Don’t be daunted by the length of this post by Ashraf Bhat. It is a compendium of articles about the Kashmiri Pandit (Hindu) issue which is essential to understand. When I first began studying the Kashmiri struggle, available resources in English were inadequate but there was considerable writing about the Pandit issue (including Wikipedia), all of which charged Kashmiri Muslims with genocide against Pandits, including driving them from Kashmir. Does it make sense that a people under occupation, fighting to protect themselves from mass rape, mass arrests, forcible disappearances, would take time out or be able to carry out a genocide against others?
India uses the confusions & deceits their ideologues have generated about Kashmiri Pandits as a weapon against Kashmiri self-determination. So this compilation of articles is an invaluable resource that we can draw on to understand the issue.
The Issue of Kashmiri Pandits:
Please don’t jump to conclusions before reading all the articles.
A. We cannot be selective about the past in Jammu & Kashmir | Opinion
if we’re going to recall what’s happened to Pandits in 1990, then it’s wrong not to remember what happened to Muslims in Jammu in 1947. Hundreds of thousands were killed or expelled
https://www.hindustantimes.com/columns/we-cannot-be-selective-about-the-past-in-j-k/story-ELfaDpC6UoAfMbBNQTgIsO.html
B. The Myth of Hindu Genocide in Kashmir Continues to Stalk Muslims
https://extranewsfeed.com/the-myth-of-hindu-genocide-in-kashmir-continues-to-stalk-muslims-5a0ee56e622e
C. Kashmiri pandit Priynka Matoo writes in The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/12/opinion/we-never-moved-back-to-kashmir-because-we-couldnt.html?
D. We’re Sorry; We betrayed you
The writers call their exodus, ‘a drama’, enacted by BJP, RSS & Shiv Sena, ‘in connivance with the State administration’ & ‘the main characters were
https://www.greaterkashmir.com/news/opinion/were-sorry-we-betrayed-you/
E. Why Kashmiris want a fair probe into the killings of Pandits, prosecution of guilty.
https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/why-kashmiris-want-a-fair-probe-into-the-killings-of-pandits-prosecution-of-guilty-4786855/?
1. According to 1981 census of Indian Government, KP population was 124,000 (one lac twenty four thousand).
How do KP’s justify the claim 700,000+ (seven hundred thousand), left Kashmir in early 1990?
SEE TABLE 7.10, http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/india-2/demographic-characteristics-of-the-jammu-and-kashmir/41538?
2. According to Government of India a total of 219 (two hundred nineteen) KP’s were killed during the conflict from 1989.
How do KP’s claim killing of 3,000 to 4,000 community members?
https://mha.gov.in/sites/default/files/RTI1303022012-KII-YogeshChhabra-70513.PDF?
3. According to Delhi High Court documents, the Government facilitated KP’s exit from the valley.
How do KP’s claim it to be Forced Exile?
https://indiankanoon.org/doc/184744682/?
https://kashmirlife.net/pathan-remembers-issue-30-vol-09-154431/?
4. According to Government data among KP’s who migrated 26,000 KP’s had government jobs. KP’S formed just 2% population in Kashmir but occupied 21% government jobs.
How do KP’s claim to have been discriminated? How does Madam Aarti Tickoo explain this?
See Book of Aarti Tickoo Singh ,”Guns and Books at Odds”. Page 19
5. KP’s are celebrating abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A. KP’s claim it to be important for their return. KP’s are State Subjects and had the freedom to live anywhere in J&K.
How does this Abrogation facilitate their return?
Facts:
1. Kashmiri Pandits worked as operatives of Indian intelligence agencies and are responsible for illegal persecution and killing of members of the Majority Community.
https://indiankanoon.org/doc/184744682/?
2. 219/- KP’s were killed, whereas more than 70,000+, mostly civilians, have been killed from 1989 onwards.
3. National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) of India report on June 11, 1999 states 157 leaders killed during this period, 37 were Hindus and 120 were Muslims. It is no surprise that NHRC DENIED KP’s claim to classify their killing as GENOCIDE or ETHNIC CLEANSING.
4. National Human Rights Commission denied classifying KP’s as “Internally Displaced Persons” and called them “Migrants.” Internally Displaced Persons is a definition reserved for people “forced” to leave their home, where as migrants are those who left “voluntarily.”
5. KP’s have no intention of returning to Kashmir as their interests are protected in India and elsewhere, which include reservations in government jobs, reservations in educational institutions, monthly stipends, free food, housing and other allowances. Kashmir Pandits are a tool for justification of worst human rights record of India in Kashmir.
6. KP’s are being used by India to justify illegal occupation of Kashmir by labeling the genuine struggle of Kashmiri people for referendum as religious extremism.
7. If Government of India could not improve the lives of miniscule population of KP’s in the past 30 years who are still complaining about their condition, how is their claim justified that the abrogation of Article 370 and 35A will improve the lives of Kashmiri Muslims?
G. Kashmiri Pandit Ashwath Bhatt writes
Don’t Use My Pain to Make it ‘Kashmiri Pandits vs Muslims’: Bhatt
H. Kashmiri Pandits may become an instrument of majoritarian forces: Former Air Vice Marshal Kapil Kak
https://caravanmagazine.in/politics/kapil-kak-kashmiri-pandits-valley?
I. Read Saifuddin Soz’s book Kashmir: Glimpses of History and the Story of Struggle
J. ASHOK KUMAR PANDEY | 18 NOVEMBER, 2019
Read his recent book “Kashmir aur Kashmiri Pandit”.
The Myth of the Pandits’ Return
https://www.thecitizen.in/index.php/en/NewsDetail/index/4/17862/The-Myth-of-the-Pandits-Return?
K. “India must stop weaponizing the pain of Kashmiri Pandits,” writes (in the Washington Post) Nishita Trisa doctoral candidate in sociocultural anthropology at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.
L. Kashmiri filmmaker SANJAY KAK ON THE EXODUS OF KASHMIRI PANDITS FROM KASHMIR
https://www.maryscullyreports.com/sanjay-kak-on-the-exodus-of-kashmiri-pandits-from-kashmir/?
M. Kashmiri Pandit Arti Dhar Writes:
“Dear Govt, Stop ‘Using’ Us Kashmiri Pandits to Promote CAA-NRC”
O. Geelani invites Kashmiri Pandits to come back
Srinagar, Feb 22: Hurriyat Conference chairman Syed Ali Shah on Friday appealed to migrant Kashmiri Pandits to return Valley. “I extend a formal invitation to all our brethren migrant K…
GK News Network
March 14, 2015, 5:08 AM
UPDATED: March 14, 2015, 5:08 AM
P. “Both Muslims and Kashmiri Pandits will have to find empathy, generosity to overcome their political differences
If Pandits return to Kashmir, as they should, they may have to live in fear as their Sikh and Muslim brethren do.”
Dr. Suvir Kaul
https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/the-right-to-return-kashmiri-pandits-6240023/?
Q. Kashmiri Pandits In Kashmir: Those who stayed back have a home — and a roomful of regret
https://indianexpress.com/article/india/homeless-at-home-express-series-kashmiri-pandits-in-kashmir-6241798/?