Return of Kashmiri
Pandits with Security and Dignity
by Ashwani Kumar
The
author is the Convener of the Panun Kashmir Movement in Jammu.
The accession of Jammu and Kashmir state to the Union of India in 1947 brought
in the sustained influence of Muslim majoritarian politics in the state
patronised by the 'soft-state' perceptions of the subsequent governments
at the Centre. Special status became a bargaining chip for the political
elite of Kashmir through political machinations strengthening the Muslim
precedence. It developed into a Muslim monolithic political culture and
reaction over the period, giving rise to the secessionist movement in Kashmir.
The forced mass exodus of three lakh Kashmiri Hindus from the Valley was
the logical culmination of the militarised form of pan-Islamic fundamentalism
bringing turmoil in this region. Having the experience of the Indian governance
and lack of sense of history in certain political circles in the national
politics, the secessionist forces have over the period since 1947, succeeded
in creating confusion and division amongst the political elite of India
to hoodwink the Indian people of the real dimensions involved, which are
now unfolding to the misfortune of this country. The whole issue stands
internationalised today by these forces having created a well-designed
confusion of a disputed status of Jammu and Kashmir state, made possible
by the fragile, vacillating and contradictory approach of powers-that-be
at the Centre and its political allies.
Secessionist
Movement
The leadership
of the present secessionist movement in Kashmir is quite clear that, even
if the present movement fails in achieving the ultimate objective of independence
from India, it will strengthen the ascendency and control of Muslims over
the politics and other spheres of the state and thus legally convert Kashmir
into virtually a Muslim state within the secular framework of the Indian
Republic. The statements of the Prime Minister and others in the Government
of India, including some Central ministers, regarding 'autonomy' and 'concessions'
to the state show the sensitivity of the so-called secular and progressive
forces in India to substantiate what secessionists in Kashmir desire. The
National Conference, on the other hand, in particular, is demanding greater
autonomy or pre- 1953 status for Kashmir as a prerequisite for any political
stability in the state. The Government of India with the help of the other
so-called secular- democratic elements, it seems, is slowly and steadily
working in the direction of establishment of a monolithic political way
of life in the state of Jammu and Kashmir that shall further strengthen
the anti- national forces and move to the final secession of Kashmir will
not be far off.
In such a situation
or otherwise, the political dispensation for the people in Jammu and Ladakh
for regional councils may formally take place, keeping in view the aspirations
of the majority of the people of these two regions of the state. Any kind
of such political reorientation shall bring into prominence the politically
factorial position of Kashmiri Muslims, people of Jammu and Ladakh in the
State. This will also, therefore, give official recognition to all the
three factors in the socio- political scene of the state.
Survival
Of Displaced Community
The issue of
the survival of Kashmiri Hindu displaced community, naturally the fourth
factor in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, shall have to be addressed objectively
and with more seriousness. Their survival, life and traditions are directly
linked with how the community is settled in the Valley of Kashmir, keeping
in view the ground realities of the situation in the state and particularly
in Kashmir. Almost all political and social organisations in the country
are unanimous about the return of Kashmiri Pandits to the Valley with salety,
honour and dignity, once normalcy returns in Kashmir. But unfortunately,
none of these organisations have till date tried to interpret these words
into the articulation of the measures they would like to initiate in this
direction. The practical feel of life the Kashmiri Pandits have been going
through in Kashmir, with their experience of the last seven years of exile,
forces the community to ask all and sundry concerned to explain what 'security,
honour and dignity' implies. If the purpose of this parrot-talk is to create
an impression in the minds of the Indian people that Kashmir was all roses
and normal for Kashmiri Hindus before the armed strife, it is not only
incorrect but also misleading. The coinage of 'security, honour and dignity'
being used conveniently has, in fact, harmed this community in the context
that the entire community has been kept as hostage to uncertainty and indecision
about them. Time has probably come when the Kashmiri Hindus themselves
will have to articulate what 'safety, honour and dignity' in Kashmir, once
normalcy is restored there, means for them. It is high time we dwell upon
the issue in the light of the historical experiences, national commitments
and the new world order.
Soft-State
Attitude
Safety, dignity
and honour are generally relative terms. What they mean for one individual
or a group of individuals may not necessarily be the same for all others.
