Amid COVID-19 lockdown, seasonal migration of tribal nomads begins in J&K

The COVID-19 lockdown may have delayed the seasonal migration of Gujjars and Bakerwals in Jammu and Kashmir, but finally, the administration has started a process to allow the nomadic tribes to move along with their livestock to upper reaches.

J&K Director Tribal Affairs, Saleem Khan said the process has been started on the instructions of Chief Secretary BVR Subrahmanyam to allow seasonal migration of tribal people to the upper reaches of Kashmir.

“Deputy Commissioners have already issued orders in this regard. The migration got delayed for only a week or ten days,” Khan said.

However, Javed Rahi, tribal activist and founder of Tribal Research and Cultural Foundation said the number of horses which were the primary source of transpiration, has reduced to 62,000. “The administration should allow load carriers and trucks so that the tribal population can transport their household goods to the upper reaches,” he demanded.

The nomads carry tents, utensils, foodstuffs, and medicines for the livestock and the family on horseback while men and women travel on foot during the journey. Infants are carried by mothers, in special cradles tied to their backs.

By late March, thousands of nomads begin their annual tryst with thousands of sheep and goats across the Pir Panjal mountain range to reach the valley. The herder families, every year, begin their journey to the alpine pastures for grazing during the summer, before returning to warmer Poonch and Rajouri districts of Jammu in October as the weather worsens.

The tradition is much like the Durbar Move, in which Jammu and Kashmir government functions for six months each in the two capitals of the Union Territory, Srinagar and Jammu, to escape extreme weather conditions in these places.

Negotiating hilly terrains and bad weather with huge flocks without a frown is something the Bakarwals have learned through the generations. The difficult journey usually takes more than three weeks, but in recent years, it has become much tougher.

The traditional routes, which the tribesmen used for generations have become crisscrossed with many busy roads that disturb the animals and the journey is made even more treacherous by the risk of landslides from the practice of blasting of mountains by mining companies to extract minerals.