Since the land was never allotted, there is little merit in the Amarnath Sangharsh Samiti’s demand for ‘giving the land back’ to the SASB. Similarly, Azad was also right in telling his party bosses that the July 1 Cabinet order that revoked the May 26 land transfer order offered much more to Hindu pilgrims. While only 10 per cent of the pilgrims took the Baltal-Domail route, the revised order provided for building facilities for pilgrims who took the main Jammu-Pahalgam route as well. The only difference was that instead of the SASB, the new order authorised the state tourism department to provide facilities to the pilgrims.
Azad argued that after the May 26 decision, a propaganda was unleashed in the Valley that pilgrims would be settled permanently in the State, changing its demography. People in the Valley reacted by taking to the streets in large numbers to protest, forcing the State government to revoke its earlier order. The BJP then engineered the crisis in Jammu, argued the former J&K CM.
But sources point to the many holes in the arguments offered by the ruling camp ever since the crisis reached its peak last month. There are many unanswered questions. For instance, was it a simple lack of foresight or actually a well-designed Jammu card in an election year that was behind Azad government’s decision on May 26? And why did the Centre watch the worsening situation in Jammu and Srinagar quietly until it reached almost a point of no-return? What was the Home Minister and the Prime Minister’s Office doing when Jammu was boiling?

... contd.