A strong message should be sent to the jihadi and separatist forces that Kashmir without its Pandits won’t be acceptable any longer
Tears rolled down my eyes as I saw The Kashmir Files. As a law-abiding citizen and Indian Muslim, my heart was shattered to see the dastardly and demoniac killings of the Kashmiri Pandits in the Valley. For the first time, their massacre has been well brought about in terms of a film for the world to know. The government, apart from dealing sternly with the anti-India forces that made Kashmir a hub of Islamist terrorism, should now focus on rehabilitating the Pandits in the Valley. Also, a strong message should be sent to the jihadi forces promoted by the Abdullahs and the Muftis, in connivance with the Congress, that Kashmir without its Pandits won’t be acceptable any longer.
It is unfortunate that the land of Sufi saints and sadhus such as Syed Bulbul Shah, Mir Sayyed Hamadani, Nand Rishi (Nooruddin Wali), Utpaldeva, Abhinavdeva, Bhagwan Gopinath, Lal Ded, Rupa Bhawani, Hubba Khatoon and many others, has become an Islamist hellhole. What’s even more lamenting is that no Muslim group, secular or otherwise, has yet openly condemned the 1990 killings and exodus. This type of barbaric and mindless killing is unacceptable. It became even more heart-rending when a spokesperson of the National Conference stated that the 2002 Gujarat violence too should get the same focus. This balancing act is condemnable, given that for hundreds of years, Kashmiri Hindus and Muslims lived together like sugar and milk.
Some time back, RSS leader Dattatreya Hosbale had stated — and rightly so — that the displaced Kashmiri Pandits should return to their homeland. Unfortunately, these refugees in their own country need more than just assurances; they need security and an ecosystem that’s not intimidating. Kashmir, despite seeing improvement in the situation since the abrogation of Article 370, doesn’t seem to give them enough confidence to move back to the Valley. The government has to do more on that front.
I agree with Sushil Pandit and Lalit Ambardar that the current government, despite taking a few momentous steps, could have done more; during the last eight years, it should have rehabilitated at least 25 per cent of displaced Kashmiri Pandits. Besides, it is high time that a separate ministry is created for the rehabilitation of the displaced Pandits in the Valley.
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Today, at least 11 major terrorist outfits, and perhaps dozens of smaller ones, operate in Kashmir. They are roughly divided between those supporting independence and those in favour of accession to Pakistan. The oldest and most widely known terror outfit, the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), has spearheaded the movement for an independent Kashmir. Its student wing is the Jammu and Kashmir Students Liberation Front (JKSLF). A large number of other terror organisations have emerged since 1989, some of which support independence, others seek Kashmir’s accession to Pakistan.
Although all groups reportedly receive arms and training from Pakistan, the pro-Pakistani groups are reputed to be favoured by Pakistan’s military intelligence, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). The most powerful of these is the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen. Other major groups include Al-Jehad, Al-Barq, Hizbullah, Ikhwan-ul-Muslimin, Jamait-ul-Mujahideen, Tehriq-ul Mujahideen, Allah Tigers, Al-Umar Mujahideen and Al-Umar Commandos. According to media reports, several hundred fighters from Afghanistan and Sudan have also joined these groups.
How did this Kashmir problem begin? Basically, since the mid-1970s, communal rhetoric was exploited in the state for vote-bank politics. Around this time, Pakistan’s ISI and Wahabism entered Kashmir almost simultaneously to corner its famed Sufi culture and Hindu-Muslim amity. Radicalisation of Kashmir began in the 1980s when the Abdullahs changed the names of about 2,500 villages from their native names to new Islamic ones.
The ethnic cleansing of the Kashmiri Pandits began on 14 September 1989 when a Kashmiri Pandit and political activist, Tika Lal Taploo, was shot dead by armed men outside his residence. On 4 November 1989, High Court judge Neelkanth Ganjoo was killed in Srinagar. Besides, the Kashmiri Pandits’ macabre massacres like Chamba massacre, Wandhama massacre, Chapnari massacre, Prankote massacre, murder of Gurudev Shanti Kali, Amarnath pilgrimage massacre and Kishtwar too took hundreds of lives by the militants to create the present day situation when hardly a single Pandit family lives in Kashmir.
On 4 January 1990, a local Urdu newspaper, Aftab, published a press release issued by Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, asking all Pandits to leave the Valley immediately. Al-Safa, another local daily, repeated the same warning. Resultantly, on 9 January, these warnings were followed by Kalashnikov-wielding masked jihadis carrying out militarised marches openly threatening and killing Kashmiri Pandits who objected.
The beleaguered Kashmiri Pandit community became panic-stricken when the Valley began reverberating with the jihadi war cries. A host of highly provocative, communal and threatening slogans, interspersed with martial songs, incited the Muslims to come out on the streets and break the chains of “slavery”. These slogans were mixed with unambiguous threats to Pandits. They were presented with three choices: Ralive, Tsaliv ya Galive (convert to Islam, leave the place or be ready to be perished). Bomb explosions and indiscriminate firing by the terrorists became a daily occurrence. Between 1989 and 1991, over 95 per cent of the Valley’s indigenous Hindu population was forced out through a targeted campaign of killings, rapes, threats, and destruction of property and religious sites.
The ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Pandits 32 years ago remains one of the darkest chapters in India’s modern history. The government’s failure at that time to officially recognise them as “Internally Displaced Persons” and allow them to return to their homeland with the full dignity, security, and civil rights that they deserve, only amplifies this tragedy.
True, what Dattatreya has desired is something that should have been done almost three to two-and-a-half decades ago, but the previous governments were weak-kneed, lacked resolve and the will power. However, Dattatreya should also know that owing to the presence of the separatist and jihadi elements in the Valley, the return won’t be an easy nut to crack. A concerted effort has to be made both from an administrative as well as societal point of view to ensure that not only the intimidating jihadi elements are taken care of, but also the majority Muslim community is made to realise that the return of the Pandits is good for the overall health of the Valley.
The author is the former chancellor of Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad. Views expressed are personal.
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