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Activists believe evictions are happening so the Indian government can sell resource-rich territory to the private sector 31 December 2020 • 5:11pm Children from the Gujjar nomadic tribe walk to school on a cold and foggy morning in Indian-controlled Kashmir Credit: Channi Anand/AP All that remains of Shareef-Ud-Din Bajad’s apple orchard are the snapped branches, buried deep in the winter snow. In mid-November, officials from the local forest department in Kashmir had surrounded the mountain-top mud-hut house in the village of Kanidajan where Mr Bajad, 70, had lived for his entire life. “The officials threatened me and my family with jail if I didn’t leave my house,” said Mr Bajad, who lived there with his wife and six children. ....
The demolition drive and the eviction notices, Khatana says now puts the future of thousands of such families under a threat. Many Gujjar families across Kashmir have received show-cause notices to “leave the unauthorised occupation of the forest land”. “We have been living in the forests in peace with all the creatures here. We are here because our great grandfathers were born here,” Khatana said. Bajad and Khatana are from the Gujjar community considered some of the most impoverished groups in Kashmir – home to 12 million people. Back in Kanidajan village, tucked in a forest land surrounded with pine trees, people said their livelihood is dependent on the cultivation of apples – the core of the disputed region’s economy – and potatoes. ....