I did my best to stem the Exodus-Jagmohan

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/i-did-my-best-to-stem-the-exodus/737340/0

We are not writing the editor's note on this one simply because a word that we may write may be construed as support by the jaundiced eye.

Here is what the ertswhile Governor of J&K has to say on the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits.

I am deeply dismayed to see that a national daily of the standing of The Indian Express should have given so much prominence (‘Forces, Jagmohan, Mufti Sayeed drove Pandits out: Farooq’s brother’, IE, January 10), to an apparently false allegation of Mustafa Kamal, a politician of little standing, about the exodus of the Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley in “early 1990”. Is it believable that practically all the members of a highly intelligent community like that of Kashmiri Pandits would leave, from every village, town and city, their hearths and homes, without caring for their properties, business, children schooling and their future, merely because some one in government asks them to do so? The concoction is writ large on the face of the allegation itself. And yet, shockingly, it has received wide publicity in your newspaper!


Let me tell your readers, on the basis of concrete facts and contemporaneous records, what the conditions were in the Valley before my arrival on the scene on January 19, 1990, and how a permissive and paralysed coalition government, headed by Dr Farooq Abdullah, had virtually abdicated all authority to the militants and allowed them to establish complete sway over the Valley.



From June 19, 1989 to January 19, 1990, that is, in six months, there were 319 violent incidents in the Valley — 21 armed attacks, 114 bomb blasts, 112 arsons and 72 incidents of mob violence. To demonstrate to the whole world their total hold over the Valley, the militants kidnapped, on December 8, Dr Rubaiya Sayeed, daughter of the Union home minister, from the gate of Srinagar’s Lal Ded Hospital, and released her only after the state and Central governments capitulated and conceded their demand of freeing five top terrorists. This capitulation left the general public in no doubt about the ultimate victory of the militants. Even the doubting Thomases went over to their side and swelled their ranks.


Under a sinister plan to throw out “infidels” and “agents” of the Union from the Valley, Kashmiri Pandits were especially targeted. Prominent members of the community were picked up for slaughter, one by one. For example, Tikka Lal Tiploo, leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party, was shot dead on September 14, Judge N.K. Ganjoo on November 4 and journalist P.N. Bhatt on December 28.

The terror-stricken Pandit community, in a memorandum dated January 16, 1990, to the then governor, General K.V. Krishna Rao, said: “Instead of the government, it is the militants who are the de facto rulers in the Valley today... Happenings in Anantnag, Sopore, Baramulla, Tral, Nurran, Pulwama, Ishber, Vicharnag, Shopian and other places in the Valley are indicative of the fundamentalists’ designs regarding their planned targets of attack on the minorities... The pace of exodus has further accelerated now... Not even a single assailant of the minority leaders and others has either been identified or apprehended by the police.”


Soon after I took over, I did my best to stem the exodus. This would be clear from the press note of March 7, 1990, which was given wide publicity at that time. This note, inter alia, said: “Jagmohan appealed to the members of the Pandit community who have temporarily migrated to Jammu to return to the Valley. He offered to set up temporary camps at four places, namely, Srinagar, Anantnag, Baramulla and Kupwara for those who return from Jammu.”

In the meanwhile, treacherous and brutal killings of innocent Kashmiri Pandits continued in the Valley. Those killed included prominent persons like engineer B.K. Ganjoo, poet Sarvanand Premi and his young son Virender Kaul, Professor K.L. Ganjoo and his wife, the teacher C.L. Pandita. Press notices were prominently put out in the widely-read Srinagar dailies Aftab and Alsafa, requiring Kashmiri Pandits to leave within 48 hours, failing which they would run the risk of being exterminated. Photocopies of these notices have been printed by me in my book My Frozen Turbulence in Kashmir.


There are many other pieces of hard evidence which show that the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits was caused by relentlessly pursuing the ISI-sponsored plan of “killing one and frightening 1,000.” Disinformation was built into this plan. Tragically, for petty political ends, persons like Mustafa Kamal have been committing the crime of disinformation. They have been butchering truth, while the militants have been butchering individuals.


The writer was governor of Jammu and Kashmir between January and May 1990

Kashmiri Pandits launch signature campaign against Yasin Malik

By Sarwar Kashani

New Delhi, March 17 (IANS)

