Kashmir Crisis- Challenge To Our Survival

Report

Close on the heels of an Seminar in April Con Human Rights Violation of Kashmiri Pandits, Himachal Bhawan auditorium in Delhi was the venue of yet another symposium, this time on "Kashmir Crisis: A challenge to our survival". Organised by the Kashmiri Samiti, Delhi. The symposium was attended by thousands of Kashmiris as also their well-wishers. Prominent speakers who spoke on various dimensions of the crisis in Kashmir included Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi, President of the Bharatiya Janata Party which perhaps is the only political party that has understood the Kashmir problem in its true perspective and has gone out of the way to help the suffering Kashmiri Pandits, Gin Lal Jain, the veteran journalist, Dr. Ravindra Kumar, Director of Nehru Museum, Prof. M.K. Teng, formerly of Kashmir University, and Pandit Dwarkanath Munshi, President, All India Kashmiri Samaj.

Making a realistic assessment of the situation, Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi pointed out that the Kashmir problem had assumed the grave proportions of a national crisis today which could not be resolved by mere table talk but by courageous action on the part of the government as well as the people of the country. If our leaders, he told the capital's Kashmiri community, do not handle the Kashmir crisis in time by taking a clear and bold stand, we cannot avoid the death of Indian civilization, the existence of which is under threat of extinction. The time had come for hard options, he said. An organised "genocide" was being carried out to destroy the entire culture and civilisation of Kashmir. Dr. Joshi called for full-scale military action against the Pak- aided terrorists in the Kashmir Valley expressing the conviction that they would be rooted out within 15 days. He said, the crisis faced by the State today was multidimensional and very complex one that raised a host of very vital questions linked with the unity of India, its prestige and people's faith in the Constitution as well as the government with its professed policy of secularism. Dr. Joshi pointed out that it was the Centre's weak will that had given rise to terrorism in the State and elsewhere in the country. Initiating dialogue with the leaders like Dr. Farooq Abdullah and Mufti Mohammad Syed or holding meetings in New Delhi will not solve the problem.

Expressing concern over the mass exodus of Kashmiri Hindus from the Valley to Delhi and other parts of the country, Dr. Joshi said this is the time to think why our government fails to come to their rescue-to send them back to their own places and protect their rights. This was the proof, if any, for the insensitiveness of the government to the Kashmir problem. Speaking about the special status given to Jammu and Kashmir, he said that talking of special status means talking of disintegration.

Prof. M.K. Teng, formerly Head of the Department of Political at Kashmir University, said, terrorism in the State was not the result of systematic imbalances or an expression of political dissent. It was part of a religious crusade aimed at what he said "completing" the country's partition through the integration of Kashmir with Pakistan. It was in this context that Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) had been formed in an effort to impart a militant touch to the separatist movement in the State,

Professor Ravindra Kumar, Director, Nehru Museum said that the Kashmir problem should be solved within the framework of the Indian Constitution. He appealed to all political parties to treat the Kashmir problem as a national problem and resolve the crisis.

The former Editor of the Times of India, Giri Lal Jain said that Kashmir was not just a part of India, it was the crown of India. Kashmir, he said, had made a very valuable contribution to the civilization and culture of India since ancient times. Therefore, the destruction of Kashmir must be seen as destruction of the Indian civilization. Mr. Jain pointed out that the Kashmiri Pandits who had done a very distinguished service to India would in times to come be a stronger factor in the nation's intellectual life more than the political one.

Pakistan, Mr. Jain said, was an Islamic nation with the self-professed commitment to spread of Islam and, therefore, it had objection to the very existence of a Hindu majority nation like India next to it. There is an illusion among people that we can live with. Pakistan in peace and amity. It is a mirage, and not a possibility. Islamic community the world over had become like a stinking corpse", which had not experienced any change over the last thousand years. He warned fundamental forces that their efforts will ultimately fail.

Shri Dwarkanath Munshi, President AIKS, who I was in the chair, briefly reviewed the more significant issues detailed by the participants. He said that the distinguished speakers' expositions and presentations were so enlightening that if put together it would produce an invaluable volume of facts and opinions. Indeed that would be comprehensive enough for a lay student and researcher alike to get an objective understanding of the genesis of the Kashmir tragedy, the measure and magnitude of the challenge to the nation and effective workable answers to it. He urged the country's rulers to show some statesmanship and take bold initiatives on these lines.

