Kashmiri Pandits is a Brahmin community from the Kashmir valley, but I am not using this term for that particular caste, but for all Hindu communities that once used to reside in Kashmir valley. This is one of the most beautiful regions of India, with a lot of beautiful mountains, valleys, and lakes, it was stable and peaceful till the partition happened in 1947. After that also largely it was very peaceful and tourism was one of the major businesses in this area. Once, Kashmir was a major tourist destination, and many Hindi movies were filmed here, especially many songs of famous Hindi movie star Shammi Kapoor were filmed in Kashmir. Those days shooting abroad was not so easy and common, Kashmir valley provided much-needed scenic locations for romantic movies and especially for songs. Kashmiri Pandits constituted approximately 14-15% of the population (during Dogra rule from 1846 to 1947). The valley population was dominated by Muslims during this time but there was a peaceful co-existence of different faiths during all these years.
The major problem started sometime after 1985 or so, many separatist groups emerged and Kashmiri Pandits became easy targets as the largest minority in that region. Many of these militant groups with their demand for independence from India or demand for a merger with Pakistan started terrorizing people by spreading violence. Kashmiri Pandits and other non-Muslims were specifically targeted because they were in the minority. Targeted killing of many people from their community naturally spread fear among them, government's failure to control these killings and provide the required protection to these people resulted in the fleeing of these people from the valley. These people were victims of cruelty and brutality which happens during any communal riot. These families left their ancestral homes, land, culture, and identity behind and moved to different parts of India to save their families. They mainly migrated to parts of Jammu and Delhi, and even though it was in the same state of the country they were uprooted from their ancestral home and culture. I am sure many of them hoped that this was some temporary madness that would go away and they would be able to return to their homes and live their original life again peacefully. But, sadly it never happened. According to different different estimates around 100 to 200 thousand people migrated away from the valley because of this insurgency. This brutal and targeted killing and displacement of Kashmiri Hindus is no less than any other communal riot in India. Respective governments (state and national) should apologize to all affected people for their failure to protect them and every effort should be made to reestablish these victims in their own homeland.
This is a serious issue like any other riot or massacre in India, but unfortunately, it hardly gets any mention in mainstream media. Everyone agrees that there is a problem but no one is willing to discuss or to show any willingness to solve it. No one is held accountable for this. Like every other communal riot, we are expected to forget this incident and move on with our lives. But how these people who got uprooted very recently from their culture and land will move on? How can they forget all the trauma and pain that they endured all these years waiting for justice? Can we just tell them that we tried our best but nothing can be done now? Is it enough to heal their wounds? One can understand the seriousness of this problem only when you talk with those people and listen to their stories. Mere words are not enough to explain the pain and anguish of these people. These people were banished from their own homes, uprooted from their own culture, murdered, and victimized for no fault of theirs and their own government couldn't do anything to protect them. Unfortunately, this issue (along with many other similar issues) is heavily politicized because of so many political interests involved in this. Some parties (like BJP or Congress) raise this issue but they never pursue it enough to take it to any logical conclusion. But all political parties are only interested in taking the political benefits that come by exploiting these types of issues. Sometimes it's really sickening to see the way these political parties play dirty political games using some of these unfortunate incidents.
As I wrote in one of my previous posts recalling memories of any tragedy, communal riot, or massacre is not a pleasant experience, but when we see so many people still suffering and waiting for justice, how can we remain silent as if nothing happened? How can we tell them to forget everything and move on? Is our system become so weak and useless that we can not punish the real culprits? Or we don't want to punish them because of some political equations? Does our society believe that the minority always needs to surrender before the demands of the majority and forgive each and every injustice done to them? Are we going to react to massacres or communal riots based on people from which religion or caste die in these incidents? For me, any communal violence is a disgusting and a terror attack. I don't check how many Hindus or Muslims died and base my reaction based on the scorecard of the riot. This issue of Kashmiri Pandits is equally important as the 1984 riots, 2002 riots, or any other riot, or terrorist attack. Every riot victim deserves justice and at least an unconditional apology from the administration which failed to protect them. There cannot be any exception to this and as a society as long as we don't achieve it we will be forced to look into the eyes of riot victims and hang our heads in shame.
Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic.
The major problem started sometime after 1985 or so, many separatist groups emerged and Kashmiri Pandits became easy targets as the largest minority in that region. Many of these militant groups with their demand for independence from India or demand for a merger with Pakistan started terrorizing people by spreading violence. Kashmiri Pandits and other non-Muslims were specifically targeted because they were in the minority. Targeted killing of many people from their community naturally spread fear among them, government's failure to control these killings and provide the required protection to these people resulted in the fleeing of these people from the valley. These people were victims of cruelty and brutality which happens during any communal riot. These families left their ancestral homes, land, culture, and identity behind and moved to different parts of India to save their families. They mainly migrated to parts of Jammu and Delhi, and even though it was in the same state of the country they were uprooted from their ancestral home and culture. I am sure many of them hoped that this was some temporary madness that would go away and they would be able to return to their homes and live their original life again peacefully. But, sadly it never happened. According to different different estimates around 100 to 200 thousand people migrated away from the valley because of this insurgency. This brutal and targeted killing and displacement of Kashmiri Hindus is no less than any other communal riot in India. Respective governments (state and national) should apologize to all affected people for their failure to protect them and every effort should be made to reestablish these victims in their own homeland.
This is a serious issue like any other riot or massacre in India, but unfortunately, it hardly gets any mention in mainstream media. Everyone agrees that there is a problem but no one is willing to discuss or to show any willingness to solve it. No one is held accountable for this. Like every other communal riot, we are expected to forget this incident and move on with our lives. But how these people who got uprooted very recently from their culture and land will move on? How can they forget all the trauma and pain that they endured all these years waiting for justice? Can we just tell them that we tried our best but nothing can be done now? Is it enough to heal their wounds? One can understand the seriousness of this problem only when you talk with those people and listen to their stories. Mere words are not enough to explain the pain and anguish of these people. These people were banished from their own homes, uprooted from their own culture, murdered, and victimized for no fault of theirs and their own government couldn't do anything to protect them. Unfortunately, this issue (along with many other similar issues) is heavily politicized because of so many political interests involved in this. Some parties (like BJP or Congress) raise this issue but they never pursue it enough to take it to any logical conclusion. But all political parties are only interested in taking the political benefits that come by exploiting these types of issues. Sometimes it's really sickening to see the way these political parties play dirty political games using some of these unfortunate incidents.
As I wrote in one of my previous posts recalling memories of any tragedy, communal riot, or massacre is not a pleasant experience, but when we see so many people still suffering and waiting for justice, how can we remain silent as if nothing happened? How can we tell them to forget everything and move on? Is our system become so weak and useless that we can not punish the real culprits? Or we don't want to punish them because of some political equations? Does our society believe that the minority always needs to surrender before the demands of the majority and forgive each and every injustice done to them? Are we going to react to massacres or communal riots based on people from which religion or caste die in these incidents? For me, any communal violence is a disgusting and a terror attack. I don't check how many Hindus or Muslims died and base my reaction based on the scorecard of the riot. This issue of Kashmiri Pandits is equally important as the 1984 riots, 2002 riots, or any other riot, or terrorist attack. Every riot victim deserves justice and at least an unconditional apology from the administration which failed to protect them. There cannot be any exception to this and as a society as long as we don't achieve it we will be forced to look into the eyes of riot victims and hang our heads in shame.
Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic.
Links:
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashmiri_Pandit
