What happened on the fateful night of 19 January 1990 in Kashmir? Why did lakhs of Kashmiri Pandits flee their homes? A look at the tragedy, which has once again kicked up a storm in India, after the release of ‘The Kashmir Files’
Vivek Agnihotri’s The Kashmir Files, a movie that delves into the 1990 exodus of lakhs of Kashmiri Pandits during the peak of insurgency in the state, has triggered a political storm in India.
The film, which has opened to packed houses, has been declared tax-free in six Bharatiya Janata Party-ruling states and even won praise from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Meanwhile, the Opposition has labelled it a propaganda film, with the Congress saying that it is just another case of the government seeking political opportunities to share hate and lies.
Several critics have called the film disturbing, pointing out that Agnihotri’s personal views take away from the cause of the Kashmiri Pandits. Nevertheless, The Kashmir Files, starring Anupam Kher, has earned Rs 60.20 crore at the box office in the five days since its release and interest in the movie continues to grow.
Why does the tragedy of Kashmiri Pandits leave the country divided more than three decades later? What old wounds has the film opened? We take a look at the dark chapter of India’s history that left lakhs homeless.
The Kashmir of 1980s
After the death of Sheikh Abdullah in 1982, the baton of the National Conference (NC) was passed on to his son Farooq Abdullah. He went on to win the election in 1983. But Ghulam Mohammed Shah, Farooq Abdullah’s brother-in-law, deflected from the party in July 1984 and brought down the government. He joined hands with the Congress and became chief minister. With this, came political instability in the state.
The Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), a now-banned terrorist group, came to the forefront. In the early hours of 11 February 1984, the Indira Gandhi government carried out the hanging of Kashmiri separatist Maqbool Bhat in Tihar Jail in Delhi. His body was not handed over to his family but was instead buried within the jail premises.
Bhat was awarded a death sentence by the Supreme Court, but he was hurriedly executed to pacify the public seething over the abduction and killing of Indian diplomat Ravindra Mahatre in the UK by an alleged aide of Bhat’s JKLF. This created more tension in the Valley.
The trouble begins
Two years later, when the locks of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya were opened to allow Hindus to pray, the ties between the two communities strained further. Clashes between Hindus and Muslims spread across the country, reaching Kashmir.
In 1986, Anantnag, a stronghold of Congress leader Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, started witnessing communal trouble. Hindu temples were desecrated and properties came under the attack of alleged separatists. The vandalism spread to other towns of Sopore, Vanpoh, Fatepur, Luk Bhawan, Akura, among others.
The opposition to the government led by Shah grew. On 7 March 1986, Rajiv Gandhi, who had taken over the Congress after his mother’s assassination in 1984, sacked Shah and decided to bring Farooq Abdullah back to rule the state. Abdullah was appointed chief minister after the rigged elections in 1987, which, it is widely agreed, contributed to the rise of militancy in Kashmir.
The turning point
The attacks on Kashmir Pandits had multiplied by then. There was widespread violence in the Valley. On 14 September 1989, BJP leader Pandit Tika Lal Taploo was assassinated. This was considered the first major killing of a Kashmiri Hindu leader and to this day, 14 September is remembered as “Martyrdom Day” by Kashmiri Hindus.
Taploo’s death triggered a spree of murders on prominent Kashmiri Hindus. On 4 November, Neel Kanth Ganjoo, a retired judge who had sentenced Maqbool Bhat to death, was shot dead outside the J&K High Court in Srinagar. On 27 December, journalist-lawyer Prem Nath Bhat was killed in Anantnag.
Meanwhile, the JKLF was growing from strength to strength. On 8 December 1989, they kidnapped Rubaiya Sayeed, the daughter of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, who was then the Union home minister of India. Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was eager to give into the demands of the kidnappers who wanted that five terrorists be released. CM Abdullah and the Centre agreed and this further gave fillip to terrorism in the region.
The killing of Taploo came as a big blow to Kashmiri Pandits in the Valley, setting the tone for the exodus. An anonymous message in a newspaper, asking Pandits to leave created more anxiety, according to a report in The Indian Express.
Kashmiri Pandits offer alms at the Mata Kheer Bhawani Temple during its annual festival in the village of Tullamulla near Srinagar. Hundreds of Kashmiri Hindus attend the festival to worship the Hindu goddess every year. AFP
The dreadful night of 19 January 1990
The situation went out of hand on 19 January. According to personal accounts put together by prominent Kashmiri Pandits, announcements on loudspeakers were warning Hindus to leave; speeches were made praising Islam and Pakistan.
“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 exhortations urged the faithful to give a final push to the Kafir in order to ring in the true Islamic order. These slogans were mixed with precise and unambiguous threats to Pandits. They were presented with three choices – Ralive, Tsaliv ya Galive (convert to Islam, leave the place or perish). Tens of thousands of Kashmiri Muslims poured into the streets of the Valley, shouting ‘death to India’ and death to Kafirs…” writes Col Tej Kumar Tikoo in his book Kashmir: Its Aborigines and Their Exodus, as he describes the ominous night.
It was enough to frighten the Kashmiri Pandits who started leaving the Valley. They carried a few belongings, left behind their houses, and started fleeing.
On 21 January, Indian troops decided to intervene. The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) gunned down at least 52 Kashmiri Muslims protesting at the Gaw Kadal Bridge in Srinagar. This further angered them.
The Kashmiri Pandits who stayed behind faced more harassment and between March and April 1990 lakhs were forced into exile.
According to the Kashmiri Pandit Sangharsh Samiti, an organisation representing those who did not leave in 1990, of 75,343 Kashmiri Pandit families in January 1990, more than 70,000 fled between 1990 and 1992. More continued the leave until 2000, The Indian Express report says. Other experts say an estimated 100,000 Kashmiri Pandits of a population of 140,000 fled the Valley.
The Pandits still in Kashmir
Some 800 Kashmiri Pandit families resolved to stay back. But life hasn’t been easy for them. Every once in a while, a killing causes panic and instils fear.
In October 2021, two Kashmiri Pandits were killed among other civilians, leading to widespread protests in Jammu and Kashmir. Many Kashmiri Pandits skipped work and decided to shift some family members to Jammu, considered a safe place within the state for those displaced.
Sanjay Tickoo, who heads KPSS, told The Hindu, “Neither those who stayed back since the 1990s nor those who returned to the Valley are feeling secure. Many are leaving out of fear. The condemnation here is nothing but a lip service.”
Awaiting the return
The Kashmiri Pandits who fled the Valley believed it was temporary and they would return home once the situation normalised. Many lived in refugee camps in Jammu in poor conditions. But as militancy increased in the Valley, their hopes diminished. Today, the Jagti Township in Jammu is home around 4,000 such families. Thousands now live across the country in Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Jaipur, among other cities; some have moved abroad.
They are unlikely to return to what they once called home.
‘An emotional catharsis’
Decades later, The Kashmir Files has once again brought attention to the plight of lakhs of Pandits, evoking strong reactions in the country. Rahul Pandita, journalist and author of Our Moon Has Blood Clots: A Memoir of a Lost Home, told BBC that the community has always felt that their story has been stifled. “They’re experiencing, if I may call it that, an emotional catharsis,” he said.
With inputs from agencies
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