Justice Delayed, Justice Denied - Zee News

https://www.facebook.com/groups/rootsinkashmir/permalink/1967594276603028/

Modasa Pradesh Brahm Samaj, Gujarat organized a public session on "The facts and feelings about Kashmiri Pandits"

Modasa Pradesh Brahm Samaj, Gujarat
organized a public session on "The facts and feelings about Kashmiri Pandits" on 24th February, 2018 at Modasa, Gujrat, where hundreds of people assembled to pledge their support to the Kashmiri Pandit cause. The session had Roots in Kashmir activists, Sh. Sushil Pandit and Sh. Amit Raina adressing the gathering. While Amit Raina spoke about the fast losing identity of Kashmiri Pandits and encroachment of Temples, Sushil Pandit higlighted the pain and struggle of Kashmiri Pandits in both pre and post exodus days. He also highlighted the broken promises of succesive governments in getting Kashmiri Pandits their homes back with justice and dignity. He requested people of Gujarat to force their representatives to push the government in Delhi to not succumb to the pressures of PDP and the love of power.

Sh. Jogender Upadhyay, from the Madosa Brahm Samaj assured Kashmiri Pandits of support from all people of Gujarat, especially from the 65 lakh Brahmin Community.

Modasa Brahm Samaj also passed a resolution covering the following points:

1.  Abolishing Article 370 and 35 (A)

2. Kashmiri Pandits are the aborigines of Kashmir valley; they should get the status of Native (Schedule Tribe) and Minority for the protection of their religious and ethnic rights.

3. To immediately establish a Kashmiri Pandit’s Commission for the purpose of social justice and legislative empowerment of Kashmiri Pandits

4. To appoint two members in state legislative assembly and one member in Rajya-sabha from the Kashmiri Pandit community. To allocate separate district for their safe rehabilitation in the Kashmir valley.

5.The names of the ancient villages, towns, religious places and monuments of the Kashmir Valley should not be changed.

6. Temples and religious places in the Kashmir valley are heritage of Indian culture therefore the “Temple and Shrine Protection Bill' should be implemented immediately to stop the encroachment of temple land and premises
                                                                                
 https://www.facebook.com/groups/rootsinkashmir/permalink/1962393310456458/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/rootsinkashmir/permalink/1963656766996779/

23 Winters by Rajesh Jalla

Brilliant documentary on Kashmiri Pandit exodus by Rajesh Jalla

Open letter to Shehla Rashid from a Kashmiri Hindu

Shehla Rashid,

I am Aditya Tikoo. It was the morning of 19th January 1990. I (then 5) was playing with my mother on the bed. She was 7 months pregnant. She took me in her lap and asked – “what do you want – baby brother or sister?”. “Brother” – I replied. She kissed my forehead and held her hand on my head in affection.

Suddenly we heard a noise outside. It was some mob that was nearing our house. It kept getting noisy with each moment. My father who had gone outside rushed into the house and came to our room. I saw his eyes full of fear for the first time. He was a school master in Srinagar. “They are coming”, he said.

I felt my mother’s grip around me was tightened suddenly. I looked at her face. She fainted. I asked, what happened? She almost cried, said- nothing Bachcha. She covered me with her shawl. I could clearly hear her heartbeats as my ears were pushed against her. Her heart was beating abnormally. I could not see her face now. It was all dark inside. But now I could realise, she was wiping her tears.

The procession was now outside our locality which had 7-8 Hindu homes. Someone from the mob shouted – “Thats the master’s house”. And then started the announcement from the nearby mosques – “Asi gachchi Pakistan, Batao roas te Batanev san” (we want to become Pakistan with Hindu women not with their men). It was announced by the mob. All men must leave valley leaving behind their women. Some of them kicked the gate and pelted stones at the window. We were terrified. I was in mother’s arms. Who was shivering. Carrying three hearts. Two within, one in arms.

Mosques started making announcements after announcements. It was a recorded cassette with Islamic songs warning the idolaters. To free Kashmir from Kufra. Azadi ka matlab kya La ilaah illillaah.

Few minutes later, 3-4 males from the locality knocked the door. My father opened it in fear. They were Hindu neighbours. Came to inform we are leaving in 2 hours. They have gone mad. They won’t listen to us. They won’t let us live anymore. This is our last day in valley.

While they were discussing how to flee, those words of mob – Asi gachchi Pakistan, Batao roas te Batanev san were playing in my mind endlessly. I only knew a woman in my life. She was my mother. I asked myself, what will they do with my mother? Why do they want her for Pakistan? I asked after a silence – Maa, what are they saying? Who are they? Why will they take you away? Will I go with you?

Na bachcha. I am your mother. I will be with you always – she cried bursting into tears.

In few hours, my father arranged tickets for us. Mother packed a few things – some jewellery, cash and a Shiva Ling. I was looking at her in fear while she was packing. She was constantly crying. She consoled me a couple of times and pretended she is fine. But I knew she wasn’t.

We left home in the noise of loudspeakers from mosques. I can still hear those voices. Those aggressive tones, words and call for action. I could see skullcaps around staring at us with the glare of victory. Eyes that wanted to peel the skin off my mother and eat her flesh.

My father tried to pick me up since mother was advised not to lift heavy things. I thought if I leave her, she will go with mob.

I cried like never before. I said – Maa take me with you. Don’t leave. She tried to explain- I am not leaving. I am with you. Just be with Dad. I refused. My father cried for the first time. He forcibly snatched me from mother again. I was so terrified that I almost felt unconscious.

When I got my consciousness back, I found myself in mother’s lap in the bus. She was crying and thanking God. We fled the valley. There were thousands like us. We lived in a tent in Jammu for next 2 months. A lot happened there.

My mother had miscarriage. She lost the child. She lost the smile forever. A few years ago, I got to know the full story. When I fell unconscious, she did not let Dad touch me. She carried me for all the time so that when I open my eyes, I find her right in front. Because this is what I wanted. To be carried by her. She walked and ran for 5 long kilometers carrying two children – one in arms, one inside to catch the bus. She got the bus but lost her other child.

We are settled in Delhi now. With her sacrifice and blessings, I am doing well in life. My mother doesn’t talk much.

Listen Shehla Rashid, I am not a storyteller. Neither are you some dear to me with whom I wanted to share what I never did till today.

