Exile

Anil Bazaz

MY period of exile has entered its twentyninth MY month and there seems to be no end to it, perhaps because the sentence was given to me by circumstances and not by the judiciary. These twenty nine months have rinsed me like anything. During this period I haven't felt a bit of happiness. I always feel like a fish out of water. Neither have I witnessed the arrival of summer, nor the smell of autumn flowers to freshen up my thoughts. I am being kept away from my beloved, none other than my motherland, Kashmir.

Gone are the days when we used to share our feasts with our Muslim brethren on festive occasions like Maha Shivratri, Idd etc. Now the scenario is so much different that they have become our deadliest enemies. What went wrong with Kashmiri Muslims? Who injected hatred for pandits in them? On whose inspiration did they kill innocent youths, destroyed properties and spread fear in such a way that our microscopic, non-violent community was forced to leave its homeland and flee to unknown destinations with an uncertain fate.

The sacred land of Kashmir is being stained in blood everyday, the sanctity which used to be the special feature of Kashmir is lost, it seems as if complete destruction of Kashmir is under way.

Mahatma Gandhi's ray of hope in Kashmir seems to have been a complete miscalculation.

Now that our Kashmir has gained international ramifications, this time not because of its beauty, but the ongoing operation destruction, the complicated issue needs careful handling. Some State leaders like Dr. Farooq Abdullah betrayed the Kashmiri masses by fleeing from the valley when they needed him for a break-through. Besides providing assistance to various militant outfits, his partymen are also involved in different anti-national activities.

The former Governor of J&K, Mr. Jagmohan, did his level best to resolve the crisis, besides providing a clean administration to the State, but wrong policies of Central Government forced him to resign; it also flayed him for creating what they termed communal atmosphere in the Valley. It was after his dismissal that the situation has become so grave that militants succeeded in getting scores of their jailed colleagues released in exchange for kidnapped high officials. Whatever be the claims of the present government, I think the militants are enjoying the upper hand.

As far as we people are concerned, I mean to say the Kashmiri Pandits, they are left at the crossroads. The lack of unity among them sent them to all the four directions. Majority of them are living on cash doles and relief in kind provided by the Government, and voluntary organisations. This cash assistance has ruined careers of many youth, who now like to have their bread and butter without work.

We, the Kashmiri Pandits, have become refugees in our own country, our only fault having been to hold the tri-colour instead of joining hands with separatists in their so-called freedom struggle.

God-forbid, if some concrete efforts are not made by the Govt. of India to overcome this foreign sponsored insurgency in Kashmir, it will suffer a great loss by losing its crown altogether. And the loss we are going to face is our complete elimination from our birth land and maybe our name will be limited to books only.

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Courtesy:- Anil Bazaz and 1992 June Koshur Samachar