From the Editor-in-Chief  January 2024

Uma Kant Kachru

Come 19th January and the Kashmiri Pandit diaspora will have observance of this day 34th time in a row. We will assemble in different places, platforms, countries, remembering those horrific nights and days in 1990. There will be moments of silence in memoriam, speeches that have been rubbed into the ears for as long and then, we will disperse till we meet again. These replays have become monotonous, matter-of-fact rituals with no objectives or future vision.

The boat of the diaspora is adrift without navigation. Within it, the occupants have found footholds individually. From within, the boat is brimming with individual achievements, hopes for future and a reasonable contentment of life. But, from outside the boat is aimlessly sailing, no navigator to direct its movement and no saviours in sight in case of a turbulence. And, this boat has the tall claim of housing the race that is the most intelligent – an imaginary euphoria! This euphoria has eluded us of the mission of motherland. We are drifting away within the community. The Mission will get forgotten and our identity lost. This might sound pessimistic, but has to be acknowledged – sooner the better.

We have to accept that our fight is our own and we do not enjoy any political support. Our miniscule numbers have no attraction for any political dispensation in the country. This is evident from the cold shoulder shown to our problem by every dispensation whether in the State/ UT or at the Center for the last 34 years. Media, governments and the political who-is[1]who curbed the news of our holocaust, killings, rapes and miseries from reaching the larger Indian community. This was depicted by the shock, cry and outburst by the people on watching The Kashmir Files film. Despite such a response, we see no change in the country's policies except for some lip service.

It will be unfair to blame only the governments and politicians for this predicament. We have lots to blame ourselves. We never created a united front to fight for our respectful existence and the rightful place for ourselves. We created ghettos that served more our individual interests rather than the community's. This resulted in hundreds of organisations with no single goal. We couldn't have our single representing organisation as the face of the community. Our voices were seen more as noises than genuine concerns. We confused the governments and the politicians with hordes of organisations claiming as our real representatives. Last but not the least, we never thought of having a political organisation representing our community. It has been, all along, each one for himself.

 For all the new developments in the UT, Kashmiri Pandit doesn't figure in the remotest of the plans. We are lip-served. The Delimitation Commission, SC upholding abrogation of Article 370 et el have notional importance for us as a community. We should have been given a chance to vote and elect our community representatives in the Assembly and in Lok Sabha. What we got, instead, is a choice to be made by the LG. We seem to be euphoric about it but, in the longer run, it is not likely to benefit the community. At the cost of repetition, I still believe our future and existence is in a unified front, an electoral political representation chosen by our vote and a common community goal and not individual ones. Food for Thought! Namaskar!

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Courtesy: Uma Kant Kachru and January, 2024, Naad