An online signature campaign by exiled Kashmiri Hindus against militant-turned-politician Yasin Malik is receiving an overwhelming response from the community the world over. Close to 550 signatures from Kashmiri Pandits have been registered at http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?ymalik8 seeking “just trial” of the cases pending against Malik, chairman of the pro-independent Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF).
A US-based Kashmiri Pandit is behind the campaign that was launched Saturday when Malik was in Delhi to address the “Youth Forum - If I Could Change The World”, organised by the India Today media group.
Inviting Malik to address youth had apparently angered the Kashmiri Pandit activists, prompting them to also hold protests, besides the online campaign.
The JKLF chairman is accused of masterminding the killing of many Kashmiri Pandits in the late 1980s and the early 1990s that led to the exodus of around 300,000 ethnic Hindus from the terror- hit valley.
There are dozens of cases pending against him, which are currently under Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe.
The cases include the killing of four Indian Air Force officers in 1989 and the murder of Lassa Koul, director, Radio Kashmir, Srinagar, in 1990.
Malik is also accused of masterminding the 1989 kidnapping of Rubaiya Sayeed, the daughter of then union home minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed.
The Kashmiri separatist leader, who gave up armed struggle in 1994 and re-launched the freedom movement from a political platform, was arrested in these cases but was set free for want of evidence against him.
However, the Pandit activists allege that the government has been too soft on Malik and no proper trial has been conducted to “give justice to the hundreds of families of the victims”.
“We believe the cases against Malik did not have a fair trial. We wonder how he is roaming free, travelling abroad on an Indian passport,” Rashneek Kher, a Delhi-based activist, told IANS.
“The families that fell victim to Malik’s await justice and in fact nobody listens to their plight,” said Kher, who also registered his signature in the online campaign.
Rahul Thathoo, the California-based student who initiated the signature campaign, said: “There is no crime known to mankind that Yasin Malik has not been involved in. You name it and he has done it all…killings, kidnappings, hawala, gun running.
“He and his JKLF goons are singularly responsible for the largest forced exodus of the modern history - that of the Kashmiri Pandits from the Kashmir Valley,” Thathoo said inviting signatures.
Many others have also written their comments alongside their signatures on the website.
A.K. Raina said: “They (militants) meet the criteria laid by the UN as unlawful combatants, and not just ordinary criminals, who are involved in heinous crimes against peaceful citizens resulting in their ethnic cleansing and other worst crimes against humanity.”
“They need to be tried as warlords, criminals as in 9/11 (terror strike in the US), London blasts, Sydney swoop etc.”
S.R. Kaul said: “Yasin Malik and many like him would have been non-entities if the government (of India) had sincere intentions of eliminating the menace of terrorism in the country.”
“Yasin Malik should condemn terrorism and condone for being an agent of terrorism. He should apologise for having killed innocent Kashmiri Pandits,” Brij Krishen Moza said in his comments.

The Mask Comes Off.....

Spin Doctors and Image Makers spent many years and wrote reams of paper trying to potray a wolf as a lamb.A lamb who was at the mercy of the butcher(the State of India in this case).They worked overtime and burnt midnight fuel making movies and writing lengthy juicy articles on how Yasin Malik and JKLF were totrtured by the Indian Government.How their inalienable right to kill and terrorize "minorities" was being taken away by the Indian State.In all this the Electronic English Media channels like NDTV and CNN-IBN played their part.They projected Yasin Malik as a Gandhi.What all of them conveniently chose to ignore was his past.How he had maimed and killed people in the name of something called "Azadi" was simply swept under the carpet and not talked about.But then who has ever controlled Frankesteins.
Last night probably JKLF had a bath , its lambs attire washed down in Jhelum.The wolf emerged...

Here read this...
JKLF to review its decision of ceasefire, if K-dispute is not resolved
GK NEWS NETWORK

Muzaffarabad: The chief commander of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, Salem Haroon has said that JKLF would reconsider its decision of ceasefire if human rights violations continued unabated in Kashmir and the dispute was not resolved in accordance with the wishes and aspirations of Kashmiri people. According to a press statement issued here Tuesday, Haroon made these remarks while addressing “Mujahideen” commanders of the organization on the occasion of world human rights day Monday. Expressing serious concern over the ever-increasing violence in Jammu and Kashmir he said that despite the Indian government’s claims of zero-tolerance against rights abuses there was no let up in the human rights violations in the state. He regrettably noted that the extra judicial killings, torture, molestation of Kashmiri women and killing of innocent civilians continued unabated. He said that it was ironic that Indian troops were seeking promotions and getting awards thereby killing innocent Kashmiris ruthlessly without an inkling of accountability. Hailing the endeavours of the party leader, the JKLF chief commander expressed his gratitude to all those Kashmiris who participated in the protest and token hunger strike led by Muhammad Yasin Malik, the Chairman of Liberation Front. He reiterated that JKLF would continue its efforts to take the ongoing liberation struggle to its logical end despite all odds.

