January 19, 1990

 

Forrepresents Kashmiri Pandits, January 19, 1990 more than a calendar date. It marks a rupture in a long-standing civilisational presence in the Kashmir Valley that had continued for centuries. The events that unfolded were not the result of a single administrative decision or the actions of one individual, but followed a prolonged period marked by fear, targeted killings, and sexual violence. A commonly cited explanation for the exodus attributes responsibility to Governor Jagmohan. What is often overlooked is that he had assumed office barely a day before the mass forced migration began. Assigning the displacement of an entire community-spread over months and followed by years of continued violence-to his role does not align with the broader sequence of events. The pattern of intimidation also did not end in 1990. Major Incidents such as the massacres at Nadimarg and Wandhama etc. occurred years later, after Jagmohan was no longer Governor. What continued through the decade was not the influence of a single individual, but the persistence of a particular mindset and mode of expression. Therefore, to ascribe a mass flight to Jagmohan's "design" is not analysis, it is deliberate malice and distortion of history - paraded to gloss over what actually happened that fateful night and the decade and beyond. Invaraiy, Historical comparisons show that such patterns are often accompanied by the use of slogans. In Germany during the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, phrases such as "Die Juden sind unser Unglück" ("The Jews are our misfortune") and "Juden raus" ("Jews out") were repeatedly used to attribute social and economic anxieties to a single community. In the late Ottoman period, Armenians were frequently described as disloyal or traitorous, with loyalty framed as a binary choice that justified exclusion and violence. In the United States, slogans directed at African Americans, such as calls to preserve racial homogeneity or assertions of non- belonging, functioned to normalise segregation and exclusion. Across different regions and ideological contexts, slogans have often played a central role in this process. They condense complex ideas into simple, repeatable phrases. Over time, repetition can turn fear into conviction and exclusion into something that appears legitimate or necessary. It is in this context that the slogans heard across the Kashmir Valley in January 1990 acquire significance. Phrases such as "Raliv, Galivya Chaliv" (convert, die, or leave) and "Asi gatshi aasun pakistan Batav roastoi, batanev saan" demanding Pakistan while explicitly excluding Kashmiri Pandit men but retaining Pandit women were not isolated expressions. They conveyed a clear message about who was considered to belong and who was not. These declarations were not merely rhetorical. They functioned as signals that a community's place in its homeland was no longer required and assured. Revisiting these slogans is therefore not only an act of memory, but an examination of how religious fundamentalism turns language into a precursor to violence. When faith is recast as an exclusive political doctrine, coexistence is delegitimised and intimidation acquires moral sanction. In such environments, cruelty no longer requires justification; it is normalised as obligation, a sacred duty and, in most cases, sanctified by religion.

DISCLAIMER: 

The views expressed in the Article above are Ashok Ogra  views and kashmiribhatta.in is not in any way responsible for the opinions expressed in the above article. The article belongs to its respective owner or owners and this site does not claim any right over it. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing."

Courtesy:    Ashok Ogra   and Koshur Samachar- February, 2026