I just want you to know one thing. Whenever my mother listens to the Azadi slogans or Kashmiriyat or La ilah illillaah on TV in Kashmir or Delhi, she sees her child bleeding to death. She cries in other room. Thinking about her child. Who was snatched away from him by the slogans of Azadi, Pakistan and La ilaah illillaah.

Your slogans and defence of Azadi lovers remind my mother of her child who was brutally murdered by you, your fathers and Islamists.

Thus, you are my enemy. Whenever someone tries to harm you or slaps you or beats you or threatens you, I feel he is standing with me for my lost sibling who I never saw. Whenever someone silences the voices of Azadi, hum le ke rahenge azadi, hum kya chahte azadi etc whether Army in Kashmir or people like ABVP or Agniveer in Delhi, we feel as if someone is coming to rescue us and our lost baby.

I find you personally responsible for tears of blood my mother shed all these years. You and millions of Azadi seeker Islamist swines are the reason she has never smiled since 19th January 1989. She is the victim. You are the attackers. Game will begin now.

You Jihadis will be slapped, beaten up and destroyed wherever you are. Those whom army can’t shoot, will be taken care of by us. You cry victim. We will beat you more. For our mother’s blood. For her tears. For her lost child. For her lost smile.

For all those hundreds of mothers whom you raped. For all mothers whom you abducted and snatched away from their children forever. Mothers who are still missing from the valley. Mothers whose breasts were cut off with the slogans of Allahu Akbar. Mothers whose private parts were mutilated with slogans of Islam Zindabad. Mothers whose thighs were tattooed with Islam Zindabad. Mothers whom you disrobed. Mothers whom you forced to parade naked in front of their children.

Whatever has happened to you is just a trailer. You cry that a few stones hit you and gave you scratches. Know that my mother almost bled to death. My mother saw her child bleed to death. Yours is a drama. Hers was real.

We swear to the dignity of all those mothers. All rapist Jihadi Kashmiri Islamists will be silenced by all means. Kashmir is not yours. Forget about it. Forever.

– From a real Kashmiri and son of Mother India

PS : The post has been edited for few typos. This Brother (name changed) contacted Agniveer with following message:

Vashi Bhai, my salutes to Agniveer! Sanjeev Bhai and you are doing greatest service to the nation. I am sharing this letter with you so that you can publish it. I want you to post it for me. I know not many have guts to do it. But you are different. I hope you will do it. Always with you. Thank you in advance. And count me in for service of Bharat Mata.

http://agniveer.com/open-letter-shehla-rashid-kashmiri-hindu/

Press Note - KP Exodus Day 19th Jan, 2017

A group of Kashmiri Pandits consisting mostly of young Kashmiri Pandits gathered for a silent sit
Jantar Mantar on Thursday, 19th January, 2017 to commemorate
forceful eviction from the Kashmir Valley 27 years ago.
Led by Jammu Kashmir Vichar Manch
Panun Kashmir, the protestors demanded that their human rights be restored
discrimination over the years and a
“We have been made a forgotten community. Our entire culture is fading. Our existence is under
threat” said Anoop Bhat, spokesperson
.
The protesters mostly school and college going children, recited poems and songs which highlight
their pain in exile. Neel Pandita, an eleven year old boy with tears in his eyes said “I want to see
home. I want to live in my home. I request PM Narendra Modi to help me go home
Sanjay Ganjoo of JKVM said “Minds were imbibed with fear and insecu
forcefully flee our native land in the wake of a freedom movement. Not only were we living under
the sustained threat of ethnic cleansing by the terrorists, over five lakh Kashmiri Pandits were
forcefully evicted, defamed, killed and women raped brutally simply because they were Hindus and
seen as symbols of Indian”

“This day marks the 28th anniversary of the forced exile. It was on the fateful day of January 19,
1990, when hundreds of thousands of violent protestors, along with
streets of Kashmir, which led to tour exodus,” said Aman Indra Koul, a 24 year old Kashmiri Pandit,
who was born in exile.

Sumeer Chrungoo, from Kashmir Samiti Delhi said “That dreaded night was possibly the longest night of our lives. Mobs from all over the valley had occupied every single road in Kashmir. They shouted slogans against Pandits asking us to join them or perish or leave the valley,”

Demanding a concrete effort by the government to rehabilitate these people and restore their dignity, Amit Raina, a protestor, said: “No single conviction has taken place against the people who have widely admitted that they were a part of the killings”. He added: “Besides, these cases should be made to come out of the Kashmir region and brought to the forefront so that our community, which is on the verge of extinction, gets national attention and receives adequate justice.”

The event ended with a silent protest and lighting of lamps in memory of all those who gave their lives to preserve the unity and integrity of India in Kashmir.

Human rights not an exclusive right of separatists, dear liberal media

Lot has been said in past few days over the situation in the valley. Liberal, leftist,

Socialites like Shobha De and media personalities like Barkha Dutt and Rajdeep Sardesai have directly or indirectly supported anti-India or pro-Pakistan lobby of the valley, while most of the Indians have extended full support to armed forces and their action.

Shoba De, while advocating for the right to plebiscite of Kashmiri Muslims (I avoid using word only Kashmiris because 99.999% Kashmiri Hindus don't want any plebiscite) does not like to extend the same privileges to Raj Thackeray and his team, who have also been advocating for sons of soil in Mumbai and have indulged in insignificant violence when compared to the attrocities committed on the minority community in Kashmir.

Barkha Dutt on other hand has always been perceived as pro-separatist, pro-Islamabad journalist. What can be said about a journalist, who has tried to rationalise the Exodus of Kashmiri Pandits by cooking up false social inequality issues. Her statements were almost as similar as Nazis had a about Jews. https://youtu.be/uPZFmO2xL30

And many like Rajdeep Sardesai are demonizing our forces, just to be in the goods books of their liberal leftist club.

The situation is Valley is precarious, and both government and forces are stretched to their limits. But admirably they have held their nerves together. Unlike the riots in rest of India, where it is a clash of two groups, in Valley it had been the miniscule Kashmiri  Pandits earlier and now the security forces who are the target of the attack.

