Georgia, global warming and Pakistan war: The story of Kathua rape victim's Bakarwal community

Gruesome gang rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl at Rasana village in Kathua near Jammu in J&K, has brought Bakarwals in the news, the community to which the girl belonged. When she was kidnapped on January 10, 2018, she was out grazing her ponies, the occupation that defines her nomadic community. Their name, 'Bakar-wal', means those who take care of goats. Besides goats, they also keep other livestock such as sheep, horses, buffaloes and cows.
Bakarwals are Sunni Muslims of the Gujjar ethnicity. Gujjars trace their origin to Georgia. The name of the community is believed to be derived from the name of this Central Asian country. Gujjars, who have both Hindus and Muslims among them, are spread from Afghanistan to the Gangetic plains in India.

One of the several tribes of J&K, Bakarwals are a pastoral nomadic community found mostly in Doda, Rajauri, Poonch and Udhampur. They move through the Pir Panjal range of J&K and are mainly shepherds.

According to the police investigation, the motive behind the rape and murder was to drive out the community from settling down in the area. This also points to the larger crisis for the community — a slow move to sedentary lifestyle due to shrinking pastures and rising temperatures, and the resultant frictions with the locals. Traditionally, Bakarwals move to high meadows with their livestock when the snow starts melting. When it begins to snow again after a few months, they come down to the lower reaches. For centuries, Bakarwals have moved from Jammu to Kashmir and back to Jammu, their migration regulated by the changing seasons.

However, rising temperatures due to global warming have led to reduced rain and snow which means shrinking grazing grounds for their livestock. This also disrupts their migration schedules. As construction of roads and buildings spreads through mountains and valleys, Bakarwals find their domain shrinking. Now they have to often transport their livestock on trucks. They have nearly a dozen routes from Jammu to the highland pastures fixed by the forest department.

Bakarwals have houses in the villages of Jammu region where they spend summers. These days, as their world too modernises, students, lactating mothers and government employees have to stay back in summers. Traditionally, the community has never had any communal tension with the Hindus of the Jammu region. In fact, in an area long besieged with separatism, Bakarwals have largely sided with India and never with the militants.

It was a Bakarwal man who alerted Indian forces in 1965 against Pakistan's Operation Gibralter, which was planned to snatch the Kashmir valley from India. This failed operation led to a war between India and Pakistan. Mohammad Din Jagir ran into Pakistani soldiers on the border who asked for his help to sneak into Kashmir. He went back and alerted Indian military. His tip-off led to the failure of Pakistani operation. Jagir was honoured with a Padma Shri award. In 1990, he was killed by Muslim terrorists.

The Bakarwal community is increasingly turning sedentary due to climate change and pressures of modern lifestyle. This is one reason it comes in conflict with the locals where it settles down. In the past, Bakarwals have had cordial relations with the locals who even used to take care of their homes when the community migrated to the upper reaches in summers.

But recently there have been several cases of conflict between the Bakarwals and locals. According to the chargesheet in the case, the “general impression” among the community in the tehsil is that “Bakarwals indulge in cow slaughter” and “drug trafficking” which was “turning their children into drug addicts”.