Indian colonial government in Kashmir has proposed various new railway lines in Kashmir that include Islamabad-Bijbehara-Pahalgam  (77 kms), Baramulla-Uri (50 kms), Awantipora-Shopian (27 kms) and doubling of the existing Baramulla-Banihal section (135 kms). This may look like a case of development, but in a colonized region reeling under a brutal military occupation, development is always a tool of an occupier to further entrench its control over the occupied territory. That’s what all development done by India has been in Kashmir. Otherwise, these new railway projects wouldn’t have been proposed, given the fact that the loss they will cause will far outweigh the ‘benefits’ of these projects. What’s certain is that it will deepen the Indian control over the territory and make hundreds of people landless. Take for example the proposed Awantipora-Shopian track that only covers a distance of 27 kms. Why do we need a railway link line for such a short distance? It’s clear that it’s unnecessary and obviously will be developed for military purposes. Also, it will gulp down a large area of fertile horticultural and agricultural land, so will the other proposed projects.

People from the areas through which these railway lines are supposed to pass have raised hue and cry over the loss to their only sources of income i.e. their horticultural/agricultural land. Anyone who has been associated with farming knows the hard work and patience needed to turn a piece of land into a fruitful orchard. It’s years of effort and huge sums of money in various regular investments. A common farmer then expects to sustain his livelihood through it for his whole life. The land gives its owner a sense of purpose and belonging in this desolate occupied land where alternate economic avenues have been scuttled. The lives of people have turned upside down since they became aware of the survey that marked their lands to be taken over for these railway projects. It will be a disaster and a huge setback to local agricultural/horticultural economy, a majority of those being apple farmers.

Kashmir is a small valley. The area of land suitable for farming being even smaller, covering plains and karevas. All of these railway projects are planned through the most fertile regions of Kashmir. It’s clear that it’s a deliberate attempt to destroy the local horticultural/agricultural sector. A 27 km indirect railway link is simply a useless redundant thing. If these projects were meant for benefits of people, then it must have been obvious to them that trucks and other forms of road transportation on such a small stretch of land would fully serve the transportation needs from the existing station. But they still went ahead with the project and why?

People of these areas are aghast at the fact that none of them have ever demanded any railway line or the fact that none of them has even been consulted as owners of the lands that need to be taken over. They are fully aware that their transportation needs are easily met by trucks and other road transportation vehicles and they have no need for a railway link line. They see it as a conspiracy of snatching away their livelihood and keeping them bereft of the dignity they have achieved in the form of economic autonomy that they have achieved over the years through these orchards and farms.

Kashmir has seen one onslaught after another since 2019. Kashmir’s economy is already going through its worst phase and such additional measures of land-grab by Indian occupation will further throw Kashmiris into despair. This is a systemic effort by Indian occupation to destroy every kind of autonomy in Kashmir, be it food, economy, social or political. Indian state has already removed import duty on apples, walnuts, and almonds imported from other countries, thus significantly affecting the prices of Kashmiri fruits. The last two years saw deliberate blocking of highway as well, which led to tons of apples and other fruit rotting away while trucks were stranded on the highway.

Then there’s the issue of substandard insecticides/pesticides supplied to Kashmir, so much so that even more than a dozen sprays in a single season aren’t enough to protect the trees and the fruit. Indian state has unleashed all kinds of onslaughts upon Kashmiri populace to destroy them and uproot them from their lands.

These railway projects have deliberately ignored the concepts of sustainability and ecological viablilty that every well meaning agency takes into account. Indian occupation is well aware of the limited farmland available in Kashmir and the huge number of people dependent on it. Agriculture/horticulture is still the highest revenue and employment generating sector in Kashmir. It becomes evident in the light of these facts that why an occupational state like India is hell bent upon destroying the most fertile lands in occupied Kashmir. Even though people have been protesting these railway projects, the Indian state is adamant on imposing its colonial will upon hapless Kashmiris and turning their lives upside-down. These projects will affect fruit production of apples, plums, almonds, walnuts, rice crop production and even honey production drastically. These proposed railway projects will occupy thousands of hectares of most fertile plain lands and karevas of Kashmir. People have rejected the farce monetary compensation that the Indian govt has offered them. As the monetary compensation will not replace the fertile lands that will not only sustain the current generation but many generations to come after them.

It’s also obvious to us that this project will be implemented at gun-point like every other Indian project has been implemented in Kashmir. Indian military forces already occupy lakhs of kanals of precious land in every corner of Kashmir. Now they want even more for these farcical developmental projects. The aim is simply dispossession of Kashmiris.

It will also be a huge environmental disaster. Think about thousands and thousands of trees axed for an unnecessary railway link line project when the road transportation clearly fulfils the needs of local Kashmiri stakeholders.

The evident militarized nature of these railway projects can also be gauged from the fact that a survey for land acquisition is being done in the presence of heavily armed Indian forces. They openly threaten people with violent consequences for not falling in line and silently handing over the land.

People who have known only farming all their lives, learned the skills of developing crops and orchards will be left unemployed and forced into a life of indignity. Many Kashmiri youngsters who are associated with farming in these areas have said that it would be better to die fighting than live a life of such humiliation.

The cost of physical labour, pesticides, fertilizers, machinery, and other expenses accumulated over years of developing these orchards can’t be compensated by a meager monetary compensation, especially the emotional labour and the social and ecological cost that destroying these orchards and farms will incur upon Kashmiris.

These orchards and farms give a sense of belonging to the people of these areas, the farmers belong to these lands and these lands belong to them, which are being snatched away by the Indian occupation in order to snatch the very breathing space away from Kashmiris.

The Islamabad-Pahalgam line also has another face to it. It’s clearly a Hindutva settler-colonial project apart from the overt occupational one. This stretch is being specifically developed to cater to Hindu pilgrims going to Amarnath. Those Hindu pilgrims aren’t just motivated by their religious beliefs to visit Amarnath, but they are strongly motivated by the extremely bigoted Hindutva political ideology.

Apart from destroying farmlands, this project will also destroy the ecologically fragile zone of Pahalgam forests, mountains, rivers and glaciers. These Amarnath yatris have already caused Hepatitis outbreaks in Pahalgam region due to their open-defecating habits which causes extreme pollution of the rivers, streams and glaciers. It will be a huge ecological disaster, that will severely affect the spread of glaciers in that region as well, which have already been reduced significantly in size by the unchecked and ever-increasing footfall of Hindu pilgrims to Amarnath.

These railway lines going to every corner of Kashmir will also accelerate the Indian settler-colonial project that’s already started, bringing in hordes of unwanted settlers from all regions of the occupying Indian state to even the furthest regions of Kashmir where these railway lines are planned. This is an open attack on Kashmir in the name of development. These projects will also allow easy loot of our natural resources, one of the things that we will definitely see is our forests being massacred for timber and transported outside, besides other resources.

Lastly and most importantly, these new railway projects are clearly colonial in nature and Kashmiris have every right to resist these colonial efforts through every means possible. These so-called developmental projects are only meant to serve our occupiers and tormenters. These newly proposed railway lines are part of the larger Indian Hindutva project of depriving Kashmiris of every possible space in Kashmir and eventually ethnically cleansing the Muslim population of the region.