Having myself witness to few such incidents in Kashmir, I know that forces show utmost restraint even at the cost of serious injuries to themselves. There has been a lot of noise about of the use of pellet guns and injuries it causes. The situation is so volatile in Valley today that had the same level of violence happened somewhere else in India, the death toll would have been in Hundreds. As per Gaurav Savant of India Today, "Nothing innocent/peaceful about stone Pelters. Pump action pellet gun deters them. Effective Non lethal crowd dispersal when CURFEW violated."  While I am not sure if pellet guns are the best option, but they surely are better than bullets. And I would prefer few scars than epitaph.

People like Shoba De and Barkha Dutt don't hesitate to remind us about the human rights of rioters, but conveniently forget that even forces have the same rights. Even our jawans are sons, brothers and husband's. And unlike the jehadis of Valley, who die killing innocents, these jawans lay their life to save innocents.

Author - Amit Raina

The Store Room - Sanjay Peshin

Jan, 1990, I was still a child, living in the valley of Kashmir. Shivers spill down my spine when I remember the dreadful night of 19th Jan, 1990. Mom woke me up in middle of the freezing night, I could hear people on the streets shouting slogans and they suddenly started pelting stones on our house. Our back door was being broken and my father was keeping a watch by peeking out the drawn curtains of the window. Mom with eyes full of fear and tears, whispered slowly in my ear "Woth..Chapayen thav syenith" (Wake up & wear your slippers), we may have to run. Dad double locked both of us in wood & coal store room & I spent all night on Mom's lap. She was continuously weeping and praying. By morning, her tears had made my pheran completely wet. Its been 24 years now, but I am yet came out from that dark store room. It seems that I am still in that store room, my childhood, my home, my life has been snatched from me. The memories haunt and my struggle against them continues   Author - Sanjay Peshin

‘Amnesty International’ a Jihadi Collaborator: Kashmiri Pandits

May 25^th 2010

New Delhi: Roots in Kashmir, a frontline initiative of Kashmiri Pandits in exile came down heavily upon the Government of India today to allow a tainted organization and a known Jihadi collaborator for ignoring the plight of half a million Kashmiri Pandits living in forced exile due to their human rights violation at the hands of the very people who Amnesty International met on their six-day visit to Kashmir.

The recent visit of a two member team of Amnesty International to "assess human rights situation" in Kashmir comes in the wake of its already maligned image of having collaborating with the Jihadis. As if Gita Seghal's revelations were not enough proof already of what Amnesty stands for its meetings with killers and mobsters like Yasin Malik and Syed Ali Shah Geelani left nothing to imagination.

While there is definitely a need to assess human rights situation in Kashmir one must ask is Amnesty the right organization to do so? Could Jihadi collaborators be human right assessors too? “We at Roots in Kashmir strongly condemn the Government of India which allowed a tainted organization to send its members to "assess human rights situation" in Kashmir. We ask what could these people whose motives are already known, assess but collect data to make reports that are pre-conceived and biased.” said Mr. Sanjay Peshin-the coordinator of the group.

“And if they really did want to know about human rights of Kashmiris why did they not meet Kashmiri Pandit leadership or for that matter visit camps of Kashmiri Pandits in Jammu. Does Amnesty not believe that a forced exodus of a million people is a reason enough to "assess human rights situation"? Does it not believe that the ethnic cleansing of Pandits too deserves its attention?” asked Mr. Amal Magazine, an activist of the group.

“Such attitude where only Pak backed Muslim separatist leadership is attended to simply goes on to show which side of Amnesty International's bread is buttered” said an angry Mr. Piyush Kaul of the group. To escape persecution, more than 500,000 Kashmiri Pandits had to leave their home and hearths back in the Valley of which more than 50,000 refugees are still languishing in uninhabitable refugee camps in Jammu and Delhi.

It simply doesn’t matter what report they give because as an organization its credibility is already eroded but the very fact that government allows such kite flying missions makes light of what is a very important matter.

Kashmiri Pandits ‘in exile’ tonsure heads to mark 20th Martyrs Day

Gulf Times

New Delhi: A group of Kashmiri Pandits living in Delhi tonsured their heads yesterday to mark the day 20 years ago when a member of their community was shot dead by militants in Jammu and Kashmir triggering their exodus from the valley.

“On September 14, 1989, militants killed a Kashmiri Pandit in the heart of Srinagar. This sowed the seeds of our eviction from our homeland. This is a symbolic protest against injustice towards our community,” said Kamal Hak, a Kashmiri Pandit living in Delhi.

“Twenty of our community members tonsured their head to mark 20 years of our Martyr’s Day,” said Hak, who along with his wife had left their home in the Kashmir in 1990.

Around 200 people of the community gathered near Yamuna river to protest. There was prayer meeting after which “people tonsured their heads”.

Hak said around 80,000 Kashmir Pandits are “living in exile in Delhi and its suburbs and all of them have expressed solidarity with the initiative”.

Tikalal Taploo, a lawyer, was the first Kashmiri Pandit victim to terrorism. “He was killed by terrorists right outside his house. After his death, hundreds of Pandits were killed by terrorists within the next four years. Post-1993, the number of killings has fallen as the majority of us have left the valley for other cities,” Hak added.

Aditya Raj Kaul, who was just a year old when his parents left the valley in fear, said: “Neither the administration, nor human rights organisations have ever highlighted our plight. The media too has overlooked us. September 14 is our Martyr’s Day and all Kashmiri Pandits observe it with a prayer for justice.”

Hak said that at least six of their community would meet National Security Advisor M K Narayanan to demand justice for “hundreds of those killed by militants”. - IANS

The furnished home of the homeless.

Pooja Shali

-

The same number began to flash on my phone, as usual. A number that I answer to, every year. The caller is all prepared with the question and I have my rejection in place. It is an invitation I ought to refuse…

The sun has rolled itself into the earth with jarring precision this year. The heat has taken its toll and citizens of the capital are packing their bags to head to more serene landscapes. The traffic, the ghastly pollution and unbearable heat are only excuses to reach for the mountains. The options for a vacation are galore in this vast wide world. Like every year, I choose only one option from my list but that unfortunately remains only on paper. This time too I have decided to step into Kashmir to feel the soil of my sensitive roots. For the very first time.

My friends in the valley who are fortunate to have their homes in Kashmir (for whatever reasons) do not look for an option. They do not have to decide. They do not have to think twice before packing their bags. They do not have to convince their parents to let go of the fear of fanatics. They do not have to make bookings. I, even though from the same land, have to undertake all of this.