An Eyewitness Account of the 1947 raid by Tribals from Pakistan-by T.N.Bhan

My name is Triloki Nath Bhan and I was 18 years old young boy living in Sehyar, test Srinagar when Pakistani Army along with Kabailies from North West Frontier Province, launched a series of surprise attacks across Jammu and Kashmir on October 24, 1947. As is well known the Pakistani invaders quickly overwhelmed the the forces of Maharaja Hari Singh. Most of the Muslim units of J& K Army comprising of Mirpuri deserted and joined the invaders after killing their Hindu and Sikh Officers. Muzzafarabd fell within a few hours of the attack and the invaders proceeded towards Baramula, Sopore and Srinagar. At the Uri bridge Brigadier Rajinder Singh lost his life putting up a valiant fight .He held the invaders for two days which gave time to the Maharajah to flee the valley. and the Indian Army to intervene.

The Pakistani invaders entered Baramula on October 26, 1947 and proceeded to indulge in Rape, murder, loot and arson, especially targeting Sikhs and Kashmiri Pandit community. By the morning of October 27th some raiders had reached the outskirts of Srinagar. Hari Singh's exit had totally broken the morale of the government and security establishment. Police stations were empty. anything could happen at any time. Sheikh Abdullah and his National Conference organized a voluntary force of young men known as Salamati Fauj in the city with specific direction to maintain communal harmony at all costs. This worked, Halka Committees became the police station. I remember I also joined this force to patrol the streets to ensure nobody disturbed the communal harmony. Most of the Hindu leadership had left the valley for Jammu. As the Kashmiri Pandits trickled in from the countryside we began to hear the tales of atrocities, plunder, rape and murder of innocent Hindus and Sikhs by the Pakistani invaders.

Although Kashmir's Pandits were leaderless as even our RSS leaders such as Bal Raj Madhok had left the city we the grassroot RSS Swyamsewaks began to organise ourselves to defend and protect Pandit honor. I belonged to Putli Dharamshalla Shakha. We decided to go out of Srinagar to visit other cities and villages and see for ourselves the condition of our Kashmiri Pandits brothers and sisters so that help could be arranged for the needy. I was accompanied by other Swyamsewaks such as Maharaj Krishan Mirza, Amar Nath Ganju, Manohar Nath Bhagati, Lakshmi Narain Kaul, Bhaska nath ganjoo, Durga Nath Dhar, Trilokinath Dhar, Prithvinath Dhar, Naranjan Kaul, Brijnath Moza and others. These volunteers hailed from Sehyar, Rehbaba Sahib and Rishipeer. We began our journey on 30th October 1947. Starting on foot in the early morning we first touched Shalteing about four miles down the road from Chhatabal Custom Post. Here we went inside the enclosed Chinar Grove and found two dead bodies of the Kabali-invaders who had been strafed by the Indian Air Force aircraft. Onward we reached Pooshbugg a village near Pattan where kabalies had executed 14 Kashmiri Pandits as they were performing fire veneration "Hawan". The fire was still smoldering. Luckily all fourteen had already been cremated by the Pandits of the neighboring villages who had escaped the onslaught of these savages. All Pandit houses were looted. We tried to enter the town of Pattan but we were not allowed to enter. We could only guess the gruesome condition of Pandits in the town.

After Pattan we continued our journey to Sangarhama-detour to Sopore.There is a thick willow grove on the right side of the main road. A Muslim boy told us that we should go and see what had happened there. Visiting the Grove was most horrendous and traumatizing experience as we saw pieces of Indian currency notes and human skeletons scattered in the area. The boy told us that Sikh adults had killed their women and children here to ensure they did not fall in the hands of these heartless and treacherous Paksitani's. Dazed we turned and left toward Sopore. We had walked about 200 yards we found a Kacha road to the left leading us to a Seer (Hindu Shrine). There we found a Mullah was teaching Quran to two Pandit women who were dressed in a Burka. As the Mullah saw us he took to his heels as we began chanting "Har Har Mahadev", the women retracted and threw their Burkas. The shrine in Seer was reduced to heap of rubble and two Muslim men were pulling out the nails from the burnt wooden planks. The worse was still to come. We saw couple of KP's men and women coming towards us all in tears, and crying. They told us that the local Muslims had invited two Pakistani Kabailies from Baramula and all our brethren had been asked to assemble in the ground near a mosque where a calf was slaughtered in their presence. Pieces of raw beef were forced down their throat and abuses were heaped. Their houses were looted-clean sweep, even the doors and window frames were pulled out. We spent the night with them, the bedding was the hay of rice. Of course we recited the bhajans the whole night. On the dawn of next day we began our journey towards Sopore. In this town not much damage was done. The leader of Kashmir pandits was Jat Kak Zutshi father of Jeevan Zutshi of California. Mr. Zutshi had worked with Muslim elders in the city to protect the KP's. Unfortunately Jat Kak had become a target of the Kabaleys and he hid under the hay in the house of a Muslim friend on the condition that he convert to Islam. Jat Kak Zutshi's family was my neighbor in Jamalatoo in Srinagar.