The heroic attempt of Pt. Birbal Dhar and the supreme sacrifice of his
family and Pt. Harkar Bakshi paved the way for the Sikh rule in Kashmir
in 1819 A.D. which put an end to the 500-year era of brutalities on Kashmiri
Pandits at the hands of the alien Muslim rulers in Kashmir. The period
witnessed hundreds of thousands of conversions, thousands of killings,
three mass exoduses of Kashmiri Pandits and the wholesale destruction of
Hindu shrines and historical places. After the Sikh rule, the State was
reconstructed by Maharaja Gulab Singh in concurrence with the Britishers
in 1846, consequent upon the Treaty of Lahore and the Treaty of Amritsar
after combining six different regions with multi-religious and multi-lingual
backgrounds. The region of Kashmir, primarily because of its rich cultural
tradition and political vicissitudes, was automatically converted into
the hub of socio- political activity in the state during the Dogra-British
rule and afterwards. Although the Maharaja belonged to Jammu and used to
stay at Jammu for six months of the winter season in a year along with
his secretariat, yet Srinagar came to be recognised as the capital of Jammu
and Kashmir. The events that took place during the period of a century's
rule of Dogras were responsible for bringing the other five regions of
the state under the political shadow of the province of Kashmir. The accession
of the state to India in 1947, the illegal occupation of almost three regions
of the State by Pakistan in 1947-48, taking over the reins of the state
by Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah as a result of an agreement between the Government
of India and the Maharaja of Kashmir and persistent 'soft-state' attitude
of the Government of India helped Kashmir and the Kashmiris (Kashmiri Muslims)
to become front- runners in the political scenario of the state. The logical
result of such a scheme of things was the neglect of the other two regions
of Jammu and Ladakh at the cost of the aspirations of the people residing
therein.
Although Kashmiri
Pandits belonged to Kashmir and were also Kashmiris, yet they were subjected
to violence and communal victimisation once again, right from 1931 when
the Sheikh led frenzied Muslim mobs which made an attempt to finish Hindu
minorities of Kashmir from the Valley. They were the worst sufferers in
the new political set-up that was established in 1947 (and continues till
date) which simultaneously initiated a discriminatory policy against the
people of Jammu and Ladakh. The kind of life Kashmiri Hindus were forced
to live in Kashmir from 1947 (the year that dawned freedom upon all Indians)
onwards led hundreds of thousands of Kashmiri Hindus to leave Kashmir till
the forced mass exodus of 1989-90 took place due to the turmoil in the
Valley.
Special
Status
Apart from
the trouble and turmoil through which Kashmiri Pandits has passed to during
the Muslim rule in Kashmir from 1339 to 1819, they had to suffer even after
the attainment of independence in 1947. The Kashmiri Hindus firmly believe
that any special status of the state outside the constitutional organisation
of India was the main destabilising factor for them in the Valley. It was
the cause of the abnormality that prevailed in the Valley up to 1989. The
return of Kashmiri Hindus under that very dispensation is no normalcy for
them. The powers- that-be are now thinking of further diluting that status
by granting 'maximum autonomy' to the state. The new dispensation shall
close the valley for Kashmiri Hindus for all times to come.
Keeping out
of discussion the future political set- up of the state, the Kashmiri Hindu
visualises that after guns are formally given up by the Kashmiri Muslims,
the Islamic fundamentalism shall continue to decide all social relations
in the Valley for a number of decades to come, which is a way of its politics.
The issues involving business, marriage, inheritance, etc., will continue
to be influenced by the norms that may be prescribed by fundamentalistic
majoritarian politics. The Kashmiri Pandits cannot reconcile to live under
the shadow of such dispensation as it causes social strife and spoils the
quality of life, culture and ethos.
Demographic
Composition
To sustain
and further the dominant factor of demographic composition in the Kashmir
valley, Sheikh Abdullah's government did not allow thousands of Hindu refugees
(including Sikhs) from Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied areas of the state
to settle in the Kashmir valley in 1947-48. So much so that thousands of
Dogra Rajputs and Punjabi- speaking businessmen, who were domiciles of
Kashmir for the last 100 years, were compelled to leave the Valley between
1947 and 1950. Against this, a large number of Muslim refugees from Sinkiang
and adjoining areas were rehabilitated in the Kashmir valley. The silent
migration of Hindus from Kashmir from 1947 onwards till 1989 far exceeds
the figure of the mass exodus of Kashmiri Hindus in 1990, leaving a small
section of Hindus (approx 3 per cent of the total Kashmiri Hindu population)
in the Valley. These hapless people, who were forced to stay back in the
Valley due to their own compulsions, are now trapped and overwhelmed by
circumstances.
