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

Migrant Kashmiri Pandit voter number halved in 12 years (IANS)

http://www.sindhtoday.net/south-asia/93060.htm
New Delhi, May 2 (IANS) The number of voters among Kashmiri Pandit migrants has dropped “considerably”, from nearly 150,000 in 1996 to just 71,000 presently - a 52 percent dip.
In 1996 there were 147,000 voters among the migrants all over the country, in 2002 the number went down to 117,000 and during the assembly elections last year it was only 71,000, according to the Roots in Kashmir (RIK), a migrant Kashmiri Pandits’ organisation.
Kashmiri Hindus were forced to flee their homeland when Muslim militancy erupted two decades ago in Jammu and Kashmir.
Some 300,000 Pandits fled the Kashmir Valley from 1989 as Muslim militancy peaked, at times targeting members of the community.
Today, most of them live in Jammu, New Delhi, Chandigarh, Bangalore and Mumbai. Only about 3,000 still reside in the valley.
Angry over the “considerable drop” in the number of Pandit voters, the RIK accused the Election Commission of discriminating against them “in connivance with the Jammu and Kashmir government”.
“At a time when voter registration is just a click away, the Election Commission in connivance with the state (government) is making the processes tedious for us so as to ensure that we don’t get a basic human right,” said Ranish Hangloo, a young activist of the RIK.
He said polling facilities for the exiled Pandits were only available in two cities and the migrants living in towns other than Delhi and Jammu “don’t get to vote”.
The Election Commission “expects us to fly to Delhi or Jammu to vote” he said.
The RIK is organising a silent sit-in protest at Jantar Mantar in the capital Sunday against the “discrimination”.
“It is to erase us from geographical horizon of Kashmir, from mind-spaces, voter lists, ration cards so that one day we can no longer claim to be Kashmiris,” said an angry Sanjay Peshin, the chief coordinator of the RIK.
The RIK is demanding that voting procedure for the migrants be simplified to ensure their 100 percent participation in the democratic process.
The exiled Pandits are required to fill what is called an M-form (migration form) to be included in the voters’ list. “When photo identity cards could be made for the Pandit voters, the M-form system should be deleted to make the process simpler,” Peshin said.

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

The Election Farce,Sajjad Lone etc

Che Kamyu Kareneay taveez pan
Yaaro van bale yaaro van

Who hath cast thy spell on thou?
Speak up my friend, speak up

Wahab Khar the 18th Century poet probably had the power to see future. How else does one explain the above verse unless he knew that Sajjad Lone, the most vociferous of the separatists would one day take a U-turn (strategic not ideological-let us laugh over it) and join the election fray. Intrigue has always been a part of Kashmir’s history and Kashmir’s leaders have more often that not been treacherous and perfidious. Sajjad Lone can be no exception.

After all he is following in the footsteps of his illustrious father who was first a minister in the Govt.of Jammu and Kashmir and then when the tide of separatism engulfed the valley he too changed his colours and became a separatist. As they say in Kashmir, Once a turncoat always a turncoat. Abdul Ghani Lone was about to don his old colours when the rival separatist gangs got a whiff of it and killed him. Sajjad and Bilal had a chance to speak up then but then the fear of death at the hands of terrorists had the better of them. If you can’t beat them join them.

Bilal joined the Hurriyat Conference while Sajjad kept to his People’s Conference because the Hurriyat did not want him amongst them. They were wary of him for various reasons, the primary being his proximity to some sections of the Indian Establishment. Sajjad who spends more time outside the valley found support from the liberal media and some sections of chatterati and thus was propelled to the national television screens as a “a separatist leader”. It was of little consequence that he enjoyed little or no support at the ground. His English speaking abilities and his suave ways became his passport for leadership. It is another matter that he was a leader because of his connections with the Editors of English News Channels.

Then came his big moment! The Amarnath agitation divided the state of Jammu and Kashmir like never before.The Govt of Jammu and Kashmir cancelled the temporary allocation of land which led to protests in Jammu.Sajjad Lone scoffed Arnab Goswami,”Are you comparing the agitation in a few Mohallas in Jammu to that of a Pan-Kashmir Agitation”.When the agitation in Jammu further gained ground he told Rajdeep Sardesai”We should give one and half district to Jammu and live peacefully”. It all reached a crescendo when he shouted at Dr.Jitendra Singh in Barkha Dutt’s programme that the land row is settled, all that is to be settled is Azadi.He even wanted Jitender Singh’s mike to be muted.

He was arrogant and rude to say the least. He was so vocal about his being Kashmiri separatist that he forgot that he is human too. He rubbed many people the wrong way.

Soon the elections were around the corner. The separatists including him gave a boycott call but a determined Election Commission went ahead with the election schedule. He was once again the most vocal face of the boycotters. Even on the day when the first phase figures came out and when 64% electorate had polled in he told Arnab Goswami” One Swallow does not make a spring. Wait there still is six more phases”. Meanwhile his sister Shabnam Lone too stood for elections. He swore by the Holy Quran that he had nothing to do with her candidature. He said, he did not support the farce called elections. He renewed his calls for boycott and his sister lost.