…my phone is still ringing…

Every year I am ‘invited’ to Kashmir. Invited to a home, half of which I believe is mine. Jawahar tunnel is the passage into my huge living room. My hall is painted in colours of sensual blue that appeal to the eyes instantly. Behind Dal Lake are the paintings of snow peaked hills on the wall serving as highlights of the dining hall. On the treacherous way to the bedroom is the Puja-ghar. The huge Shankracharya temple and Kheer Bhawani are bowed to and respected by all the family members. The bed room is my sanity haven. Next to a bridge, under the shade of a banyan tree is where I think I slept sometime ago. The green pasture is the quilt I am covered in, whenever sleep beckons me.

This is the home I am asked to come to. The invitation arrives with sugar coated pudding in words; others come as a colloquial reminder in conversations. Several are too emotional to be ignored while quite a few extremely derogatory.

The ‘invitation to come to my own home’ echoes sometimes through my friends, by tourist agencies, occasionally by separatists trying to project a secular outlook and often by the mother earth dying to take me into her lap. Till now I have ignored all the appeals. I had taken a pledge long back that I shall never take off my shoes on that gravel as a tourist.
As my Muslim friends reiterate that they are going home for vacations, I’d decided I shall never utter from my mouth that I am going to Kashmir for a retreat. It would be an insult to my whole identity if I did so. Like them I also wanted to exclaim ‘Hey, I am heading back to my home’.

As of now, happily into my early twenties that day has never come. Unable to again build a home in Sekidafar or Habbakadal, I am a restless soul. The home, of which I heard innumerable stories from my mother, also became lullabies to put me to sleep. Almost everyday, my mother refers to her Habbakadal home like a child who never forgot the one Barbie doll she owned. But any discussion of rebuilding that home would only show a trace of eternal fear on that forehead. This failure resultant of inherent pride made me take a resolution.

The pledge is losing its ground now. Forced to take my words back, I have decided to visit the valley and if the Ishta Devi wills I shall fulfil it this time. When will I again head back and whether that shall be as a tourist or not are some questions which remain unanswered as of now; but that will not deter me to keep enticing myself to go bare feet on that terrain.

Till now for me Kashmir has been like a fable. A land faraway from my current home, somewhere my parents once resided. The legends and stories not connected to mad rush of New Delhi. A land I am fighting for, believing it shall be of people it once belonged to. Till then I will have to visit the Chinar and come back and then visit it again.

The only difference from then and now will be the revelation that enlightened my soul about my home. The fact that it will always be mine. No hand can snatch it, and no eyes can make me a stranger to it- the shade under the Boueen(Chinar) tree, next to the bridge.

…before the caller disconnects the line, I better receive it and tell him I might be seen in Gulmarg this time around. But that is not accepting an invitation, that’s just a wish to come back.

If I do not gather the strength this time, for sure I never will. The fear lingers on in my parents’ heart, but I need to pack my bags and bring back for them the Prasad of Khir Bhawani. Only then may be, they will say once again’ “lets go home this summer”….

The writer Pooja Shali is studying Mass Communication at AJK MCRC, Jamia. She can be reached at poojashali@gmail.com

Am I a Pappu ?

Kamal Hak

Nowadays I am scared to indulge in my favourite pastime while driving. Mind you I drive around four hours every day. I am very hesitant to tune it to any FM station for some nerve soothing music. It is not that suddenly music doesn’t hold my interest anymore. It is the intermittent messages declaring the people who won’t vote as Pappu that is giving me a complex. I realize I have been a Pappu all my life. Strange as it may appear but the fact remains in half a century of my life I have never voted.

But, am I really a Pappu?

Like any youngster, I still remember the day when my name appeared in the electoral rolls for the first time. It gave a strange feeling and the confidence of being an adult. I thought it also developed a parental feeling in me as my younger siblings started appearing like children who needed to be taken care of. I also remember an hour long wait in a long queue before gaining entry to the room in the Govt. Girls Primary School near my home, where the polling officers gave you the ballot paper. I also remember the disappointment and the humiliation after all this being told my vote had already been cast. That day my faith in my Muslim neighbours received a serious dent. That day my belief in the might of Indian democratic institutions also diminished. Subsequently, I chose to be a Pappu than face the humiliation. After every election, my caring neighbours would dutifully inform me that the records will show I have cast my vote.

For last nineteen years I have been living in Delhi NCR. I am a registered voter in my local constituency. I also have a voter card. The electoral officer in my erstwhile Srinagar constituency must either be obliged to my family, most unlikely, or may have taken me as Kamaal Haq, more likely. My name still appears in the electoral rolls there. I have never felt inclined to vote here. Some how and I may be wrong, I have always felt my voting here will suit my tormentors in valley and take me further away from my homeland.

Don’t be a Pappu.
It is not only the media, NGO’s and the election commission that is urging me. I am amused some of my own community men also have joined the bandwagon of ‘don’t be a Pappu.’ They want me to strengthen the very process that threw me out of my homeland. Nevertheless, I thought may be they are right. I am now prepared to pin my hopes on the democratic process for bringing me succor.

Please guide and advise me.
There are more than twenty candidates for Srinagar constituency. Nearly all of them including Autar Krishan Pandita of BJP are there just for a symbolic presence. Khalida Shah, wife of Gul Shah and sister of Farooq Abdullah is also not seen as making any significant difference.. The contest is mainly between Farooq Abdullah and Moulvi Ifftikhar Ansari of PDP.
Shall I vote for Farooq Abdullah, a founder member of JKLF and the chief patron of uprising in Kashmir, who abdicated his moral, political and constitutional responsibility towards me in my hour of need? Or shall I vote for Ansari, a perennial turncoat who represents a political party that considers me as a pariah?

I don’t mind being a Pappu.
I don’t want the people of Kashmir, the governments of J & K and India to ever believe every thing is alright with me and I have forgiven them. Either way my vote will not make any significant difference to my plight or state of affairs in this country. But as a Pappu I will always have a satisfaction of being a mirror which reflects the nation’s failures.

I can now tune in to my music station.
-

The author Kamal Hak is a political analyst based in Noida, near New Delhi. Hak is the National Spokesperson of Panun Kashmir. He can be reached at kamalhak@yahoo.com

Pandits demand ‘Right to Vote’, wear black bands in protest

Elections for India:Exile for us

India Votes but the Pandits don’t get to.