The next day we proceeded to Bomai Village which is a couple of miles from Sopore on way to Handwara. Here the first assassination of a Batta had taken place a few days before the Pakistani invasion. The Martyre was Pandit Sarwanand Kaul an honest and diligent Intelligence Officer in the State Government. He was kidnapped and butchered a couple of kilometers from his house. We comforted the family. Buomay Battas were safe. No damage , except they were terribly shaken and fearful. We had lunch with them and assured them that the whole of Indian nation was with them.

On Reaching Handwara we witnessed six kucha earthen mounds burying six Kashmir Pandits belonging to one family. It was a mass suicide committed the family. Then we witnessed the same thing as we had seen earlier in Seer. Houses had been looted, KP residents were helter skelter seeking shelter to save their lives. We stayed in Handwara for the night sleeping on the bran (kuchh). In the morning we started to dig the bodies but the Commander of the area prevented us and said that Army would do it. It was a very tense night for us as firing from both sides was still going on. Taking the kuchha route to Baramula via Langet we continued our journey.

At Langet we found two dead bodies who were cremated by us. Langet had special significance for me as it is close to Trihagram where my maternal uncle Mr. Zindalal Raina of Rainawari residing near Hari Singh High School was assassinated in 1931 when Sheikh Abdullah as a Muslim Communalist had aroused the Hindu-Muslim strife in the valley.

We reached Baramula in the evening and came across a young Kashmiri Pandit who was a lecturer of English in the Govt. College there. He offered us to stay overnight which we did. His house was also looted as mentioned earlier. He told us how his beautiful wife and other young KP ladies had been locked in a house and gang raped by the Muslim invaders. Next day he showed us the house from which these women had jumped to death from the fourth story. During the talk he told us that one respectable couple in the town was dragged through the streets. We saw every KP house was looted-clean sweep even the doors and windows were removed. Streets were deserted Batta houses were like skeletons and the inhabitants had either gone into hiding or were killed. Many had committed suicide by jumping into the Jhelum river. Crossing the bridge to the other side where market and Govt. offices were housed, we were shown a spot in the middle of the bridge from where young Hindu-Pandit, Sikh and Khatri ladies plunged to their death by drowning into the river. Those who did not have a chance to kill themselves were herded into Tehsil compound and gang raped. All Hindu shops were looted in totality. We finally went to the Christian School and found that even the Nuns were not spared. Many had been raped before being murdered.

Out of respect we went to the spot where Maqbool Sherwani was hanged for misdirecting the invaders. At that point the Army Commander advised us to retrun to Srinagar as Baramula was still not safe for Hindus and Sikhs. It was clear that 30,000 Hindus men and women ( Pandit, Sikh and Kahtri) had either lost their lives or were taken as sex slaves by the Pakistani invaders.

Returning to Srinagar was a traumatic experience as if living hell was waiting for us. All of us were arrested and imprisoned in the Halqa Committee, denied food and beaten mercilessly for several days. By the skin of our teeth we managed our freedom with the condition that we would be under surveillance and roll called twice a day. It was clear to us that one way or the other these National Conference Halqa Committee Goons were going to get rid of us. We tried our best to find a way to get out of Srinagar. My quest to find someone who could get us out led me to Mr. Kashi Nath Fotedar who was an important Officer in the Indian Army in Badami Bagh. He was of immense help to many older Kashmir's Pandits and children who he sent out in Army trucks. Another great Batta was Flt. Luit J. N. Dhar from Vicharnagh who was the only Kashmiri speaking Pilot at that time whom Nehru had deputed him to Srinagar. He too rendered great service to the community by flying out beleaguered KP's in Airforce planes. I need to introduce Pandit Kashi Nath Fotedar first as he is the industrious father of Hira Fotedar and is the father of my wife Dulari Bhan as well. Mr. J. N. Dhar is the maternal uncle of Hira and paternal uncle of Vijay Dhar of Union City California.

My escape from Srinagar was possible only on April 6, 1948. I along with Manohar Bagati, Lakshmi Narain Kaul and Amar Nath Ganjoo walked all the way to Ptahankot on foot for 22 days. I finally settled at Saharanpur UP where I lived for 54 years.

Now I would like to pay my homage to all the KP Martyrs in 1931, 1947 and 1990. My compliments to those who by didn't of their courage, resilience and focus rebuilt their lives from scratch without Government aid under very difficult circumstances. I wish to thank many old Kashmiri Pandits who offered all four of us help in Kanpur and helped us settle down. My companions Bagati, Kaul and Ganjoo sahib eventually returned to Srinagar where Mr. Amar Nath Ganjoo became an important RSS functionary. My thanks to Mr. B. K. Kaul ICS Iron and Steel Controller, Mr. H. N. Sapru Dy Director of Industries UP and S.n. Shivpuri , GM Cement Corporation. I am sure these great men have left us but I did want to recognise their help to many KP refugees in 1947.

Dear friends I am a proud Swayamsewak, and will be a Swyamsewak till my death.

