The Indian Constitution is Exclusive of Kashmiri Pandit Community: Lalit k Kaul

The Indian Constitution is Exclusive of Kashmiri Pandit Community

(Can it be made Inclusive?)

Lalit K Kaul

Recently our Parliament witnessed a debate on the responsibility of the party in power in upholding the Indian Constitution in letter and spirit. The ruling and the opposition parties traded charges of violation of Indian Constitution against each other. All this with a political intent and not out of any respect for the Constitution of India . That no political outfit while in power has honoured Directive Principles as imbibed in the Constitution of India and strived to implement them is evident from the fact that after more than 75 years of independence, the Prime Minister of India, Sri Narendra D Modi, proudly stated in the Parliament that his government feeds 80 crore people, takes care of their basic needs including shelter as they are unable to take care of their requirements.

Here an attempt is made to showcase how the successive Central governments backed by different political parties and political conglomerates strived hard to ensure that Kashmiri Pandit Community and Indian Constitution become two disjoint sets. How the Indian Constitution was shelved for pursuing the mission of erasing every footprint of the Kashmiri Pandit Community (KPC) in Kashmir including its history, art, literature, religious practices, belief system, socio-cultural domain, etc.; is sought to be analysed.

But before doing that, reproduced here is what the Indian Constitution, through its Articles, guarantees for the people of India.

21. Guarantees Right to Life, which states that no person can be deprived of their life or personal liberty except in accordance with the procedure established by Law. It includes the following:

• The right to live with dignity

• The right to livelihood

• The right to healthy environment

• The right to shelter

• The right to freedom from torture and inhuman or degrading treatment.

29 . (1) Any section of the citizens residing in the territory of India or any part thereof having a distinct language, script or culture of its own shall have the right to conserve the same.

31. (1) No person shall be deprived of his property save by authority of law.

There are other provisions in the Indian Constitution which are not being listed for want of space for their interpretation with regard to the KPC.

Article 21:

The Right to Live with Dignity and Right to Livelihood:

These are inseparable from one another. For, if Right to Livelihood is denied to an individual then Right to Live becomes infructuous. For one to live one’s life one need become proficient in the work (chosen of one’s free will) one wants to do for earning one’s livelihood. And, if proficiency in any chosen work is the imperative then to achieve it the avenues for learning should be available and not blocked.

In the erstwhile J&K state the successive governments as a matter of unwritten policy denied such avenues of learning to the KPC. The admissions to institutions of higher learning were denied conveniently ignoring their children’s merit. This unwritten and unspoken policy of the successive state governments left their children to fend for themselves which forced them into looking for such institutions of learning in other states of India for achieving proficiency in their chosen discipline of learning.

Because Article 370 conferred sovereignty to the J&K state for managing it’s internal affairs, the then successive Central governments looked the other way, but this act of depriving the children of KPC an access to institutes of higher learning continued post March 23, 1965 when the then Prime Minister of erstwhile J&K state, Sri Ghulam Mohammed Sadiq was relegated to the Chair of CM from that of PM with his consent. The natural consequence of this relegation was that the Constitution of J&K including its Flag became irrelevant and therefore the Constitution of India became applicable to the erstwhile J&K state . If, this is incorrect then all the states of India who had their CMs, they too should have had their own Constitution and Flag! This historical step that had led to total integration of the erstwhile J&K state with Indian Union enabled Lok Sabha elections to be held for the first time in 1967 in the said state.

But in practice, the Constitution of India continued to be violated leading to continued denial of access to the resources in the erstwhile J&K state and the successive Central governments backed by different political parties looked the other way. The local and national political outfits connived with each other to ensure that the Constitution of India was exclusive of the KPC.

Right to Live with Dignity:

Humans don’t live by food and shelter alone and that’s what differentiates them from the animal world. Human life is multidimensional as it encompasses both the material (temporal) and spiritual world. Not only the KPC was deprived of its access to the resources available in the material world in Kashmir, its spiritual world was also dehumanized. Right to Live with Dignity entails a community’s freedom to live freely, uninterruptedly and without any fear by its social and cultural values including religious practices, dogmas and belief system. As also the freedom to access its places of worship for performing religious duties and rituals as also to maintain them without any impending threat of their getting vandalized and desecrated.

In the case of the KPC, everything contrary to what upholds Right to Live with Dignity was institutionalized in Kashmir and which culminated into their genocide and forced exile from Kashmir to other parts of India and the successive local and Central governments looked the other way and continue to do so. The genocide and exile from Kashmir of the KPC was the absolute barbaric way of sending the message across to it that the Constitution of India was exclusive of it.

