Tale of Kashmiri Pandits decades of suffering is pleasure for majority community s opportunists

 

After the passing of the bills, relating to Articles 370 and 35-A, many petitions have come up for consideration before the Supreme Court The petitions pertain to the defanged Articles, human rights violations, lack of communication etc. Though passed by both the Houses of Parliament, by a huge majority, yet some opposition parties have expressed their opposition Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad former Chief Minister of J&K and presently MP, went to the extent of saying that judiciary was taking a lot of time for consideration of such urgent matters. 

These happenings have taken me down to the memory lane of January, 19, 1990 in the valley. Hardly the Sun had set and darkness had set in when the loudspeakers from the mosques became active with the message from the terrorists and separatists asking the minuscule community of Kashmiri Pandits either to get converted to Islam or leave the valley leaving behind their womenfolk. The message was nothing short of a death warrant. The community was shocked, confused and frustrated. Its members knew it was futile to approach the authorities for security. There was no Government worth the name. The Chief Minister, Dr. Farouq Abdullah, had fled to the UK and was basking there under the pleasant weather of London. Like Neeru he was watching the burning of the valley from London. The terrorists and separatists, with the connivance of the local population, administration and police, were ruling the roost. The paralytic Central Government was watching the situation helplessly. The community had no time to decide and had to choose between the saving of their honour and leaving the centuries' old homes and hearths -- a situation between the deep sea and devil.

A community, highly educated, civilized, unanimously, decided to And their honour .

Sensing that the valley was going out of control the Central Government sent Sh Jagmohan as Governor He was able to bring the situation back to normal a little despite the fact that administration and police were hostile to his proper functioning. The hapless KP community had already started moving to the safest place of Jammu. A community, with malice towards none, living a reasonably comfortable life, had to come under the open sky of Jammu. The city being small the migrants, as they were, now, called took refuge in temples and open spaces to spend nights with their families.

The authorities allotted one tent to each family, which was shared by three generations - Dada Dadi, parents, son, daughter-in-law and their children and a cash relief of Rs. 500. Bitten by snakes, invaded by diseases like gastroenteritis, liver and depression due to lack of hygiene and sanitation and absence of health facilities, and during the ensuing hot season, a blazing Sun over their heads, hundreds of KPs perished

While this was happening, all the political parties were busy giving sermons to the community that it should maintain the secular and brotherhood fabric, They were accusing the Central Government for being responsible for alienating the majority community of the valley. None of the party leaders took note of that thousands of families had been forced to leave their homes and hearths whose only crime was that they always said "Jai Hind". Not only the political parties but the hapless community was given short shrift by the media also. The electronic media, vying with others for TRP, were making a beeline to the valley They would film the stage-managed with the active support of terrorists, the breast- beating women against the excesses of security forces.

After the passing of the articles, relating to these articles, the Central Government imposed some restrictions in the valley as a safety measure so that some anti-social elements may not disturb the law and order situation. With the exception of one or two parties all the political parties have joined the chorus that human rights are being violated, communications have been restricted, political leaders have been house arrested etc. Several petitions have been filed in the apex court by the top lawyers of the country opposing the abrogation and restoring of normalcy. The leaders of the political parties are vying with one another to go to the valley to apply balm to the so called suffering people.

I do not know where these political parties were 30 years back when the minuscule community of the valley was forced to leave the centuries old homes and hearths and take shelter under the open sky of Jammu. These leaders of the political parties may be asked how many of them visited the tented population at Jammu where the migrants were staying under the tents. In contrast the people in the valley are comfortably staying in their own houses. The Government employees, without going to offices, are getting their salaries, a large fleet of trucks is delivering the day-to-day necessities at their door steps. There is no official curfew and if the shops and markets are closed that is because of the instructions of the separatists and terrorist organisations. If the peopleare not coming out in large numbers and the children are not attending schools it is because of a scare created by these organisations.

In the beginning of our Diaspora some of our young energetic lawyers filed applications against genocide and ethnic cleansing but these were summarily dismissed. Probably, these youngsters were not aware of the proper format used in filing petitions. The community had no resources to hire the services of top class lawyers to plead their case. It didn't have even enough to have two square meals.

The political parties are right in their own way. The road to power depends upon how many seats one has in Lok Sabha. We are not a vote bank community - not to speak of electing an MP we don't have numbers to elect a municipal counselor. The valley can send three MPs.

The journey of 30 years of turmoil and turbidity has been an era of experiences and learning. They threw the gauntlet and we accepted the challenge The wounds inflicted by them have dried leaving the scars behind. Education became a firm plank for our youngsters on which they stood straight with honour and respect. We learnt how to overcome pain, despair, depression and frustration. We maintained the fabric of secularism for centuries but they did not bat an eyelid to tear it to bits. Despite all this we have left the darkness behind us and are looking forward to bright sunny days.The detractors were laughing their way back thinking we had perished but we rose from the ashes like phoenix.

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Courtesy: V.K.Wattal  Koshur Samachar October, 2019