Shri Munshi, however, lamented that government at any time and most political parties, the intellectual community and the media in general had chosen not to recognise the actualities or see the writing on the wall. He, nevertheless, was appreciative of the role of those few who had spontaneously gone to the rescue of the distressed and had kept the enemy menace constantly in public view.

All the same, the Kashmiri community was friendless, he emphasised. If it had to survive, it I would have to stand up and find and create enormous resources of strength within itself to fight its battles and chalk out an honourable and socially and economically revolutionary course with no more loss of time.

Earlier, the President of Kashmiri Samiti, Delhi, Mr. Hriday N. Nehru, welcomed the distinguished speakers and guests. We reproduce here his welcome address in full:

"On behalf of the Kashmiri Samiti, Delhi, and its members, I have the great honour to welcome you to this symposium titled "Kashmir Crisis: Challenge to our survival".

"I am grateful to the distinguished personalities who know the subject we are dealing with and who would be soon addressing us. I am equally thankful to the honourable guests and members of our community, our brothers and sisters, who have responded to our invitation on this hot summer day.

DEDICATION

Let us dedicate this symposium to the memory of:

(1) Over 1000 members of our community who have been brutally murdered by terrorists in the Kashmir Valley.

(2) Our sisters and daughters who have been raped, molested, disfigured and done to death by these very terrorists;

(3) Our community members who died by snake bites, heat strokes and various avoidable diseases in dilapidated tattered camps and outside, unprotected, unsung and uncared for.

"We dedicate this symposium to our widowed sisters and daughters and orphaned children of this holocaust, to the innumerable memories of our community who were unable to bear the strain, and who lost their mental equilibrium and are now living desolate and tortured lives; to over 5000 houses, over 7000 kothas/sheds, over 47 shops belonging to our community, burnt down till 18th February 1992, by the terrorists.

"We dedicate this symposium to over 6000 houses of our community members, looted and destroyed by the terrorists; and to our temples and shrines battered and dishonoured by the terrorists.

Since it is the month of May in which we are holding this symposium, we specially dedicate it to the sacred memory of one, who was done to death -Because he was a karamyogi with love for all. - Because he was a scholar, writer and a person of repute. - Because he was a Gandhian

And his crime was:

He loved India and was a Hindu.

He was Shri Sarvanand Premi who was done to death by inches on 1st of May 1990.

"We also dedicate this symposium to his son, Shri Verinder Koul, a youngman of sterling qualities and a noble soul. Terrorists did not spare him either and he was liquidated as well with his father on the same day and at the same spot.

"The story of our community is the story of our sufferance, the recent chapter of which begins with the heinous of that great soul, respected by one and all-Shri Tikalal Taplu, and if this story be dispassionately studied, it would unmask the evil designs of our murderers and their plans to annihilate us with a view to making Kashmir an easy prey to Pakistan's nefarious designs.

"I wonder if this should not be termed as genocide and a gross violation of human rights. Unless something positive is not done, Kashmir would continue to be a burial ground of decency, democratic values and of all the good things, enshrined in our Constitution.

"It is a challenge to our survival and that is the topic of our today's symposium. On stake is the survival of our community and it is for everyone to understand. We look for light from this symposium.

"But looking deeper, it is India which is on trial. Its whole democratic system is on trial. Again, it is the world community whose future is at stake if fundamental and terrorist forces gain an upper hand. Let us remember, the world of 1990's is a small interdependent world where injury to one is injury to all. Peace and prosperity are indivisible.

"Let me also state that our community is losing patience. We want to go back to our homes. But before conditions are made favourable for us to return, we want to live honourable lives wherever we are. We want to be heard on our difficulties. We want admission of our children in schools, colleges and other professional institutions. We want to have roofed accommodation to live in. And we want jobs.

"We cannot wait any longer. We refuse to be floored. We declare once for all that we will not allow ourselves to be used as guinea-pigs for political experimentation.

"This symposium may show some way in this regard.

"While listening to our respected speakers, some questions would obviously come to our mind. Let us write these down and pass on the slips. At the conclusion of the symposium, the Chair may refer some of these questions to the particular speakers.

"These questions would be the property of the Samiti and it would help us to form a subject matter of the inhouse seminar which the Samiti is proposing to organise. All members of the Samiti would have the opportunity to take part in the seminar which would be held at Kashmir Bhawan and in Kashmiri language.

"The Samiti's effort is to draw a fresh action programme out of the deliberations of the proposed

"Thank you for patiently listening to me. Jai Hind."

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Courtesy: June 1992, Koshur Samachar