Reagrds

Triloki Nath Bhan

Memphis Tennesee USA

POLITICS OF APOLOGY-by KAMAL HAK

(An old cartoon from the India Today)

Recently our lost homeland has been a buzz with news of different nature. The national media has been replete with the stories about Kashmiri Pandits reopening their temples and other places of worship after nearly eighteen years. These news stories also empathetically highlight the cooperation extended by the local Muslims in organizing the prayers and hawans at the previously abandoned temples. This is also fact that now more and more displaced Kashmiri Pandits find themselves mustering enough courage for taking a brief sojourn to their roots. Also, despite what the local media in Kashmir may project, Kashmiri Muslims at their individual levels are renewing their contacts with the displaced community. On their return from a brief visit to the valley many displaced Kashmiri Pandits speak about the discernable change of heart in the local Muslims. Some even suggest the preparedness of the local Muslims for apologizing to the displaced Pandits for the injustice committed against them.

A few months back some sort of brouhaha was created when the erstwhile spokesperson of All Party Hurriat Conference, Saleem Geelani, offered apologies to displaced Kashmiri Pandits on behalf of Kashmiri Muslims during a seminar organized by Roots in Kashmir in Jammu. Many agencies, with vested interests, and including some Kashmiri Pandits lose no time in branding these incidents as the indications of changing times in Kashmir. It may also be true that the times have indeed changed in Kashmir. But, does it necessarily mean the conditions have become so much conducive for the return of displaced Pandits that these demand a complete about turn of the very fundamentals that have driven and sustained the community’s struggle in exile.

One question that needs to be debated and understood is if these individual expressions of remorse carry any meaning? Alternatively, one also needs to ask a question if any institutionalized apology by the Kashmiri Muslims would tantamount to atonement of their sins. Displaced Kashmiri Pandits will have to be carefully guarded in responding to these hollow apologies, which will increase in numbers in the times to come. They need ask themselves a question which Marina Warner a renowned novelist and critic raised some time back, “Is apology today’s new political enthusiasm?”

This is also a fact that there is nothing new in the recent apologies made by certain Kashmiri Muslims. Various influential Kashmiri Muslim individuals and leaders have in past publicly apologized to the displaced Pandits in public. Only difference being that earlier the recipients didn’t see any significant in these otiose pronouncements. The process of offering apologies to displaced Pandits, perhaps, started in the year 1999, when during course of a huge international conference at The Hague, the Hurriat delegation offered to publicly apologize for the crimes committed against the Pandit. Panun Kashmir delegation attending the conference didn’t attach any significance to that and thought the gesture was only dictated by political expediency.

Some years later, the late Ashok Kak assembled a galaxy of Kashmiri Separatist leaders including Shabbir Shah and Omar Farooq in a first ever post 1990, across the table interaction with displaced Pandits. The proceedings of that meeting went on the expected lines with the Pandits vociferously expressing their anger and the Muslims trying to strike reconciliatory notes. The general sentiments of the Kashmiri Muslim leadership at that time also were overwhelmingly apologetic.

Nothing significant emerged from the said meeting as, perhaps, the reconciliatory tones were more a produce of head than the genuine outpouring of the heart. The deceit, cunningness and the rabid fundamentalist mindset behind their extirpation also might have heavily weighed in the minds of the Pandit participants, who dismissed the developments as part of a politics.

Some time later, in the year 2005, an interaction was held, in Motel Ashok Jammu, between groups of Kashmiri Muslim leaders with displaced Kashmiri Pandit representatives which included Dr. K.L. Chowdhury, a senior Panun Kashmir leader. It was during this meeting that a former militant and then mainstream politician Babbar Badr expressed his guilt, neglect and repentance for the sorry state of displaced community. It was around same time when during a seminar on Kashmir held in Jammu University, Babbar Badr, on his own and Kashmiri Muslims’ behalf sought hand folded forgiveness from Panun Kashmir Convener, Dr. Agnishekhar.

Apology as an instrument of reconciliation has become an important tool internationally. There seems to be an unprecedented rush to offer apologies in the belief of creating benchmarks for acknowledging the wrongs took place. Whether, such apologies can become harbingers of progress towards restoring the mutual trust between the warring societies is, however, debatable. In the aftermath of Virginia (USA) legislators voting unanimously, early this year, to express profound regrets over Old Dominion’s role in promoting slavery, Senator Henry L. Marsh 111 expressed that he foresaw “no true progress in this country until we get a reconciliation and honest dialogue about race and slavery.” The same applies to politics of Kashmiri Muslim apologies as well, as no bridges can ever be built without an honest and dispassionate admission of conspiracy that forced an exodus of three hundred and fifty thousand ethnic aborigines from Kashmir.

