Jammu, Dec 13: Leaders of Panun Kashmir led by its Chairman Dr Ajay Chrungoo on Wednesday welcomed the Supreme Court’s recent judgment affirming the constitutionality of the abrogation of Article 370. They also urged the Government of India (GoI) to acknowledge their exodus as genocide, not migration.
Addressing a press conference at the Press Club here, the leader said the SC ruling has unequivocally affirmed that the Constitution of India fully applies to Jammu and Kashmir in both letter and spirit. “It has dispelled any notions of internal sovereignty in Jammu and Kashmir, validated the constitutional powers of the President of India to abrogate Article 370 and to extend all provisions of the Indian Constitution to the region, and reorganise the State into two union territories,” they said.
“The judgment has brought immense joy and happiness to all of us,” they added.
The leaders highlighted a crucial aspect of Justice S K Koul’s observations within the wider Supreme Court judgment that there was a mass exodus of the Kashmiri Pandit community in 1989-90 and that it was not a voluntary migration. They quoted the judge’s observation that the Kashmiri Pandits received threats of life and property which changed the very cultural ethos of Kashmir.
These comments should suffice to persuade the Government of India (GoI) not to call the religious cleansing of Kashmiri Pandits “migration” and decisively move to recognise the “genocide” inflicted on them.
“In fact, these observations should also serve as a beacon light to the Supreme Court itself which has chosen to stand as a bystander, while the genocide of Kashmiri Pandits and its denial is continuing unabated,” they said, adding that despite the apex court’s proactive stance in various instances of rights violations, it has not intervened on behalf of the community.
The Panun Kashmir leaders said scores of Hindus living in Kashmir were selectively targeted and killed in the recent past, which forced the remaining few thousand Hindus living in the valley again to flee. “The Supreme Court ignored these developments,” they said, adding, “When the government forced them to return to the same dangerous conditions by threatening to stop their livelihood, the SC again chose not to take any notice.”
The press conference emphasised that the Supreme Court’s suggestion to create a Truth and Reconciliation Commission holds little value for the Kashmiri Pandits, saying the truth of their plight is “already known”.
“With whom will GoI seek reconciliation of Kashmiri Pandits?” they asked.
Panun Kashmir has appealed to the Supreme Court to recognise the “genocide” inflicted on the Hindus of Kashmir and urged it to direct the GoI to enact a law for the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide.
They also called on the Supreme Court to intervene and halt any government policies contributing to the “denial of genocide being perpetrated against Hindus” in Kashmir.
