SINCE 1990-2020
30 years ago on the 19th of January, Kashmiri Pandits had witnessed a hysteric night in the form of blaring threats and slogans asking them to leave their homeland convert or die. The cold, dark night of January 19th, 1990 had stirred into life the worst nightmares of Kashmiri Pandits living in the valley. Screaming from loud speakers and crowded streets was a clear message for the Sikhs and Hindus living in Kashmir — Ralive, Tsaliv ya Galive (Either convert to Islam, leave the land or die).
The threats had been pouring in for a long time but the night of January 19 is said to have seen a demented assault of a different level. Even today, Kashmir Pandits shiver remembering the night that forced them into exodus.
Different accounts give different statistics of the total number of Kashmir Pandits who fled their homes for their life in 1990 so while some say around 1,00,000 of them had left the valley others suggest figures as high as 1,50,000 to 1,90,000.
A report by the The Jammu and Kashmir Government says as many as 219 people from this community were killed in the region between 1989 and 2004.
In his book our moon has blood clots Author and Journalist Rahul Pandita gives a timeline of the that brought about the exodus in this. Pandita writes about the murder of the political activist Tika Lal many more horrid memories.
Here’s an excerpt of this timeline
SEPTEMBER 1989
Pandit political activist, Tika Lal Taploo is shot dead by armed men outside his residence.
JANUARY 1990
Massive crowds assemble in mosques across valley, shouting anti-India, anti-pandit slogans. The exodus of Kashmiri Pandits begins. In the next few months, hundreds of innocent Pandits are tortured, killed and raped. By the year-end about 3,50,000 Pandits have escaped from the valley and taken refuge in Jammu and elsewhere. Only a handful of them stayed back.
MARCH 1997
Terrorists dragged out seven Kashmiri Pandits from their houses in Sangrampora village and them down.
JANUARY 1998
Kashmir Pandits including women and children were shot in cold blood in Wandhama village.
MARCH 2003
24 Kashmiri Pandits, including infants, brutally shot dead in Nadimarg village.
2012
Thousands of Pandits still languish in refugee settlements of 8×8. After more than two decades, the Kashmiri Pandit community has still not been able to return to their ancestral land. They are dispersed all over from Jammu to Johannes Burg.
India has seen several changes ever since that fateful night in 1990. New Governments have come and gone, multiple developments have come forth nationwide, but scores of Kashmiri Pandits who were chased out of their homes have still not been able to find a way back many living in pitiable conditions.
To mark the 30th Anniversary of the Mass exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley, members of the community took to social media to post videos of themselves by reiterating the ‘Hum Aayenge Apne Watan’ dialogue from an upcoming film ‘Shikara’ with the hope that they would return to their homeland one day.
The # Hum Wapas Aayenge is trending on Twitter as more and more Kashmiri Pandits joined in the campaign to narrate the ‘Hum Aayenge Apne Watan’ dialogue and a pledge to return to their homes. Citizens have supported the initiative and have expressed solidarity with the Kashmiri Pandits.
Home Minister Amit Shah has time and again reiterated that the Central Government is committed to bringing ‘Kashmiri Pandits’ and ‘Sufis’ back to the valley saying a time will come when they will offer prayers at the famous ‘Kheer Bhawani Temple’ .
In last September, a delegation of the Kashmiri Pandit community met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Houston and thanked him for the historic decision to abrogate Article 370 that gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
In October, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar announced that the centre has decided to provide compensation of Rs 5.5 lakhs each to 5,300 displaced families from Pakistan occupied Kashmir (POK), who initially opted to move outside Jammu and Kashmir but later on returned.
Despite the social media having been deluged by displaced Kashmiri Pandits video clippings vowing to ‘return and die’ in the valley, the community on 19.01.20 appeared to be plagued by self doubts over the prospects of their return. They consider ‘safety and security’ as the biggest hurdle in their return to their roots in the valley.
The Kashmiri Pandits are hopeful that after the epochal decisions on August 5th, 2019 and Amendments in Citizenship Act, Union Government under the visionary leadership of PM Narendra Modi will address the pain and agony suffered by Hindus of Kashmir, curtailment of lavish facilities enjoyed by a few families.
‘ONE PLACE SETTLEMENT’
Spelling their demand, ‘All State Kashmiri Pandit Conference (ASKPC) General Secretary Dr. T. K. Bhat said most Kashmiri Pandits feel that “One Place Settlement” is the only alternative for return and rehabilitation of the minuscule community in Kashmir after ensuring their safety and security.
“The proposal to rehabilitate the community in composite townships in the valley was rooted by the Narendra Modi Government; which faced opposition not only from separatists but also the main stream political parties in Kashmir. The question arises why this selective stand and negotiation by those political parties on one hand they protest against the NRC and CAA Act stating its biasedness against a particular religion but no voice has ever been raised by these political parties in favour of rehabilitating the Kashmiri Pandits. Is it because they belong to a particular religion which they are not willing to please? Is this the face of so called Secularism? Does Secularism in India work with only one agenda of taking sides of a particular minority community and religion and taking marches and protest resulting in hooliganism and destruction of public and private properties. Do we want this New India to stand up on such shaky grounds layed by these so called Secular Political Parties and their captive intellectuals is the question to lament on.
A remarkable effort has been made by a Delhi University, girl who braved a hostile leftist crowd to make students aware of Kashmiri Hindu exodus. Deepika Sharma had said that she had several WhatsApp exchanges with her classmates wherein they stated that many students did not join her event for fear of being labelled ‘Sanghi’ or ‘Bhakt’ and of being isolated. Just see, the moment this girl in Hindu College starts speaking about the plight of Kashmiri Pandits, the leftist gang up on her and start suppressing her voice by playing Dhapli and raising slogans against her.
‘Islamophobia’ is the new thing they chant. Awareness is what needs to be spread among these students, for which we need more students coming forward addressing the issue like Delhi University’s Deepika Sharma.