingly though the mainstream parties are becoming more strident, particularly in the valley, to play on local sen-timents. It’s odd though that the average Kashmiri Muslim living in the valley seems to be more at peace with himself and his surroundings; it is the politicians who find one or the other issue to fan the fires of conflict. It is just the beginning of the poll season in the State.