Remembering Jan 19 1990 and Aftermath:Lalit k kaul

 

Remembering the Jan 19 1990 and Aftermath: Lest the World should Forget It All

                                                                                                                               Lalit K Kaul

What is being penned in the following lines is nothing new, but repetitiveness becomes the imperative because certain events in the history cannot be allowed to recede in to the oblivion. They need to be recalled and restated ad-infinitum. And, the process of dehumanizing the Kashmiri Pandit community (KPC) in the Kashmir Valley that started in the year 1986 and culminated in January 19, 1990 is one such historical event that needs to be narrated repeatedly for all generations to come within and without the KPC. It is important for two specific reasons. One, to call their bluff on their claims of “Kashmiriat" and that of “democratic and secular" India. Two, to deeply engrave in the minds of our generations next and impress upon the Indian political leadership that our emancipation lies only in achieving the object of our Homeland; because it's only in our Homeland that we, as a community, can uninterruptedly uphold our culture, belief systems and religious faith. Therefore, we have no other option but to publicly speak and write about it.

In the aftermath of January 19, 1990 two unforgettable things happened. One, continued targeted killings of the members of the KPC and second, the unpardonable indifference of the successive central governments and their associated political out-fits towards the refugee status of KPC.

Post 1991 Targeted Killings:

The link below gives a near detailed account of killings of the Hindus in the Jammu region and KPC members in the Kashmir Valley by the ideologically motivated groups (the ideology that denies the right to exist for people outside of their faith). Some incidents related to the killings of the members of the KPC are listed as under.

March 21, 1997

Sangrampura Massacre: In Sangrampura, a village 20 miles south of Srinagar in Jammu & Kashmir state, gunmen burst into homes of Hindus, took away seven men and killed them.

January 25, 1998

Wandhama Massacre: The most shocking of the massacre of Kashmiri Hindus took place in Wandhama, a village near Srinagar, on January 25, 1998. The two dozen-odd terrorists dropped in for tea, around 2030 hours. The tea was served and they left a little after midnight. When they arrived, the foothill village of Wandhama, 30 km outside Srinagar, boasted four families of Kashmiri Hindu Pandits, numbering around 23. When they left, there was none. Not alive, that is.

August 9, 1998

This was followed by two more massacres, one at Khurhama, Ganderbal in which four members of a family were killed.

September 17, 1998

The third massacre took place. Five male members of a minority community family and close relatives of a counter-insurgent were killed after being dragged out of their houses at Dagapora in Ganderbal late last night and shot them in cold blood

March 24, 2003

Nadimarg Massacre: At 2:30am on March 24, 2003, minority Hindus in the village of Nandimarg in Kulgam-Shopian belt in southern part of Kashmir Valley, 70 km away from Srinagar, were pulled out of their homes, assembled under a Chinar tree and mowed down by bullets sprayed by Islamic terrorists. The 10 to 15 terrorists who posed as Security Forces, disarmed the 9-member Police Guard and killed all but two Hindus, the latter escaping with injuries. Among the 24 persons killed were two children aged 4 and 5 years, 12 women and half a dozen elderly people.

The incidents of targeted killings related to the KPC in the Kashmir Valley post abrogation of non-existent Article 370 are too well known.

http://iref.homestead.com/Kashmir90.html

The Abject Indifference of Successive Elected Lok Sabhas and Central Governments:

کھڈا ہوں آج بھی روٹی کے چار حرف لئے"

"سوال یہ ک کتابوں نے کیا دیا مجھکو

"खड़ा हूँ आज भी रोटी के चार हर्फ़ लिए

सवाल यह कि किताबों ने क्या दिया मुझको"

I coined a couplet based on the above one that questions India’s response to the refugee status of Kashmiri Pandit community (KPC).  And this I do with due apologies to “desh bhakts"

کھڈا ہوں آج بھی ہند کا ترنگا لئے

سوال یہ ک ہند نے کیا دیا مجھکو

खड़ा हूँ आज भी हिन्द का तिरंगा लिए

सवाल यह कि हिन्द ने क्या दिया मुझको

There were two reasons, as explicitly stated by perpetrators of our genocide, for cleansing the Kashmir Valley of her aboriginals. One, that we had no right to exist as per their ideology and two, that we were Indian agents. That we were Indians in anti-India Kashmir is beyond debate. That we had/have the right to live is not for debate, but what is open to debate is the ideology that denies right to life for people outside of their faith.