There are also inherent dangers associated with the act of apologies as these can be effectively used to block the chances of a conflict free future. John Torpey in “The Entrepreneurs of Memory” strongly asks if the world wide concern with public apology represents a turning of society’s face towards the past and on that closes the possibility of imagining a better future. He further asks, “Isn’t there a danger that struggling to redress history will become a substitute for working a better future?” Marina Warner even goes to the length of suggesting, “Too many crimes have been committed in the name of future for us to rise to the call of apology.”

In response to the powerful presentation made by the Dr. Agnishekhar at the Prime Minister’s 1st Round Table Conference on Kashmir, Mufti Mohd. Sayed made a telling statement of the times by saying, “I am ashamed at what was done to Pandits. It is a national shame and ‘Hum iske liye sharminda hai.’ Mufti Sayed may have tried to score points then but one can’t be but be amused at his worthless statement. Those who get impressed by these apologies must understand the politics behind the same and should not forget that there was no succor for displaced Pandits in Mufti’s healing touch policy. Having been a union home minister and also a chief minister, Mufti can’t have been ignorant about no justice being possible without reparation. Nahla Valji commenting upon the proceedings of Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa rightly argues that, “reconciliation is ultimately linked to reparation and implies that without the later one can find neither justice nor closure.” In case of Kashmiri Pandits reparation can only be the recognition of their claim over a separate homeland in Kashmir.

Speaking at a seminar held last year during Summit of the Powerless, Omar Adullah strongly advocated setting up of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Kashmir on the similar lines as was done in post apartheid South Africa. True, the South African endeavor apparently seemed to have succeeded in its mission; however, recent reports have exposed some glaring omissions, which raise serious questions on the sincerity of purpose behind the whole process. Considering the inherent prejudice that Kashmiri Muslims have historically nurtured against the Pandits, will any commission be able to truthfully serve its terms of reference? Moreover, will the prevailing political and social dispensation in Kashmir ever allow setting up of honest and just terms of reference for any commission, which seeks dispense justice to the displaced community?

As mentioned earlier, Kashmiri Muslims will continue apologizing to the Pandits. The central question here is what that apology will actually indicate or achieve? Last year, during a two day seminar, Kashmir Imbroglio: Perspective, held in India Peace Center, Nagpur, Hurriat delegation led by their then spokesperson Saleem Geelani profusely expressed their regrets and sorry for whatever was inflicted upon the Pandits. Saleem Geelani even went to the extent of seeking forgiveness from the Panun Kashmir delegation comprising of Dr. Agnishekhar and Ramesh Manvati. The idea of an apology will definitely have an emotional appeal to many Pandits. But, what needs to be understood is that politics of symbolism must be isolated from the politics of substance, and then only the justice can be delivered.

The apologies from the very people who are the perpetrators of worst crimes against the humanity will only be symbolic and dictated by sheer political expediency. The apologies carry no weight or conviction as these are backed by a constructed mind set which welcomes the displaced persons as tourists and conspires against their permanent return. A testimony at the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission stated, “We won’t say these perpetrators give us their money but they must give us some thing to show they are sorry.” Kashmiri Muslims can’t return lost seventeen years to the displaced Pandits but they need to give them some thing to show they are sorry. Kashmiri Pandits would be satisfied with a small portion of land on which they can give shape to their dreams and aspirations.

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Kamal Hak is a political analyst and a columnist. He as well is a senior leader of Panun Kashmir. Hak resides in Noida and can be contacted at kamalhak[@]gmail.com

Chandigarh Screening: All Roads lead to RIK Event...

Picture from Times of India

(Please scroll down for more pictures)-

Some months back when a supposedly well known documentary maker had gone to Punjab University , Chandigarh to screen his “magnum opus” he had less than a dozen people to see his documentary. So embarrassed was the “genius” with the dismal turnout he decided not to even mention this on his blog.

With this fear in our hearts and minds when we reached Chandigarh on Friday morning we saw posters of our screening at almost all departments of the Punjab University.-
Cut to 4.30 Friday 21st of Sept,07. It seemed all roads lead to the English Auditorium, Punjab University. An unrelenting stream of students, doctors, faculty and members of the civil society kept pouring in. By 5 PM the auditorium was overfull. Just to give the reader a measure, the auditorium with a capacity of 325 people had more than 500 people waiting for the movie to begin and more than 200 waiting outside the hall to get in. The auditorium didn’t have air conditioning and yet people stuck to the places, whether standing or sitting refused to move out. There were many who had to be seated near the backstage so that they could see the movie.

We finally started at 15 minutes past 5, the press was there in full attendance which can be easily seen by the coverage of the event (links and pics posted on the blog).Mr.Atre,IAS and Director of PR for UT of Chandigarh also graced the occasion.The screening was followed by a panel discussion in which Mr.Vikram Chaudhary of NDTV, Professor Brar of Poltical Science Department and Sqn.Ldr(Retd) Sadhu took part. Yet again there was a vibrant Q&A session. In the Q&A session most questions directed at Vikram. The audience wanted to know why the English Electronic Media was in a way silent about the forced exodus of Pandits and their plight.
As always the discussion did not stick itself to Kashmir with issues like terrorism and role of the State coming into focus. While all this was happening more than 400 people were queuing outside the auditorium for a second screening which we had to announce seeing the turnout of people.

