Being sikh in Jammu: Hedging their risks, digging in their heels

As he sits in his small rented premises, Gurmeet Singh's mobile phone constantly rings, showing he has a finger in many pies.

Singh, 44, is a booking agent for transporters, commission agent for fruits and vegetables, property dealer, tour arranger, and finance guide all rolled into one. He is also a classic example of how the Sikh minority survives in Jammu.

"I don't want to be dependent on a particular business. Last week, the Jammu-Srinagar highway was closed. It affected the supply of fruit and vegetables. The barter trade between India and Pakistan is closed these days along the de facto Kashmir border due to seizure of heroin by Indian authorities. The suspension of the trade has affected us."

He recounts the story of how he burnt his fingers in the transport business.

Singh's family migrated to Jammu in the partition. He completed high school in 1983 and started his career as a driver. A few years later, he bought two trucks, a fleet size that grew to six.

Introduction of the national permit system made his business unviable.

Losing grip

Like Singh, there are many members in the Sikh community who once had control over the transport business but have diversified. Jagmohan Singh Raina, who ran a fleet of 30 trucks, runs a cooking gas distributorship in Srinagar. Sikhs say there was a time when they had 80 per cent of the transport. Their share is now less than 20 per cent.

Gurmeet Singh, who says he struggled hard to survive, does not want his children to get into business. His two children go to private schools. His daughter, a class IX student, wants to be an army officer, while the son wants to be a lawyer.

"I aspire to be an army officer because of the kind of pride and honour involved. I think no other profession provides this," said daughter Rasneet Kaur.

Raina has advocated for his community rights such as minority status, which will allow special programmes to be directed at them. The Sikhs number 350,000 or four per cent of the population of Jammu & Kashmir, of which 270,000 live in Jammu while 80,000 are in Srinagar and other parts of the state.

The community feels it dug in its heels in the face of militancy but suffered high collateral damage.

"Due to the turmoil, thousands of Sikhs living in the villages have left behind their property and have settled in cities and towns. We demand compensation for agricultural and horticultural losses, since these are more than Rs 25 lakh per family," said Raina, who has formed the All Parties Sikh Coordination Committee to press for Sikh rights.

Jagdev Singh left his 50 kanals (roughly six acres) in Rafiabad village in Baramulla district to settle in the Baramulla municipality. "I, with 20 family members migrated. We are running a transport business to sustain ourselves."

Identity

The bigger struggle is to protect culture. Raina says Punjabi as a language is losing in the state and openings for teaching Punjabi in state-run schools and colleges remain vacant.

"Also, state subject (domicile certificate) is being denied to the Sikh youth since they have left their native places and settled in Srinagar city and various district headquarters," said Raina.

Sikhs lived in refugee camps in J&K for a long time after partition. The irony is their areas are still called camps. Gurmeet Singh, who has built a two-storey house, says since in revenue records he is a custodian of Muslim property - those who moved to Pakistan during partition and left land behind - he cannot get a loan against his house.