The persistent
and prevailing factor of displacement and dispersal of Kasmhiri Pandits
by powers-that-be in the state has caused the loss of their effective political
representation. It also broke and distorted the symbols of their cultural
identity. No pocket of their concentrated representation was allowed to
grow and flourish. A systematic fragmentation was induced from time to
time to oppress and suppress this hapless community on the social, political
and economic plane. The community had to move to Supreme Court, time and
again, to complain against the discriminatory policies of the state government
in regard to the appointments in government departments, promotions of
teachers in the Education Department, selection in the protessional colleges
of the state and admissions to the vocational institutions and beg for
the redressal of their grievances. Revenue laws and practices were so fashioned
that Kashmiri Hindus were deprived of their land holdings and consequent
returns thereof. Thc chances of appointment of Kashmiri Pandit aspirants
in the state government had considerably reduced and a majority of them
was compelled to seek other avenues. The aftermath of the 1967 Hindu agitation
in Kashmir resulted in the transfer of hundreds of the Kashmiri Pandit
officials to the places outside the Valley. The Hindu educational and other
welfare institutions in the Valley were openly discriminated and discouraged.
Hindu Houses
As Target
The state governmenfs
policy of Muslim precedence was supported by majoritarianism and mob reaction
which had/has been/become a fact of life in the Valley. The result of a
cricket match played somewhere in the world would provoke the 'faithfuls'
of the valley to target Hindu houses, damage to a mosque in the Middle
East would result in desecration of minority places of worship and property
and Pakistan's President getting killed in an air-crash would subject the
Kashmiri Hindus to abuse at the hands of Muslim mobs. The wide- ranging
and pre-planned loot and arson of 1986 in the Valley, and particularly
in Anantnag District shocked the Kashmiri Pandit community and it felt
isolated in its own habitat, despite the existence of a colossal nation-state.
In an attempt
to break from the ancient past, names of hundreds of places were conveniently
changed in the Valley. Disputes were given birth to in regard to the rights
of possession and property in respect of places of historical and cultural
importance. A concept of so-called 'Kashmiriyaf, which is nothing but a
bundle of half-truths and brazen lies regarding historical facts about
the Valley, was introduced in connivance with the instruments of governance
to distort the cultural impact of Kashmir. To this on-going process, the
Government of India has all along been a mute spectator, willingly.
The Kashmiri
Hindus and the people of Jammu and Ladakh share a common experience in
regard to the discriminatory policies of the state government towards them
from 1947 onwards. Fundamentally, the treatment meted out to them was due
to the fact that Kashmiri Pandits and a majority of the people of Jammu
and Ladakh were/are non-Muslims and that the state had overtly or covertly
endorsed the fact of Muslim precedence in almost all the spheres of politics
and economics in the state.
Despite this
important similarity in the experience of Kashmiri Pandits and the people
of Jammu and Ladakh, there are some pertinent dissimilarities as well.
The Kashmiri Pandits have undergone a long barbaric era of 500 years prior
to the Sikh rule in Kashmir which squeezed them from an overwhelming majority
to a minuscule minority in their own habitat. Secondly, the Muslim mob
reaction to the community in Kashmir established the fact that Muslims
did and do not desire any co- existence. Thirdly, but very important is
the factor of forced mass exodus of Kashmiri Hindus and their displacement
throughout the country. And here lies the difference in the framework of
the ideograph as 'to what 'safety, honour and dignity' means for each of
these people.