The Election Results were announced. Sajjad Lone was forlorn and dejected. He seemed to have lost the guftaar (the art of conversation) though he still maintained that he did not regret his decision to boycott polls. He was suddenly seen biting dust. He called for introspection but then who would have thought that this would be introspection. His introspection will be to swear in the name of the Indian Constitution. Whether he represents Kashmir in India or India in Kashmir is mere semantics. Doesn’t Sharad Pawar represent Maharashtra in India and India in Maharashtra?

A word is due to our columnists who see this as some “paradigm shift” in the politics of Kashmir, those who believe that Lone is a “moderate voice” among the separatists and for those who believed that his “Achievable Freedom Document” was some Godsend solution to Kashmir. It is time for them to spend some more time in Kashmir and go beyond what they see from their Shikara’s. It is time for them to talk to normal Kashmiris and know what the Lone U-turn means. It is time that they stop bullshitting and telling us that in the last assembly elections the Kashmiris voted for Bijli,Sadak,Paani and not for India.Do they think we are so dumb as to believe that all these years Kashmiris did not need Bijli,sadak and Paani.Go drink some paani from Chasme Shahi in Kashmir.It is believed to have medicinal values that cures brain disorders.

One just hopes that the establishment lets the elections be free and fair and does not in any way or form aid the candidature of Sajjad Lone. It is only then that we would know how much of a leader Sajjad is outside the studios of TV Channels. Only time will tell whether he is elected or not or whether the Indian Establishment covertly gets him to the Parliament or not. What we know for sure is that he represents himself and himself alone in Kashmir as well as India. Seldom has a Kashmiri leader represented anyone but himself and Lone can not be alone in this.

The Missing Finger

The State is a cruel figure. There is no doubt about that. And who would know it better than us, the Kashmiri Pandits, who have suffered brutally at the hands of state apathy and negligence. There obviously have been extra judicial killings in Kashmir both by terrorists and sometimes by Armed Forces too. There can be no denying the fact that many innocent people have lost their lives because of the gun that came to the valley and brought with itself what we all called the Gun-Culture.

So many young men disappeared overnight not to be seen ever again. Even their bodies were not found. Their parents with the help of separatist sympathisers and separatists themselves formed a body called ADDP or Association of Parents pf Disappeared People. The distressed parents immediately believed that their sons had been killed by the armed forces. That they could have crossed over to the Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, somehow never occurred to them. These naïve Kashmiris must have been so distraught by the sudden disappearance of their loved ones that the moment someone lent them a helping hand they would have no reason not to believe him/her.

I too had believed for a long time that thousands have disappeared in Kashmir till I looked up the website of the ADDP. There are some 75 people (some without photographs) whose names are displayed in the list of the people who have disappeared. But that is the issue. Even if one person is disappeared and not been found, it is serious. The perception in the minds of the parents is that their son has been killed by the security forces. Most of the Indian Media too has lapped up this version without truly going into the details of the persons who have seemingly disappeared. We have therefore been fed by our liberal media that the Indian armed forces are killers at large who pick Kashmiri Muslims at random and then kill them and throw away their bodies. And it is not the usual limousine liberal’s point of view but the average Indian Journo’s story too.

On 27th of March 2009, the armed forces arrested 4 armed terrorists in Kashmir. All of them were indigenous Kashmiris who had disappeared some day keeping their parents in dark about their romantic pursuits across the border. As the Indian Army became more vigilant on the border the Pakistan Government issued them passports and put them on a PIA flight to Kathmandu. They then travelled via train to Jammu and finally were arrested with their new passports.

This news received wide circulation but not as much as the news of their disappearance would have. How hell would have broken loose had someone known that 4 Kashmiri Muslims had gone missing? How Arundhati Roy’s of this world would have written columns in Outlooks asking for government to come clean on the thousands of disappearances? Thousands would have been a synonym for four.

Not that there is no need for an independent enquiry into the disappearances of the Kashmiris but what is equally needed is to make the unfortunate parents of these boys aware of this dimension of the problem. The government must immediately inform the parents of these four men and tell them the true story of their boys so that they are not used by separatists and self serving activists to further their own goals. It will set other parents to think about their missing fingers too.

If the government fails to do so, the day may not be far away when names of dreaded terrorists like Syed Sallaudhin and Mushtaq Latram are also on the list of Disappeared.