Once again we were overwhelmed by the response. More than 400 people participated in the second screening of the movie and later in the Q&A session. Many wanted to join the movement called RIK. Many more from Media wanted to know what they can do help Kashmiri Pandits get what they rightfully deserve. But that’s not to say there weren’t people who did not question our motives for screening what they thought was a one sided view of the Kashmir issues. A friend from the media wanted to know why we called terrorist of Kashmir as Islamic terrorists. As always our answer was the so called movement in Kashmir is Pan-Islamic expansion in the garb of so called freedom. Ironically when Rashneek (the moderator for the program) asked this gentleman as to why none but Indonesia was the only Muslim Majority nation being secular in character the friend sat quietly without an answer. Probably he and us will both search for them in days to come……

We are thankful to all our friends in Punjab University, Career Launcher ,all our friends and sponsors for such an excellent event.-
PS: Many had to be given CD’s of the documentary, as we failed to accommodate them in the auditorium.

RIK Cavalcade on way to Chandigarh.

A part of the audience at the first screening.

People watching the RIK Photo Exhibition outside the auditorium.


Humidity doesn't make any difference.


Another view of the audience.

Panel Discussion: Rashneek Kher (Moderator), Vikram Chowdhry (NDTV), Sq. Ldr. B.L. Sadhu.

A notice board outside the venue.

An eager student with a query.

RIK Chandigarh Team Volunteers outside the venue.

RIK Chandigarh Volunters

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For any other query mail us at: contact@rootsinkashmir.org

Media Stories - :

1. IT Chandigarh - http://itchandigarh.com/index.php?itemid=2198

2. Tribune - http://www.tribuneindia.com/2007/20070922/cth1.htm

3. Total TV Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPm3DZZXVc8

THE PANDITS's OPEN WOUND-by Iftikhar Geelani(in PIONEER)

Bitta Karate, who murdered dozens of Kashmiri Pandits, walked out of court laughing this month when another attempt to convict him failed.It wasn't his victory, but the failure of the Indian state

One winter evening, late in 1989, a zooming Ambassador slowed down in the Chanakhan locality of Sopore town. A person wearing a Kashmiri gown (phern), apparently a Pandit, was thrown out and gun shots rentthe air. The bleeding person had not lost his senses. Holding hisbullet wounds he crawled to take shelter under a closed shop. Lawlessness had taken over the Kashmir Valley. Nobody would listen to anything but Azadi, to achieve which it was necessary to clear theValley of "informers" and leaders having the potential to "sell-out". The man who lay dying slowly of bullet wounds was crying for water inhis feeble voice. But the people of the neighbourhood, who were used to being hauled off by the security forces for harbouring anybody deemed a "militant" were in no mood to help. Instead of rushing to his rescue, they carried him by his arms and legs and tossed him into the Jhelum river which flowed nearby. That ended his misery.Till date, nobody has any answers for this strange behaviour -- a summary execution of sorts. The only explanation given was that thedead man used to live in a nearby village. He was a Kashmiri Pandit who had been kidnapped for providing information about militants tothe security agencies.

A contrast came a few months after this incident in a nearby SofiHamam locality, when militants raided the homes of Pandits in broad daylight. Almost all Pandit families had left for Jammu by then,barring a young boy. Ashok, who had stayed back for some unknown reasons. Militants believed he was helping the security forces bypinpointing targets. People literally gheraoed the whole locality and shoed the militants away. But, in the dead of night, they returned.This time, they cut off the roof of the house to drag out Ashok. After few days his dead body was found on the banks of river Jhelum.

The neighbours of the Pandits for centuries, the Muslims of KashmirValley were not particularly happy about the killings of Pandits. Onoccasions they remonstrated the militants. Even today, the full separatist spectrum consisting of hardliner Syed Ali Geelani tomoderate Yasin Malik recognise the Pandits as part of Kashmiri society. Their migration out of the Valley has disturbed Kashmiri society, they admit.

At the start of armed movement in 1989, strategists in both India and Pakistan disallowed any Kashmiri leader to take the centre-stage,which could have at least controlled the events. While India detainedleaders, militant groups at the behest of Pakistani agencies launcheda venomous campaign against them. They even resisted staunch pro-Pakistan Kashmiri leaders to ensure that the levers of control were with Islamabad and to avoid the re-emergence of a Sheikh Abdullah. Baring some honourable exceptions, this vacuum got to be filled by ruffians and street stalkers who had procured guns. They began to regard themselves as leaders and mujahids. They killed more civilians than they confronted the security forces.