1.47 lac voters in 1996; 1.17 lac in 2002 and 0.71 lac in 2008.

At a time when registering as a voter is a mere mouse click away, the Election Commission in connivance with the State is making the most tedious processes for Kashmiri Pandits so as to ensure that we don’t even get a basic human right.

While separatists get to election fray the Pandits are once again marginalised. With polling facilities in only two cities in India the State ensures that 50,000 Pandits living in towns other than Delhi and Jammu don’t get to vote. While others get a day off to vote, Pandits are expected to take an off and fly to Delhi or Jammu to vote.

It is but a part of the larger process to erase Kashmir's indigenous people not just from geographical horizon of Kashmir but from mind-spaces, voter lists, ration cards so that one day Pandits can no longer claim to be Kashmiris.

On Sunday, 3rd of May,09 we will all register our protest at Silent sit at Jantar Mantar, near Cannought Place, New Delhi at 3:30 pm.

The nation votes and we wonder about our Voter ID cards.

Elections for India, Exile for us!

For More Information please contact:

Amal Magazine:9873900479

Ashish Zutshi:09811600264

19 years to the 19th day of 1990: Exodus of Kashmiri Pandits

I wake and feel the fell of dark, not day
What hours, O what black hours we have spent…
- Gerard Manley Hopkins

19th January 1990. Kashmir was breathing still; Kashmiri Pandits lay hidden like frightened pigeons in their own nest. Today on behalf of my fellow brothers and sisters, I wish to revisit the pain of my separation from my own home 19 years ago, when the cruel hands of Allah-Wallahs butchered members of my community for being idol worshipers, for rejecting the call for unholy Jihad and for siding with their own nation India. The Islamic murderers played dire warnings from their Mosques which pierced each nerve of anybody who held a Hindu name. As the sun turned pale, exhortations became louder, and three taped slogans repeatedly played their terror: 'Kashmir mei agar rehna hai, Allah-O-Akbar kehna hai' (If you want to stay in Kashmir, you have to say Allah is great); 'Yahan kya chalega, Nizam-e-Mustafa' (What do we want here? Rule of Shariah); 'Asi gachchi Pakistan, Batao roas te Batanev san' (We want Pakistan along with Hindu women but without their men).

The roots of this unparalleled tragedy are immersed in 1986 with a well-planned strategy to execute Hindus from the valley. By 1990, the population saw their age old temples turned to ruins and lives at risk. As Pakistan stepped up their campaign against India, new Islamic terror outfits suddenly mushroomed in the state. As Jamait-e-Islami financed all madarsas to poison them against the minority Hindus and India, Pakistan further dictated youth to launch Jihad against India. A terror strike so meticulously planned that its unprecedented display was terrifying. As camps in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK) began to provide training to innumerable Muslim men, India witnessed the emergence of the bloodiest Kalashnikov culture in the valley. The victims- innocent and non-violent minority- the Kashmiri Pandits.
-
The Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah, abandoned his responsibilities and the administration, the state and people lay like cattle on an open road. The hidden fact of rigged elections in 1987 had by then become a lucid statement. Today 22 years later, Omar Abdullah takes position of the same majestic throne, though I wonder how efficiently he would carry forward the state of affairs. Will he like his father ruin the backbone of the state and leave the minority Hindus helpless as always, or will he rise above politics, religion to create space for Pandits in their valley? The unanswered question lingers on.
-
When Farooq Abdullah escaped underground, Jagmohan took reigns as the governor of the state. Though not very competent to handle an already ruined socio-political situation, he as a mark of remarkable leadership helped Kashmiri Pandits receive safe shelter. Jagmohan charted out an exceptional strategy to counter Islamic fanatics and also opened his Durbar (Office) to public irrespective of time. He visited families of the martyred Hindus. About one such meeting with the family of Satish Tickoo, murdered by communal JKLF goon Bitta Karate , he wrote an outstanding excerpt in his book, ‘My Frozen Turbulence in Kashmir’- “In Habba-Kadal, except for the long row of our vehicles, nothing was seen on the streets. The afternoon rain appeared to have soaked the houses with depression. The few windows that were open were without even the usual dim light. The dark clouds overhead completed the picture of gloom… The house of Tickoo was like a shattered nest. Everything lay scattered. The grim atmosphere around told the tale more vividly...”
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He further wrote, “As I was about to leave, Satish’s uncle who was a bit vociferous and assertive, insisted that I should go upstairs and see the family deity. I agreed. A calm majestic figure was soon visible. It looked so imposing even in the darkness… With tears in their eyes, the family members thanked me and the accompanying officers. We were all moved over the sad plight of the family”.
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However one excerpt that mirrored my anxiety of 19 years was composed in words by Jagmohan, “Looking at the compact and enmeshed houses, and the by-lanes which acted like fine threads of a well-knit fabric, I wondered how these families, who had all their Gods and Goddesses here, and had deep roots in the soil, could leave and settle in distant and unfamiliar lands. Sometimes life is unaccountably cruel. And we human beings have, perhaps, no option but to suffer – suffer in silence, or wail”.
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Satish Tickoo was not the lone martyr who fell to the bullets of so-called revolutionaries. Tika lal Taploo, Nilkanth Ganjoo, Sarla Bhat, and countless others followed the target list of JKLF and other Islamic Terror outfits backed by Pakistan financially, psychologically and politically. An absent government, collapsed administration, and a petrified community saw despondency set in. As the moonlight of January 19, 1990 wore itself out, despondency gave way to desperation. Tens of thousands of Kashmiri Pandits across the valley decided to take an agonizing decision, to flee their homeland and save their lives and religion from rabid Jihadis…
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..Thus took place a 20th century Exodus.

Pandits left the valley, with an approximate statistics of more than three lakh and fifty thousand. Almost a thousand Pandit men, women and children were slaughtered to death in 1990 alone by these revolutionaries of Islam. Surprisingly on paper, official figures clogged at only 209 killed! Alas! Soon the J&K government shall disown the whole Pandit community as aborigines of Kashmir.

In this 19th year, a few hundred frightened Pandits still live scattered across the valley in far flung areas hoping against hope for peace and their brethren to step on the snow once again.