In Jammu's relief camps,No Relief- Aditi Bhaduri in Kashmir Times

Usha Pandita, 45, feels tired even after the smallest of chores. But that's not unusual for her. She suffers from Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID). For her, it all began with abdominal pain, which she initially disregarded as routine until it steadily increased. Usha then started to notice a heavy discharge and the feeling of being perpetually run down. That was when she visited the doctor. Tests confirmed she was suffering from PID - the inflammation of the organs in the pelvic region because of infection. It is during menstruation particularly that the uterus becomes more susceptible to this condition caused by unhygienic conditions.
Usha is one of the 10,000 residents of the Purkhoo migrant camp, one of the several camps set up on the outskirts of Jammu for the Kashmiri Pandit community forced to flee the Kashmir Valley when militancy gained ground in the 1990s. From Kupwara, Usha and her family made their way to Purkhoo, which they have called home since 1990. Years have gone by and even militancy is on the wane, yet time seems to have stood still for the inhabitants of the camps. Living in a one-room pigeon hole with a family of four can be trying in itself but the lack of sanitation has only added to the woes. For women, in particular, it is horrifying.
The Purkhoo camp has four phases and each phase has around 300 to 500 rooms. There are 10 toilets each for men and women. So there is one toilet per 150 men/women. The water supply lasts only an hour each day. Every time Usha, who lives in Phase I, goes to the toilet, she walks about 150 metres. What's more, she has to carry her wash water along. But there is only that much water she can carry. On numerous occasions the water is found insufficient to keep both herself and her surroundings clean.. It is because of these abysmal facilities that she ended up with PID.
Veena Pandita, 40, also lives in the same deplorable environs of Purkhoo. She too has acute PID. Dr Indu Kaul, a well-known Jammu-based gynaecologist treating these women, explains that the symptoms for PID include abdominal pain accompanied by heavy discharge and backache. She finds that in the case of women like Usha and Veena, PID continues for years. Usha, for instance, has been suffering from it for the last four years. The medicines don't really help, as the toilet she visits roughly four times a day continues to be poorly equipped.
Unfortunately, even the medication includes heavy doses of antibiotics, the intake of which has major side effects. When PID is deep rooted then surgery is usually the final recourse. Usha has been recommended surgery but her financial condition doesn't permit the procedure. "We still have four 'kanals' (one kanal equals 605 sq. yards) left in Kupwara. We had our own 'chashm' (well) there," she recalls wistfully. She adds, "I did not have to go to a toilet that was used by hundreds of others there." Purkhoo's water supply, too, is contaminated. Residents complain that they have to replace their utensils every few months as they get coated with a white sediment. The pipes leak at multiple locations and so germs and dirt merge with the water. Near the toilets at Phase I, there is a water hole from which people draw out water to flush. But not only is the water filthy, it is even difficult to draw it out, especially when there is a long line of people waiting for their turn to use the toilet. Although help has been hired to clean the facilities once every two days, because of insufficient water and the sheer number of users, it is impossible to maintain a basic level of hygience. Moreover, there is no electricity in the toilets, so going after dark is another hazard, especially for the women. That's why the maximum number of cases of PID in the city come from these camps. In fact, according to Dr Kaul, while the national average of PID is six to eight per cent, the cases reported from the camps can be 15 to 20 per cent, which is extremely high. The most affected age groups are the adolescents and those above 35 years. In adolescents, chronic PID can lead to a loss of fertility, so the increasing trend is cause for alarm.
Sarla Kaul, 28, who lives in the Mishriwalla camp, a kilometre from Purkhoo, suffers from Urinary Tract Infection (UTI). The sanitation situation at Mishriwalla is worse than at Purkhoo as toilets for both men and women are common here and no one comes to clean them. Many toilets are simply holes in the ground. Sarla has UTI, caused by poor hygiene and unsanitary conditions that make her vulnerable to other infections too. Lately, she has been suffering from menstrual dysfunction, with heavy blood loss and pain around her abdominal area.
Expectant women are particularly vulnerable to UTI, as pregnancy causes hormonal changes that lead to the relaxation of the urethra, which if exposed to poor sanitary conditions is quick to contract infection. UTI leads to anaemia, itching and swelling, which could eventually endanger the life of the child. It also often retards the growth of the foetus and results in stunted babies or those with low birth weight. That was the case of the baby Rajni Raina, who is in her mid-twenties and lives in Purkhoo Camp's Phase II, gave birth too. Not surprisingly, Rajni had chronic UTI during her pregnancy. Once again, Dr Kaul points out that while the national average of UTI is about 10 to 15 per cent, it is about 20 to 30 per cent in these camps.
Besides this there are other water-borne diseases prevalent here. Shetu Pandita, 17, of Purkhoo, has been ailing from a recurring hepatitis for the last five years. As has Puneet Bhatt, 16, of Mishriwalla - since he was 10, in fact. According to the World Health Organization, 80 per cent of such cases are caused by lack of safe water and sanitation. Five of the 10 top diseases of children are also related to water and sanitation. According to Dr K.L. Chowdhury, of Jammu, Hepatitis A and E are common in the camps. Again, in pregnant women, Hepatitis is particularly dangerous as it can put the lives of both the mother and child at risk.
The Third South Asian Conference on Sanitation held in New Delhi recently called for according priority to sanitation and reiterated that sanitation and safe drinking water are basic rights. Such declarations need to be translated into a reality if life is to improve for women like Usha and Veena, who are rendered without proper homes because of the politics of division and hate.