Return of Kashmiri Pandits

Jammu and Kashmir has been eclipsed by the ethno-religious conflict for more than three decades that devastated its socio-cultural landscape and converted the land and its people known for their simplicity into a conflict zone. It is a well-known fact that the radicalisation in Kashmir was orchestrated at the behest of the international conspiracies to accomplish the regressive agenda that was unfolded by Pakistan by diverting the men and material meant to fight USSR in Afghanistan. Pakistan’s military dictator General Zia –ul-Haq diverted the arms, ammunition, and mercenaries from various parts of the world towards Kashmir under the Operation TOPAC to wreak havoc in the erstwhile princely state of Jammu and Kashmir that had acceded to India under form of Instrument of Accession signed by the other princely states as well. Pakistan considered Jammu and Kashmir as an unfinished agenda of partition and used all stratagems to annex Jammu and Kashmir. This led to a continuous process of genocidal attrition of people in Jammu and Kashmir that started right at the time when India was partitioned to create Pakistan on the religious lines. The procession of annexation of Jammu and Kashmir must be seen in that context When the people, especially the minorities that were forced to abandon their homes and hearths in 1947 in the now Pakistan Occupied Jammu and Kashmir(POJK) suffered genocide at the hands of Pakistani Army regulars and the mercenary tribals from the frontier areas who engaged in loot, rape and arson. Not only that these marauders entered the Kashmir valley and wee almost successful to capture the Srinagar city but the credit goes to the valour of the Indian Army that altered their invasion in the decisive battle of Shalteng and created a history and changed the fate of the people of Jammu and Kashmir by saving them from the vicious onslaught. But by then the damage had been done. These invaders had plundered the valley by committing heinous crimes against humanity. Pakistan did not stop here it started patronised the secessionist groups and created terrorist organisations that indulged in internal sabotage to inject radicalisation in the society that ultimately led to competitive separatism in Kashmir. This reduced the space of co-existence and brought the progressive society on the precipice. The climax was reached when the selected killing of Kashmiri Pandits were engineered to develop fear psychosis in the minuscule minority of Kashmir. The strategy was simple: kill one and frighten ten. And it worked for the merchants of terror who succeeded in rupturing the social fabric to the point that on 19th January 1990,Kashmir witnessed the religious cleansing of the native Kashmiri Pandits, forcing them to save lives and leave Kashmir for the plains of India from Jammu to other states. This led to the destabilisation of the community as they were forced to live in refugee camps and rented tenements in scorching heat. Being unfamiliar with the heat of the plains, many elderly members of the community lost their lives while negotiating the unbearable climate. It invited livelihood challenges and survival problems besides the health issues. Now the community is scattered all over India and the world without a foothold in Kashmir, their ancestral homeland. Kashmiri Pandit community qualify as the Internally Displaced People (IDPs) as they have been rendered as refugees within their own habitat and nation. As they have not crossed the international borders and are well within their own nation India. They have often contested the usage of the term “Migrant” to describe them and rightly so. There is no doubt that the Kashmiri Pandit exodus divided the society in Kashmir and damaged the social space beyond repair. It enabled the patrons of regression and radicalism to establish that co-existence is impossible through the acts of terror directed against the community. The outcome has been the trust deficit. More than three generations of Kashmiris be it Kashmiri Muslims or Kashmiri Pandits have witnessed conflict .Both have been facing attrition. This has given rise to a grave human problem where one mistrusts the other. Both the communities have been trying to interpret this conflict in their own context and describe the challenges they face. This has led to the emergence of political thoughts that are derived from the conflict and its internalisation. The Rising Kashmir has been arguing the editorials repeatedly that the social space was shrinked in Kashmir due to the ethno-religious conflict that fragmented the society. Having lost their homes and ancestral properties besides the localities in which their forefathers created their place consciousness generated a sense of alienation and a yearning for reclamation of their aesthetics. A movement counter to the radicalisation in Kashmir responded back to address the Kashmiri Pandit insecurity and it gained the currency as Panun Kashmir and this line of thought was echoed by other groups from the exiled community demanding a one place settlement or homeland in Kashmir. The Rising Kashmir had recently underlined that there is a need to develop a mechanism to work out a formula or model to create a win – win situation that reverses the Kashmiri Pandit genocide and relives the Kashmiri Muslim society from the stigma of the Kashmiri Pandit religious cleansing. There is a need to involve the stakeholders at all levels to devise a comprehensive formula to guarantee non –refoulement to these persecuted people.And this is possible when all shades of opinions are allowed to brainstorm on this issue. It is in this connection that the Rising Kashmir reached to Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and tried to seek his opinion on this issue as there was a buzz that he had met a group of Kashmiri Pandits and Kashmiri Pandit return was discussed. In an exclusive interview with the Rising Kashmir, he said “We want to tell everyone that Muslim community is ready to welcome Kashmiri Pandits back with open arms. I have been in continuous discussions with Ulemas, civil society members, and political leaders. The goal is to create a plan that facilitates their return with dignity. We are actively working on identifying the necessary resources, including land, to ensure their return is balanced and secure.” Underlining his intent on this issue, he emphasised, “Recently, I met with a group of Kashmiri Pandits in New Delhi to discuss their return and rehabilitation. It’s premature to make concrete statements right now, but security is our top concern. Rebuilding trust is the first step, and until that happens, no meaningful progress can be made. Trust must be the foundation of our efforts before we can address other challenges like security effectively.” He has also said that “Panun Kashmir’s stance against reconciliation is not the way forward.” It must be internalised that the Kashmiri Pandit frontline organisation Panun Kashmir cannot be side lined and it certainly needs to be involved as it is at least the only organisation among the exiled Kashmiri Pandits that has not changed stance and has given the blueprint of the “Margdarshan Resolution” in 1991.The reason being that solution will emerge when committed though extreme groups are involved in the deliberations. Otherwise involving the non-entities will only prolong the exile and generate more mistrust. Time has arrived to explore options to end the stalemate on the Kashmiri Pandit return.