This 19th year embarks upon a history of bullets to makeshift camps in Jammu with torturous summer heat to snake and scorpion bites and finally dreadful diseases. Seven camps in Jammu are an uninhabitable asylum for around 50,000 Kashmiri Pandits. The only perceptible change is an upgradation of some to permanent structures.

My heart bleeds when I watch communal turned pseudo-secular Kashmiri separatists grab the headlines while the plight of the Pandits remains a non-issue. It isn’t the so-called Azaadi that the people of Kashmir desire. They long for an immediate crackdown on terrorists, an end to the separatist elements and those unbearable puppets in the Valley- all for normalcy to return. Though sidelined for now, the political patronage they enjoy could soon take the voices from the Hurriyat and JKLF spreading propaganda of terror and hatred to the frontlines of politics.


An entire community uprooted from the land of their ancestors is today struggling for its identity. The weak-kneed Indian state shamelessly panders to Islamic terrorists and separatists who claim they are the final arbiters of Jammu and Kashmir's destiny. A part of India's cultural heritage is destroyed; a chapter of India's civilization has been erased. And, our jhola-wallah brigade of ‘secular’ activists unabashedly turns their back to the plight of Kashmiri Pandits. To them I believe, ‘Hindu sorrow, inflicted by Islamic terror’ is a truth perhaps too harsh to accept. Thereby hangs a tragic tale that is completely wiped out from public memory.

I am reminded of a stanza by a Jewish poet: ‘...without identity in a street nameless to me, I am a stranger: I am longings, I am fears. I am child longing to belong to his lost childhood and not be outside the present, always withdrawn, apart...’

I’m as old as the terrorism in the Valley. In these 19 years, the only time I felt the breeze of my land was through the closed windows of my airplane. She beckons me and I am too desperate now to grab its serene quilt. My mother nature has summoned me, and I shall answer her call soon, very soon.


Till then, in this 19th year of exile like the unanswered questions of our human rights …my struggle for existence also continues.

The author Aditya Raj Kaul is an activist based in New Delhi. He studies Political Science at the Delhi University.He can be reached at kauladityaraj@gmail.com

THE ‘K’ FACTOR - Irrationality of rational realist films..

Films From Kashmir,
Films For Kashmiris,
Without Kashmiri Pandits!

In the world of documentaries, every artist has the freedom to choose and deliver at his own will. All the more better if supported by the government and masses. As every filmmaker tricks the audience into believing his theme as abject truth, the masses too tend to drown themselves into it.

This weekend proved to be a crammed package of films on J&K. As one channel flashed a documentary based on a famous poem, the other channel followed with a special report on the children of conflict. Like always this viewer remained glued hoping against hope to catch a minority face…but I am glad my hopes were not raised. The first film reiterated their ‘freedom struggle’ as ‘satyagraha’; the other believed that the children of the valley are the worst victims.

Once more we had to watch the pain of the majority (Muslim) community, their kith and kin and their troubles caused at the hands of the ruthless Indian government. Once again the filmmakers decided to ignore that ‘there once lived a minority that now has the whole galaxy as their home except their own valley’. It is always troublesome to watch young lives suffer, their faces becoming a paradox to peace. But to believe that the conflict war zone weighed heavy only on population presently in the valley, one is mistaken.

As I saw snowy white faces of little kids in Kashmir, as cameras zoomed on the cherry red glow on these cheeks; I suddenly saw myself in Jammu. The same white cheeks of some Kashmiris have turned coal black; the only margin remained the ‘athoor’ dangling from female ears. When I heard a completely tanned teacher recite a Sanskrit prayer at the overcrowded Purkhoo camp and saw him scold some students in Kashmiri, the irony of calling them Kashmiris struck like a sword.

The above statement is anything but racist. The tanned skin mirrored years of hopelessness and eternal toil seep out with sweat on their faces. There was no red glow I could zoom into. I saw frustration and frustration little more. The news channel cut into a break which brought me back to my room and I lay frozen with the remote, knowing not what to do. At times I wonder if Hindus of Kashmir really exaggerate their pain or is it because we form the majority of this nation that we fail to make good news stories as victims.

Some refer to the Jammu refugee camps as a political gimmick, but it is the cowardice of educated filmmakers that they use their prerogative to ignore us. Ajay Raina, Ashok Pandit and Rajesh Jhala are some who dared to shed light on the issue. But then looking at the statistics, for one documentary on the Hindu minority there are ten for the majority. A film on the desecration of temples is termed communal while stories on Ayodhya/AFSPA are screened worldwide. Surprisingly the filmmakers and reporters who glorify the terrorists as ‘saviours of Kashmiris’ saw the same Kashmiris boycott separatists to vote for a record 65% in the recently held elections.

Howzzaat.!!

There is no doubt that films cannot transform the world, they do not possess that much power. However, as a filmmaker one still tries to use this freedom of expression to put forth the hidden truth. Every draconian law and every suppressed community has a filmmaker to boast of… except for the Hindus in forced exile. Some day in near future we too shall have a document of minority in the valley that the world can peak through- a document that delves deep into broken temples, broken families, broken hearts… above all a broken state.

Finally to conclude with how ignored we remain here’s the following truth- When Pakistan sponsored terrorism hit the valley, Kashmiri Pandits screamed their hearts out. When their homes burnt to ashes in front of their wet eyes, they stood up in protest. The Indian government was asked to take stringent steps. No one heard Kashmiri Pandits back then… No one heard them now as Mumbai burnt.

And yet we all know the truth. Don’t we?

(The author Pooja Shali is a Mass Communication masters student at New Delhi's A.J.K. MCRC. She can be reached at poojashali@gmail.com)

Kashmiri Pandit migrants are internally displaced: UN

PTI
New Delhi, Nov 03: The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has said it treats Kashmiri Pandit migrants as 'Internally Displaced Persons', a status the community has been demanding for long, but made it clear that the world body has no role to play in their case.

"The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) has no role with Internally Displaced Persons in India," the world body said in response to a memorandum submitted by a Kashmiri Pandit group 'Roots in Kashmir' (RIK).

In the memorandum, submitted during the visit of UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon last Friday, the Kashmiri group appealed that the world body take cognisance of the plight of Pandits who had to leave their homes in the valley.

