Guest guest Posted February 2, 2003 Report Share Posted February 2, 2003 >BJP News >bjp-l (AT) bjpfriends (DOT) org (BJP Discussion Group) >vaidika1008 (AT) hotmail (DOT) com >[bJP News] J&K: A Forgotten Ethnic Cleansing >Sat, 1 Feb 2003 09:19:07 -0800 (PST) > >J&K: A Forgotten Ethnic Cleansing >Author: KANCHAN LAKSHMAN >Publication: Outlook >February 10, 2003 > >It's over 13 years now but, political rhetoric aside, we, as a nation, >have become immune to the plight of the Kashmiri Pandits who remain >largely irrelevant in the political discourse -- both within and outside >the country. > > >January 19 marked thirteen years since what is generally recognized as >the beginning of the process of ethnic cleansing by which the Kashmiri >Pandits (descendents of Brahmin priests) were hounded out of the Kashmir >Valley. On this day, a Kashmiri Pandit nurse working at the Soura >Medical College Hospital in Srinagar was raped and later killed by >Pakistan-backed terrorists. The incident was preceded by massacres of >Pandit families in the Telwani and Sangrama villages of Budgam district >and other places in the Kashmir Valley. > > >While the Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) claimed a 'secular' >agenda of liberation from Indian rule, the terrorist intent was clearly >to drive non-Muslim 'infidels' out of the State and establish >Nizam-e-Mustafa (literally, the Order of the Prophet; government >according to the Shariah). > > >Accounts of Pandits from this traumatic period reveal that it was not >unusual to see posters and announcements telling them to leave the >Valley. On April 4, 1990, for instance, a prominent Urdu newspaper, >Alsafa, carried the following headline: "Kashmiri Pandits responsible >for duress against Muslims should leave the valley within two days." > > >Pandit properties were either destroyed or taken over by terrorists or >by local Muslims, and there was a continuous succession of brutal >killings, a trend that continues even today. Ethnic cleansing was >evidently a systematic component of the terrorists' strategic agenda in >J&K, and estimates suggest that, just between February and March 1990, >140,000 to 160,000 Pandits had fled the Valley to Jammu, Delhi, or other >parts of the country. > > >Simultaneously, there were a number of high-profile killings of senior >Hindu officials, intellectuals and prominent personalities. Eventually, >an estimated 400,000 Pandits - some 95 per cent of their original >population in the Valley - became part of the neglected statistic of >'internal refugees' who were pushed out of their homes as a result of >this campaign of terror. Not only did the Indian state fail to protect >them in their homes, successive governments have provided little more >than minimal humanitarian relief, and this exiled community seldom >figures in the discourse on the 'Kashmir issue' and its resolution. > > >A majority of the Pandit refugees live in squalid camps with spiraling >health and economic problems. Approximately 2,17,000 Pandits still live >in abysmal conditions in Jammu with families of five to six people often >huddled into a small room. Social workers and psychologists working >among them testify that living as refugees in such conditions has taken >a severe toll on their physical and mental health. > > >Confronted with the spectre of cultural extinction, incidence of >problems such as insomnia, depression and hypertension have increased >and birth rates have declined significantly. A 1997 study based on >inquiries at various migrant camps in Jammu and Delhi revealed that >there had been only 16 births compared to 49 deaths in about 300 >families between 1990 and 1995, a period over which militancy was at its >peak. > > >The deaths were mostly of people in the age group of 20 to 45. Causes >for the low birth rates were primarily due to premature menopause in >women, hypo-function of the reproductive system and lack of adequate >accommodation and privacy. Dr. K.L. Choudhary, who has been treating >various Kashmiri Pandit patients, asserts that they had aged physically >and mentally by 10 to 15 years beyond their natural age, and that there >was a risk that the Pandits could face extinction if current trends >persist. > > >On the abysmal conditions at the camps, one report stated that, at the >Muthi camp on the outskirts of Jammu where most of the Pandits stayed >after migration from the Valley, a single room was being shared by three >generations. In certain cases at other places, six families lived in a >hall separated by partitions of blankets or bed sheets. > > >The Pandits have rejected rehabilitation proposals that envision >provision of jobs if the displaced people returned to the Valley, >indicating that they were not willing to become 'cannon-fodder' for >politicians who cannot guarantee their security. Whenever any attempt >aimed to facilitate KP return to the Valley has been initiated, a major >incident of terrorist violence against them has occurred. > > >The Pandits insist that they will return to the Valley only when they - >and not these 'others' - are able to determine that the situation is >conducive to their safety. "We cannot go back in the conditions >prevailing in Kashmir. We will go back on our own terms," Kashmiri >Samiti president > > >Sunil Shakdher said in August 2002 in response to the then Farooq >Abdullah regime's proposed rehabilitation agenda. At the minimum level, >these terms would include security to life and property and, at a >broader level, a consensual rehabilitation scheme. > > >Any