Right to Healthy Environment & Right to Shelter:

All these “Rights” naturally ceased to be, post the genocide and exile from Kashmir of the KPC. When those residing in decent self-owned houses were forced to become footpath and slum dwellers. When the exiled ones were thrown open to extreme hostile temperatures-not hitherto experienced- to die of heat stroke, snake bites and multiple infections contracted due to filthy environment around- what with open drainage systems overflowing all around their new shelters. The living conditions are no different today even while they have been shifted to pigeonhole accommodations. The criminal indifference to their plight by the local and Central governments continues to be and there couldn’t have been any better way to sink into the mind of the KPC that the Constitution of India was exclusive of it.

The Right to Freedom from Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment:

It couldn’t have got more torturous, inhuman and degrading than when the KPC women were kidnapped, raped and gang raped and then their bodies cut into pieces using wood piercing machines; when notices were pasted on the compound walls of Kashmiri Pandit houses asking them to “Convert or Leave Kashmir or face Death”; when mosques through their loud speakers were blurting out threats to KPC for its liquidation; when temples were being vandalized and desecrated and continue to be (even after claimed abrogation of Art 370 on Aug 5,2019). None of those responsible for above inhuman and, therefore, barbaric acts have been brought to justice even when J&K has been reorganized as UT and is under direct supervision of the Central government backed by the BJP who tirelessly claim their adherence to the Constitution of India while carrying out their responsibilities! All of those who planned and executed genocide of KPC are being pampered and their lifestyles raised by dint of massive infrastructural development.

Article 29(1):

Any section of the citizens residing in the territory of India or any part thereof having a distinct language, script or culture of its own shall have the right to conserve the same.

The KPC has distinct language and culture, but it has been exiled from the land where it would have been possible for it to not only preserve its language and culture, but also enrich it. Having been forced to live in places, outside Kashmir, where the native’s language, script and culture are strikingly different from those of KPC; for the sake of mere survival it becomes the imperative to pick up at least the speaking capability for local language which is necessary for communication with the locals for fulfilling day to day requirements. The usage of Kashmiri language remains confined to the family and with time loses its significance. The language and culture are not disjoint sets; language also characterizes the civilizational aspects of a community/race and all these are subject to a certain geographical location and environmental conditions. The culture of an exiled community too gets adulterated with time because it tries to adopt practices and belief system of the dominant local culture. An uprooted community, with time, is liable to lose its identity and merge with the local one. In view of the KPC’s exiled status which seems to be inching towards a permanent one, this Article of the Constitution is not applicable to it.

Article 31(1):

No person shall be deprived of his property save by authority of law:

The KPC was deprived of its property in Kashmir (starting 1986)- under the supervision of the then local and Central governments- by the Kashmiri Muslim political and religious leadership motivated by their religious Ideology. Since then, most of it has been occupied; some exiled ones have been forced into executing transfer deeds under desperation/coercion. Neither the local nor the Central government has any inclination to take stock of the KPC’s movable and immovable properties left behind by it while fleeing their villages. No intent to chalk out a plan whereby these properties could be handed over back to their rightful owners. When the State enforces property snatching, the Constitution of India stays abused.

When shall the Indian Constitution be Inclusive of the KPC?

Only when the Central government (present or the future ones) grant and thereby carve out the demanded KPC Homeland to the N-E of River Jhelum. Only when the SC of India will start hearing the petitions of the KPC and bring culprits of genocide to justice; not only those who executed this crime against humanity, but also those who planned and got it executed. Only when the Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Bill as scripted by the KPC leaders shall be tabled in the Indian Parliament to bring out the Law that punishes the heinous crimes against humanity like Genocide.

The Central governments (backed by different political outfits) have since 1950 done many acts of reorganization like, linguistic based reorganization of states in India; creation of new states like, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Telangana, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal, Chhattisgarh, etcetera. All for the reasons that a section of the people-then residing in larger state- sought to have a state of their own where they could organize themselves politically, socially and economically and would be masters of their own fate. All those who sought separation from their Mother State proclaimed to be the victims of discrimination on socio-economic and socio-political planes.

The KPC in addition to having been discriminated against have been the victims of Genocide and exile. And, therefore the KPC has much stronger reasons and case for asking for bifurcation of Kashmir Valley to have a Homeland UT of their own where they would feel free to organize themselves politically, socially, economically and, indeed, feel free to live by their culture, religion, belief system without any fear of impending annihilation.