Among such characters, Farooq Ahmed Dar, alias Bitta Karate, emergedas one of top leaders of the Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF).The then Governor, Mr Jagmohan, later wrote in justification of the detention of traditional leaders and providing ascendancy to theelements in the JKLF: "I wanted to weaken the hold of the fanatics and fundamentalists, and also the pro-Pakistani groups by facilitating the ascendancy of those elements in the J&K Liberation Front who had thelatent disposition to be moderate and whom I could subsequently tackle to accept my idea of security real freedom for the Kashmiri masses, within the larger framework of the Indian Constitution.

"But, on Bitta Karate's emergence, Mr Jagmohan's policy went all wrong.Blamed by the Pandit community for a string of killings of itsmembers, Bitta Karate walked free on October 27, 2006, after 16 years of incarceration. An anti-terror court while granted him bail, arguedthat there was "no justification in continuation of his incarcerationwhen other co-accused facing the same allegations are enjoying fruitsof liberty".

Earlier, in 2001, Justice GD Sharma of the State HighCourt had ordered the transfer the cases against this notorious killerof the Pandits to Jammu.Farooq Ahmed Dar, against whom 23 FIRs -- mostly related to murder --had been lodged, was a martial arts practitioner. That gained him fameas "Bitta Karate". What earned him the wrath of Pandits was the "confessional statement" run by the official media soon after hisarrest, in which he accepted his role in the killings.

Even the separatists and the dominant JKLF faction-led Mohammad Yasin Maliknever espoused his cause, or even asked for his release for several years because of the negative image he had earned.Since then, there has been stiff opposition to his release, promptingthe Government to repeatedly slap the Public Safety Act (PSA) -- apreventive detention law that provides for detention without trial for a maximum of two years -- on him. Each time the term expired, it wasrenewed.Despite filing various cases against Karate for the killing of 30Pandits in 1990 and creating a fear psychosis, the State Government failed to file a chargesheet against him. His release may be treatedas a failure of our criminal justice system. The Pandit community,which is now thronging the streets seeking his re-arrest, failed toprovide a single witness against Karate in the court of law. There can be no excuse of lack of security, because the trial was going on in aspecial court in Jammu, where witnesses could have felt much safer.

The State Government, too, totally relied on the invocation of the Public Safety Act (PSA) rather than resorting to investigations andprocuring witnesses for convictions. For over two decades the rampant use of the PSA with ease quite dampened the investigation capabilitiesof the Jammu & Kashmir Police. It is used on all and sundry, from timber smugglers to terrorists, because the PSA is such a short-cut to the end of the troubles of the police force.

The policemen have become lazy, for no longer are demands of securing prosecution placed on them. It has not only completely shattered the investigating machinery of the State police, but the law also falls short of the fundamental requirements of justice. There is no such concept as equality before Law. The police could rest assured thatthere was no need to present an accused person before a magistrate, what to talk of looking for witnesses to examine.Bitta Karate eluded justice because the criminal justice system inJammu & Kashmir is quite dead. The State's failure to bring to justicea mass murderer and ethnic cleanser like him should not be viewed in narrow terms. It is high time the security agencies are reminded ofthe fundamental duty of their craft - to secure convictions.--

The writer is a noted expert on Kashmir issues

Screening at Maharaja Agrasen Collge

One more screening,one more day of learning.It was interesting experience for all of us when the movie was screened to a 125 odd students and some teachers at the Maharaja Agrasen College.A large section of the students were Journalism students so the discussion after the screening was thought provoking to say the least.Kashmir issue is so mired and vexed that it is impossible to even suggest solutions without fraying tempers and raising eyebrows.The panelists Vinod Verma(Leftist leaning intellectual) and Madhusree Chatterjee of Hindustan Times raised vital issues and the discussion did go beyond Kashmir.The minority question and treatment of minorities as an issue did come around.Students joined in and new perspectives to the problem were seen and some brushed aside.As a moderate,liberal and modern initiative "Roots in Kashmir" has always encouraged persepctives,ideas and solutions which are different than ours.It was one such effort to reach out and discuss and maybe explore the "new dimension".A humanitarian view of the Pandit problem would help the nation raise it better said Madhusree.Vinod stressed the need for a more inclusive agenda wherein we as a nation could address marginalised populations,Pandits being one.

The curtain however came down when a student asked Rashneek to answer in Yes or No and the question was"Do you think that the Pandit problem is being swept under the carpet to appease the minorities in general in India" and Rashneek answering Yes.

Hope to see you this Friday ie 24th Aug at Kamla Nehru College at 2.30 PM.

This EVENT was covered here...

http://headlinesindia.com/national/index.jsp?news_code=52968

http://www.hindu.com/2007/08/20/stories/2007082054880300.htm