Is Muslim population growth in Ladakh a part of a plan?
August 29, 2008
A sign seen at a Muslim village from Zanskar to Kargil in Ladakh
A major concern of the Buddhist Ladakhis is the population increase by Muslims in Ladakh, where the latter are in a minority, as part of a plan to disrupt the existing demographic patterns. If true, the consequences could be socio-economic as well as political in nature. This worrying aspect came to my attention when locals in Ladakh told me what I have written here.
And for those indulging in such practices, the law helps them too: in India, polygamy for Muslims is allowed but not for other communities. As a result, large Muslim families are not a surprise with each wife bearing more than a couple of children. The Buddhists feel Muslims are spreading their influence in the mostly Buddhist areas of Ladakh by consciously having many more children – some men have been said to father over 20 – and buying property. The Buddhists believe the money to buy such property and support large families comes from the rich benefactors in the Middle East.
Of course, it would require more than just anecdotal evidence to establish a trend here. So far this has not been confirmed by the 2001 population census. Irrespective of the true picture, what may be worrying are such sentiments going around, adding further fuel to the already charged up atmosphere of Kashmir.
Fortunately, the situation seems to be nothing close to the violent relations between the Hindus and Muslims in the Jammu and Srinagar areas. Hopefully the Buddha will shed some enlightenment in Ladakh at least before things go out of hand here too.
Football team sized families? Because of the biased law of allowing polygamy? No surprise that multiple wives bearing multiple children?
It’s one thing to state what the Buddhist people of Ladakh are feeling, quite another to inject your own words in their mouths… Your views are quite offensive in this article. And if you’re just writing what THEY told you, then it’s not clearly mentioned.
Looks like you are reporting an issue you found there, but your own biases seem to shine through. Seriously… .quite offensive and hurtful. A communal-bias injected travelogue.
Hi Saad,
The intent was clearly not to project any biases of my own - in fact, I am have none. I came back feeling more positive than any other time in my life after my interaction with the local population of different communities. Just showed me what a beautiful world and people we have and all wrong can be attributed to mindless politics.
However I do take your point about some of it sounding offensive (unintentionally) and I have corrected that. I have also now highlighted that these are from what I was told and not my own take.
But you may noticed in the original article that I did write the following to show I have not taken this to be gospel truth.
“Of course, it would require more than just anecdotal evidence to establish a trend here. So far this has not been confirmed by the 2001 population census. Irrespective of the true picture, what may be worrying are such sentiments going around, adding further fuel to the already charged up atmosphere of Kashmir.”
If you still feel the piece is flawed from a journalistic point of view, I am open to further modifications. But I do appreciate your being frank about your feelings on this piece.
Regards
Ajay
Well, if you say it wasn’t your intent then it’s fine I guess.
Ajay, I am half Kashmiri Pandit (the maternal side) and therefore nearly always refrain from making comments about Kashmir and Ladakh. The issue i feel is too close to home and too complex to completely make sense of. But yes, I have heard exactly the same sentiments in Ladakh on many occassions.