What
claim does the exiled community have for a
Homeland?
- If
I die in exile
- think
this of me
- that
there is a corner
- out
there in Kashmir
- that
was for ever my abode,
- where
my soul will come to rest.
- -
Dr. K.L. Choudhary
The
Kashmiri Hindu
is the original inhabitant of the valley of
Kashmir ever since the birth of the valley by
divine intervention when Kashypa Rishi
materialized it from a huge lake. He has a history
of more than five thousand years of continuous
habibtion. Raj Tarangni, to be highlighted the
first historical record of ancient India, was
written by a Kashmiri Pandit Kalhana, and is a
lucid account of the Hindu Kings and the
establishment of rich cultural traditions in the
valley. The ruins of the to be highlighted 'Martand'
and other temples like Parihaspura at Pattan,
Narannag at Kangan and the excavations at Burzhoma
in the outskirts of the city of Srinagar speak of
the architectural attainments as much as of the
religious beliefs and practices of tbe ancient
Kashmir. History, Art, Architechre, Mathematics,
Astronomy, Theology Philosophy, Poetry and
Aesthetics emanated from our ancestors. Kashmir
during the days of yore was the centre of learning
and the seat of a great University at Bijbehara
near Anantnag to which scholars thronged from all
parts of the world for knowledge and learning and
for the study of Sanskrit, Literature, Philosophy
etc. Lawrence in 1899 wrote, "the valley of
Kashmir is the holy land of Hindus and I have
hardly been in any village which does not show
some relic of antiquity".
Modern
Kashmir owes a lot, for its rich cultural
heritage, its language, literature and arts, its
very 'Kashmiriat', to the Hindu who laid the
foundation for the same and consolidated it as
other cultures mingled with it down the centuries.
He gave Shaivism to the world in its explicit and
practical form. Now reduced to a minority, he is
the inheritor of this distinct and glorious
cultural, ethnic and religious background which
though having so much in common with rest of the
Hindu tradition of India is yet so distinct. It is
his duty to preserve this distinct heritage, to
secure his own roots, to assen his identity and to
claim his rights and freedom- religious, political
and social. He is peace loving and tolerant. He
has not taken up arms to counter terrorist
violence. He has suffered silently because he was
a minority at the mercy of a brute majority. But
Minority Rights are now acknowledged everywhere in
the civilized world. The UN Secretary General in
his June1992 blue-print about the role envisaged
for UN makes a proposal for an International
Convention defining inalienable minority rights
and a declaration to this effect to be placed
before the UN General Assembly. India, the
motherland of Kashmiri Hindus, has to recognise
this right of Kashmiri Pandits, First and
foremost. It has to grant him his rightful claim
and share in the Homeland. lt is a test case for
India, for the very survival of its unity in
diversity, to provide safeguards to each community
and uphold the rights and the just aspirations of
every ethnic and religious minority. And, India
will have to prove to its own people and to the
world community that it is determined to safeguard
and preserve the aspirations and the rights and
privileges of the Kashmiri Hindus. While, on the
one hand, the Indian Govemment is ready to concede
every demand of the terrorists and Islamic Zealots
in Kashmir short of total secession, it will have
to save its own face by granting a 'Homeland' to
its secular, peace-loving citizens of the valley
who sacrificed themselves at the altar of
secularism and nationalism.
The
year 1993 all over the world is being celebrated
as the year of 'indigenous people'. Kashmiri
Pandits are the indigenous people of Kashmir with
the continuity of a distinct ethno-religious
tradition of more than five thousand years.
Therefore, the world shall have to grant them
their inalienable rights to exist in their
Homeland with security of life, political liberty,
freedom of thought and expression and in dignity
and pride.
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