Regional
Councils
The continuous
struggle of the Buddhists in Ladakh for a Union Territory and later for
a Hill Council and an overwhelming support by the people of Jammu to the
demand of regional council for Jammu province are valid pointers in the
direction of the aspirations of the people concerned. The councils, with
wide executive and legislative powers, will be able to take care of the
rights of the people of the two respective regions. This arrangement has
the potential to guarantee the 'security, honour and dignily' to the domiciles
of the two regions. In the case of Kashmiri Muslims, the government of
India has already gone too far to accommodate them. Beyond a constitutional
provision of Article 370 (which has been instrumental in creation of a
state within a state and has also given rise to 'vested interests'), pumping
in of thousands of crores of rupees into Kashmir and maintaining precedence
of Kashmir in the politics of the state, the Government of India, it seems,
is ready to concede more which in their thinking may be able to further
consolidate the identity of 'security, honour and dignity' to the 'faithfuls'
in Kashmir.
In the case
of the Kashmiri Hindu community, the fourth factor in the state of Jammu
and Kashmir, the members of which have been forced to live as refugees
in their own state/country, 'safety, dignity and honour' to the community
means free flow of life. Ordinarily, there are three components of free
flow of life. But so far as the experience of KPs with the system in which
they lived/live and guarantee of right of franchise to the subjects of
India is concerned, the free flow of life for them have four components.
A system which provides commitment in regard to all the four essential
components of free flow of life can only ensure 'safety, honour and dignity'
to the Kashmiri Pandit community in Kashmir on their return to the valley.
These are:
Four Essential
Components
1.
The community should be able to maintain its homogeneity and compactness,
protect its cultural traditions and keep on contributing to the overall
Indian ethos.
2. Its members
should be able to live as free citizens of the country without fear of
any discrimination from any quarter, enabling the community to contribute
to the all-round advancement and the civilisational process of the new
world order.
3. The community
needs to be ensured a secured future to its posterity in its historical
habitat and the future generations should not be compelled to leave their
homeland due to any political, economic, educational or administrative
reasons.
4. The Kashmiri
Hindus should be given an equal right to take part in the democratic political
process at all levels to shape the destiny of their community and the nation
as per the aspirations of the majority of the people.
Since the community
of Kashmiri Hindus has enough experience of 'co-existence' with the Kashmiri
Muslims and the system that was allowed to grow and flourish in the state
from 1947 onwards, it would be in the fitness of things that the constitutional
provisions are invoked to specifically guarantee the community in respect
of all the four components of the free flow of life. It is only through
such a constitutional arrangement that the community will be ensured 'normalcy'
and consequent 'security, honour and dignity' in the Valley.
Demand For
Union Territory
The demand
of the community for a Union Territory for seven lakh Kashmiri Hindus in
the north and east of the Vitasta (Jhelum), besides its strategic value
in the national context, should be viewed in this perspective that it ensures
them a permanent constitutional guarantee in respect of all essential components
of the free flow of life. Coercing people to believe that 'normalcy' has
returned in the Valley is tantamount to keeping the nation in dark. And
using some hapless people to establish one's "secular" credentials is again
a crime which most of the time the lot being used for this purpose also
does not understand.
The return
of the community to the Valley for resettlement on permanent basis is not
linked at all with the goodwill gestures of the majority community or of
the government concerned. Neither pressurising its employees to join duties
in the Valley does mean any settlement of the community in the Valley.
Unless the sense of security is ensured through a constitutional and political
dispensation, the free tlow of life remains a dream for the Kashmiri Pandit
community. The option of a Homeland for Kashmiri Hindus in the Valley generates
an inbuilt mechanism to ensure the free flow of life.
Making Things
Rosy
Driving people
to believe that things have become rosy in Kashmir and consequent application
of pressure tactics to return shall ultimately put the members of the community
to think of another option and that is dispersal. In such a situation,
it will take a few years for the community to get drowned in the ocean
of humanity and thus extinguish as a community with a history of more than
5,000 years. The responsibility for a situation like this shall lie upon
the government, the political structure of the nation and the leaders of
the community.
To save the
community from further genocide in Kashmir and, at the same time, ensure
the community its compactness and homogeneity, it is high time that all
those who speak in terms of "safety, honour and dignity" try to understand
the relevance of carving out a Union Territory for the community in the
Valley. All other options, if there are any, shall, besides establishing
secular credentials of "a few", actually invite the disaster of the dimension
unknown yet, sooner or later, both for the community as well as for the
nation.
The authorities
concerned still have time to act, to save Kashmiri Hindus, to save Kashmir
and to save India.
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