The RIK said that even 19 years after the mass exodus, over 50,000 of "Kashmiri Pandit refugees are living in pathetic conditions in uninhabitable refugee camps" and that the successive Central and state governments had failed in protecting their rights.

In response, the UNHCR said its mandate is to work for refugees and "in some countries, on invitation by sovereign governments, with internally displaced populations".

Making a distinction between internally displaced persons and refugees, it said it depends on whether the people have crossed an international border.

"They (Kashmiri Pandits) may have left Kashmir for reasons very similar to those who become refugees, but since they have not crossed an international border, they continue to be protected by the same national government (in this case India) in a different part of the country (Jammu, Delhi, Mumbai, etc)," it said.

"They have not lost the protection of the national government," the UNHCR said, adding the world body steps in when people lose the protection of their national governments, by crossing an international border.

Bureau Report (PTI)
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Links:

Zee News - http://www.zeenews.com/articles.asp?aid=480822&sid=NAT
Daily Excelsior - http://www.dailyexcelsior.com/web1/08nov04/news1.htm#4

Kashmiri Pandits submit memorandum to UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon in New Delhi

A joint delegation of up to ten Kashmiri Pandit groups submitted a memorandum to UN General Secretary Ban-Ki-Moon, who is visiting India, regarding their demands, which include, to be declared as IDPs Internally Displaced Persons.

Kashmiri Pandits hold protest
Staff Reporter, The Hindu

NEW DELHI: Kashmiri Pandits belonging to various organisations staged a protest in the Capital on Friday to seek the intervention of United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon by declaring them as internally displaced persons.

They have appealed to the UN Secretary General to take cognisance of their plight as more than “400,000 of them have had to leave their homes in the Valley to escape persecution”.

Organisations that participated in the protest included Roots in Kashmir, Panun Kashmir, Kashmiri Samiti Delhi, Internally Displaced Kashmiri Pandit Youth Front, All-India Kashmiri Samaj, Jammu Kashmir Vichar Manch, All State Kashmiri Pandit Conference, Panun Kashmir Youth Front, Kashmiri Pandit United Forum and Jammu and Kashmir National United Front.

According to Roots in Kashmir coordinator, Aditya Raj Kaul, over 50,000 of Pandit refugees are living in pathetic conditions in refugee camps even after 19 years of mass exodus.

“The Pandit community believes that successive Union and State governments have failed to protect their human rights. Moreover, human rights organisations have failed to highlight violation of their rights. Some of the demands of Kashmiri Pandits to the UN include ensuring adequate protection to the residual Kashmiri Hindu population currently living in the Valley,” added Mr. Kaul.

Important demand

Stating that restoration of Kashmiri Hindus’ political and economic rights in their State was an important demand, Mr. Kaul said this would give them equal status rather than a second class citizenship in their native land as share of jobs for them in bureaucracy, State supported professional educational institutes and the representation in the State Assembly has steadily diminished in the past two decades.

“Grant funds to Kashmiri Hindus for the preservation and documentation of relics of Kashmiri Hindu heritage and culture. Direct the Government to hand over the management of religious shrines, icons and cultural centres to Kashmiri Hindu leadership,” added Mr. Kaul.

Link - http://www.hindu.com/2008/11/01/stories/2008110153670400.htm

March for justice: Members of ‘Roots in Kashmir’ protesting outside the office of United Nations Human Rights Commissioner seeking internally displaced people status for the Kashmiri Pandits in New Delhi on Friday.

The Statesmen

Rashtriya Sahara

Hindustan

Punjab Kesri

Dainik Bhaskar

Pandits demand recognition as Internally Displaced Persons
PTI

New Delhi, Oct 31: Demanding that they be declared as Internally Displaced Persons, a group of Kashmiri Pandits on Friday held a protest here seeking intervention of UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon in the matter.

The Pandits belonging to various organisations submitted a memorandum to Moon, who is on a two-day visit to India. They appealed to Moon to take cognisance of the plight of Pandits who had to leave their homes in the valley.

Even 19 years after the mass exodus, more than 50,000 of these Kashmiri Pandit refugees are living in "pathetic conditions in uninhabitable refugee camps", they said.

They alleged that successive Central and state governments had failed in protecting their rights. They also demanded the government set up a 'Commission of Enquiry' to establish the causes that led to the killings of Kashmiri Pandits.

Link - http://www.zeenews.com/articles.asp?aid=480065&sid=NAT

UNHCR Associate External Relations officer Nayana Bose accepting the memorandum.

Women Activists holding a banner which asks UN Sec. Gen. Ban Ki Moon's intervention for the IDP status of Kashmiri Pandits.

Picture taken from inside a hole of a Police barracde shows a Kashmiri pandit girl behind the banner hodling a placard.

Kashmiri Pandits demand 'internally displaced persons' status

IANS
Kashmiri Pandits held a silent sit in protest outside the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office here Friday, demanding that the community, which fled the Kashmir Valley during the peak of militancy 20 years ago, be declared as internally displaced persons (IDPs).

The community represented by Kashmiri youth organisations in the capital like Roots in Kashmir, Internally Displaced Youth Front, Panun Kashmir, All India Kashmir Samaj, and others, along with elderly members of the community in Delhi, presented a five-page memorandum of their demands to Nayona Bose of the UNHCR to be forwarded to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who is on a two-day visit to India.

We welcome the UN secretary on his visit to India. As a community we, therefore, appeal to him to help us - declare the Kashmiri Hindu community as IDPs, Lalit Ambardar, 35, a qualified engineer who was one of the 100-odd protestors, told IANS.

The Human Rights Working Group on Minorities in Geneva had recognised Kashmiri Hindus formally as a 'reverse minority'. So the use of the insulting term of 'migrants' for us - a forcibly exiled community - should be removed from all records and communications relating to us henceforth, Ambardar chorused the protestor's demand.

Many others protestors were angry about the state to which Kashmiri Hindus have been reduced since insurgency in the Kashmir Valley in 1989-90, when more that 400,000 Kashmiri Pandits fled their homes to escape persecution.

Historically, Kashmiri Pandits were known to be intellectuals, but now we are rotting away - we are a national waste - we have no political representation, have no geographic ethnicity that we can claim as our own! fumed Raj Raina, 37.

Raina was unable to get a government job owing to his 'migrant' status. He is now self-employed and runs a small printing press.