proposal to return the Pandits to the Valley in the past has been >cut short by terrorists. Whenever any attempt aimed to facilitate their >return to the Valley has been initiated, a major incident of terrorist >violence against them has occurred. The massacre of 26 Pandits at >Wandhama, a hamlet in the Ganderbal area of the Valley on the >intervening night of January 25-26, 1998; the earlier killing of eight >others at Sangrampora in Budgam district on March 22, 1997; and the >massacre of 26 Hindus at Prankote in Udhampur District on April 21, >1998; are only three of the many examples of the terrorists' tactic to >block any proposal for the return of migrants to the Valley. > > >These massacres and a continuous succession of targeted individual >killings have ensured the failure of every proposal to resolve the >problem of the exiled Pandits. > > >It was, again, this pervasive insecurity that led to the collapse of the >proposal to create 13 clusters of residential houses in 'secure zones' >in different parts of Anantnag for the return and rehabilitation of >Kashmiri Pandit migrants from outside the Valley in April 2001. > > >Earlier, in 1996, the then Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah had formed a >six-member Apex Committee under the chairmanship of Abdul Ahmed Vakil, >then Relief and Revenue Minister, with the objective of drawing an >action plan for facilitating a safe and honourable return of the >migrants to the Valley. > > >Based on the views of the migrant Pandits and the Apex Committee's >interim report, the State government subsequently announced a Rs. 28 >billion rehabilitation package. The scheme included the creation of an >authority of the Protector General of Migrant Properties; Rs. 1,00,000 >for each Kashmiri migrant family willing to return to the Valley; >setting up of a transit settlement at Srinagar, Anantnag and Baramulla >Districts; rehabilitation grants of Rs. 150,000 to each house; waiver of >loans; a sustenance allowance of Rs. 3,000 to those migrants who had >been employed in the private sector; and opportunities for the children, >among others. > > >Ramesh Manvati, General Secretary of Panun Kashmir (a frontline >organisation of the Pandits), said on January 19, 2002, that the J&K >government's rehabilitation of some Pandits at Tulla-Mulla in Srinagar >and Matan in the Anantnag district "is being done without consulting us >and is largely an eyewash." The Kashmiri Samiti had asked for a probe >into the alleged missing 18,000 job applications invited by the Abdullah >government from Kashmiri Pandits. The Samiti also claims that >approximately 3,000 jobs had fallen vacant since many Pandits in >government service had retired over the years, and that not a single >person had been appointed from the community so far. > > >The current Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, addressing his maiden >press conference at Srinagar on November 3, 2002, said that the >rehabilitation of migrant Pandits was one of his government's 'top >priorities', adding that, "Their (the Pandits') migration is a blot on >the identity of Kashmir." > > >The Pandits, however, regard the Sayeed regime's 'healing touch' policy >with great skepticism. The regime's decision to release a number of >terrorists and secessionists on bail and the proposal to hold talks >"without any pre-conditions" with a mlange of groups actively pursuing >the agenda of violence has led a section of the Pandit community to >believe that the State government, "is turning a blind eye to our >plight?" > > >For a majority of the displaced Kashmiris, the recent State Legislative >Assembly elections held little meaning. Panun Kashmir, during the run up >to the State Legislative Assembly elections in 2002, had dismissed the >exercise as 'meaningless'. They said the Election Commission's decision >to make arrangements for Hindu migrants to vote from outside J&K would >institutionalise their migrant status. "The move to allow migrant Hindu >Pandits to vote at their respective refugee camps only reinforces the >mindset that there are no chances for them to return to their homes, >ever," said Shakdher. > > >A section of the Pandits have demanded a geo-political re-organisation >of the State and the carving of a separate homeland for them. Ramesh >Manvati believes that this "is the only viable option available for our >rehabilitation." While such an extreme measure may arises out of the >increasing desperation of a people whose plight has been ignored for >nearly a decade and a half, the idea itself is fraught with the imminent >danger of playing into the hands of religious extremists who seek a >division of the State along religious lines. > > >Their relatively small numbers, coupled with a tradition of non-violent >protest, has made the Pandits largely irrelevant in the political >discourse - both within the country and internationally - on Kashmir. It >should be clear, however, that the many 'peace processes' and 'political >solutions' that are initiated from time to time have little meaning >until these include some steps to correct the grave injustices done to >this unfortunate community. > > > > >The author is Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management; >Assistant Editor, Faultlines: Writings on Conflict & Resolution. >Courtesy: South Asia Intelligence Review of the South Asia Terrorism >Portal The new MSN 8: smart spam protection and 2 months FREE* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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