It wouldn't be too tall a claim to make if we say that we ended up being refugees because our loyalties were/are for India as a nation/country/state. And for that reason that intolerant ideology was invoked to dehumanize our community; instill fear in to our minds by carrying out killings of menfolk and children and raping and killing of our womenfolk and by displaying banners and announcements from mosques asking us to either convert or face death. All this served as a stimulant for near total forced exodus of our community only to save for posterity our religious faith, belief systems, culture and honour of our womenfolk. And, the state machinery looked the other way. That was the compliance of the state government with anti-India, anti-social and religious bigots. That the then central government (GOI) and its political leadership was in approval of the barbarities inflicted on our community was subtly conveyed by the then PM of India, Sri V P Singh, who replied, “Who Pandits" when informed by a press reporter about our forced mass exodus from the Valley to other parts of India. The BJP and the Left who were supporting his government from outside never questioned him on such an irresponsible and callous response.

Be it Sri P V Narsimha Rao, Sri AB Vajpayee, Dr. Manmohan Singh and Sri Narendra D Modi none of them thought it necessary to discuss the genocide of KP community and their exile from the Valley in their respective Lok Sabhas. No questions were raised in the Zero Hour. No private member or party-based bill was introduced to debate why and how of our exile if only to come up with lasting solutions for our community's future in the Kashmir Valley. For the Parliament of India, the community called KPC didn't/does not exist within the framework of “democratic and secular" India. Nothing explains the character of our political system better than its indifference to the lives, honour and dignity of a people exiled by the religious bigots. And, the character is that our political system is depraved. By ignoring our community, the political leadership including the PMs of India have dishonoured the Indian Constitution and in particular its Directive Principles. 

To rub salt in to the wounds of the KPC, the GOI has come up with the plan of rehabilitating us in the Valley by housing us in ghettos/pigeonholes in certain demarcated zones within the Valley-wherein a few thousand families would co-habitat! Remember concentration camps! It is acceptance by the Indian political leadership of its surrender to the ideology that denies co-existence. And, yet the tall claim is that in India there exists a “democratic and secular” dispensation!

Humans don’t live by Food and Shelter Alone:

Humans as a social entity are rooted in their culture, belief systems and religious faith. And, it's a combination of these that defines their food habits and shelter architecture. For, these define their identity and segregate them from others with a different culture, belief systems and religious faith. The whole world recognizes this fact of the existence of human societies. No matter how many temples the exiled KPC may build outside of the Kashmir Valley, they can be no substitute for Kheer Bhavani, Hari Parvat, Shankracharya temple, Jeethiar, Sun temple, Amarnath shrine and others in the Valley. Because our heart, mind and soul connect with our shrines in Kashmir. That's where our roots lie. That's where our Home is. And, the modern Indian dispensation has schemed to deprive us of our Home and thus disconnect us from our roots.

For all the big talk of “unity in diversity", one dimension of that diversity is being systematically effaced by ensuring that the KPC becomes incapable of holding its culture, belief systems and religious faith intact. Even Zain-Ul-Abadin (Badshah) allowed the KPC its freedom to live by its faith in Kashmir not out of any kind heartedness, but out of his very personal compulsions; the present Indian political leadership boasting of “democratic and secular” polity does not seem to have any compulsion to restore the dignity and honour of the KPC by conceding to its demand for their Homeland wherein it can unhesitatingly follow their culture, belief systems and religious faith.

While the Pandits may chant “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” vociferously only to restate their allegiance to India, they need to internalize the fact that their Mother Kashmir has been snatched from them by “Bharat Mata Kae Spoot” and that collectively certain things need to be done to reintegrate us with our Mother.