When I was forced to leave my home in the Valley, militants threatened us time and again - merge with us (with political and religious views), perish or vanish, Raina recapitulated memories of the insurgency.

Amongst those present from the community were varsity students, who also held that the current situation was sordid.

Calling us migrants implies that we had a choice in the matter, when we were actually forced to flee, said Aditya Raj Kaul, a 22-year-old student activist from Delhi University.

We have demanded in the memorandum that the UN direct the Indian government to ensure adequate protection to the residual Kashmiri Hindu population living in the Valley. Also that Kashmiri Hindus be restored political and economic rights, giving them equal status rather than second-class citizenship in their native land, Kaul informed.

Link - http://news.webindia123.com/news/articles/World/20081031/1092947.html

Kashmiri Pandits submit memorandum to UN
Aastha Manocha, Indian Express

New Delhi, October 31: A joint delegation of up to ten Kashmiri Pandit groups submitted a memorandum to UN General Secretary Ban-Ki-Moon, who is visiting India, regarding their demands, which include, to be declared as IDPs Internally Displaced Persons.

The joint memorandum was handed over to the UNHCR Associate External Relations officer Nayana Bose by Dr. SS Toshkhani, a noted Kashmiri Pandit scholar, and other community elders while others held banners depicting their plight and highlighting their demands.

We fulfill nearly all the criterion there is for Internally Displaced Person yet we have not been accorded this status due to the Indian government’s own inhibitions, said Mr. Rakesh Gurkha, a Kashmiri Pandit. We do not want any money but we want our demands to be met, he added.

Elaborating on the memorandum, Mr. Sushil Pandit, another community member present there, said, “we told the officer that we are a community of over 50, 000 plus people who have been displaced from their homes more for almost two decades now and want to be declared an IDP as we fit all the criteria set by the UN and other organizations for human rights. In fact, in some of its reports, we (Kashmiri Pandits) have been mentioned.”

Internally Displaced Persons are people who have been forced to flee because their lives were in danger but unlike refugees didn’t cross any international border.

According to The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), established in 1998 by the Norwegian Refugee Council ‘Internally Displaced Persons are people who have been forced to flee because their lives were in danger but unlike refugees didn’t cross any international border.’

It also goes on to add that while refugees get more international attention the international community is not under any obligation to look after the IDPs hence the onus often lies with the government itself to look after the IDPs. However, they are often found lacking in this respect.

An example of this is India itself, as after accepting the Pandits’ memorandum Ms Bose made it clear that the UNHCR has no role with Internally Displaced Persons in India.

‘By mandate, UNHCR works for refugees and in some countries, on invitation by sovereign governments, with internally displaced populations.’

Link - http://www.kashmirlive.com/story/Kashmiri-Pandits-submit-memorandum-to-UN/379855.html

Truth Truimphs at Last......

Demonstrators dance during victory celebrations in Jammu August 31, 2008. Hindus in Indian Kashmir called off their two-month protest after the government allowed them temporary use of land at the centre of a religious row for an annual pilgrimage, officials said on Sunday.REUTERS/Amit Gupta

Demonstrators hold India's national flags during the victory celebrations procession in Jammu August 31, 2008. Hindus in Indian Kashmir called off their two-month protest after the government allowed them temporary use of land at the centre of a religious row for an annual pilgrimage, officials said on Sunday.REUTERS/Amit Gupta

Demonstrators shout during victory celebrations in Jammu August 31, 2008. Hindus in Indian Kashmir called off their two-month protest after the government allowed them temporary use of land at the centre of a religious row for an annual pilgrimage, officials said on Sunday.REUTERS/Amit Gupta

A child joins Hindu protestors who celebrate in Jammu, India, Sunday, Aug. 31, 2008. Hindus on Sunday suspended their two-month-old protest over allotment of land to a Hindu trust to build facilities for pilgrims in the Indian portion of Kashmir, which triggered some of the worst violence in the region in more than a decade, officials said.(AP Photo/Channi Anand)

Jammu unrest reaches Delhi, Kashmiri Hindus clash with police

Indo-Asian News Service

New Delhi, August 02, 2008

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Hundreds of Kashmiri Hindus backed by political parties clashed with police in the Capital on Saturday while holding a rally to pledge support to activists in Jammu protesting the killings of two people and revocation of the land transfer to the Amarnath Shrine Board.
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Around 3,000 people of all age groups gathered at Jantar Mantar in the heart of the Capital and proceeded towards Parliament House, but were stopped by police officials near the Parliament Street police station.
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When the protesters tried to remove the barriers put up to stop them, the police fired water cannons and baton charged the crowd. According to the protesters, nearly 15 people were injured in the clash.

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A protester takes control of a water cannon during the protest.

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"We condemn the indefinite curfew and the shoot-at-sight orders on peaceful protesters in Jammu and its outskirts. Governor NN Vohra along with his people is trying to crush the entire movement initiated by the common citizens of Jammu against the communal and discriminatory policies of the state government," said Aditya Raj Kaul, one of the protesters.

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"It is a direct attack on the freedom of press and a human rights violation by the state. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) needs to intervene immediately," Kaul added.

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Rahul Sharma, another activist, said: "We immediately demand re-allocation of land to the Amarnath Shrine Board and removal of Governor Vohra."

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The protest was organised by the Amarnath Sangarsh Samiti along with various other civil society organisations and Kashmiri Hindu frontline groups such as Roots In Kashmir, Panun Kashmir, JKNDF and Jammu Kashmir Vichar Manch.

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Kaul said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Shiv Sena, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and many cultural, social and political outfits in the capital supported the protest.

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The protesters warned of intensifying their movement in the coming days.

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Unrest begin in Kashmir after the state government allotted 40 hectares of forest land in north Kashmir to the Amarnath Shrine Board May 26 for creating "temporary and pre-fabricated" shelters for Hindu pilgrims to the Amarnath cave shrine.

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The order was revoked on July 1 following violent protests in the Muslim-dominated Kashmir valley, in which six people were killed. The protesters alleged that the land would be used to settle outsiders and change the Muslim-majority character of the valley.

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The revocation order silenced the protests in Kashmir but ignited demonstrations in the Hindu-majority Jammu region, which has been reeling under curfews, shutdowns and violent protests for more than a month now. The violence has claimed five lives.