Indian Defence Review

More than two decades ago, frightened and shattered miniscule minority community members of the Kashmir Valley (Kashmiri Pandits – KPs) fled their homes; they came to be identified as ‘Migrants’, courtesy the state administration of the time that invented the word ‘Migrant’ (a tag to their identity).They sought refuge in various parts of the country after the mass exodus from their home-land; and, are till date referred to and identified as ‘Migrants’. Even an Act was passed by the state legislature (J&K Migrant’s immovable properties preservation, protection and restrain on distress sale Act 1997) and the Act also referred to and identified the KPs, who fled their homes, as ‘Migrants’.

The question arises: Are the KPs migrants? The reply is a straight forward: No. Not at all! The dictionary defines a migrant as one who either goes from one place to another for work or to make a new home according to his/her own choice and will and includes those who shift from a rural area to an urban place or vice-versa in search of job or better living opportunities; also migrants are those who come and go to a particular place regularly with the seasons, as the nomads or bakarwals do. Therefore, the KPs, who fled their homes, in the face of a grim situation and vitiated atmosphere, against their choice and will, are not ‘migrants’. The word ‘migrant’ has, therefore, been grossly misused.

Are the KPs refugees? No, they are not!  KPs are living in various parts of the country of their own nationality, and, as such, are not refugees; and, they can neither be equated with those who fled from Pakistan after the partition of the sub-continent, or subsequently after the wars. KPs are forced to live away from their homes as refugees in their own country; who, after fleeing from their home-land, did not cross an international frontier; and, as such, they are internally displaced persons (IDPs).

As a crucial element of sovereignty, it is the government that has the primary responsibility for their assistance and protection, dignified and safe return and resettlement; and, IDPs also have the right to assistance from competent authorities in recovering lost property and possessions and where restitution is not possible, the guiding principles call for compensation.

The question is: Have the KPs fought for their IDPs status with full might? The obvious answer is: No, they have not!  Have they agitated against the use of the word ‘Migrant’ with full force? Again, the answer to the question is – No, they did not! In fact, the KPs raised their voice and made attempts in the direction of seeking IDPs status for the exiled community but, unfortunately, they did not fight united for the common cause. They needed a selfless leader to lead them in the hour of crises? A steward to steer the ship to destination from the deep sea. There was none!

There appeared a number of community leaders on the scene immediately after the mass exodus of KPs from the valley. True, that the community leaders are neither selected/ elected nor are the leaders born but, through their leadership skills, dedication and devotion to the cause of the community, they emerge out as leaders, and the community rallies under their dynamic and selfless leadership. Unfortunately, some among those who came forward at the crucial time had the potential to serve the community but could not emerge as ‘undisputed leaders’ for a variety of reasons, and, one of the potent reasons is perhaps that every member of the community thinks of himself as ‘most intellectually active person’, and, to get united and rally under some other person for a cause is not their forte. The community leaders, who came forward after the entire community was hounded out from the valley, can be placed in three categories.

One, the audacious leaders who wanted to engage them-selves in community service and concentrate on short-term requirements like the boarding, lodging, and immediate succor to agonized, traumatized and confused community members, with the sole object of pulling  the displaced community members out of the despair to enable them to sustain for facing the challenges.

Two, the leaders who felt that in addition to focusing on short term requirements, political activism was essential for the survival of the community in exile; and, they got engaged in activating and channelizing the energies of the community members, particularly the youth, for political activism. This category of leaders led the community from the front while holding demonstrations, dharnas and protests; and, they managed their survival for quite some time by presenting a captivating and appealing formula before the community for their future abode and kept on retorting that their view-point was the only viable and useful for the community. Perhaps, the community leaders of this category were hurried by their wishes past what they saw by their reason; and, they acted solely on their whims and refused to look at the bigger picture and the pros and cons of their formula, even in the face of resistance from some quarters.

The third category of so-called community leaders was numerically small and included those who wanted to remain on the centre stage for fulfilling their self-serving agenda. More than a hundred groups have been created by the community leaders but none of them has emerged out as a messiah under whose selfless leadership the entire community could rally. The community too was never unanimous in accepting any of the community leader(s) as their leader and did not back or empower anybody to speak on behalf of the entire community or to represent it in dialogue, parlays or negotiations, which is most unfortunate. Very recently, J&K’s CM had some formal interaction with some of the KPs in New Delhi’s Kashmir House and a hue and cry was raised by many members of the community on how and why a particular KP was invited for interaction.

The question arises: If the CM or some other government functionary wanted to talk to KP leaders, to get the feed-back on a burning issue like the one of return and rehabilitation of KPs in valley, who would the CM or the Government functionary talk to when KPs don’t have any empowered leader (s)? The CM or the representative of the Government, in the given circumstances, had the only option to interact with the familiar faces of the community, irrespective of the fact whether or not they were empowered by the community. KPs need to understand the problem, sooner the better. There is no dearth of competent, devoted and selfless persons in the community, even among the community leaders who appeared on the scene during the last more than 25 years. A rallying call for the KPs is: Trust and repose full confidence in somebody and back him! KPs shall emerge as a force to reckon with, only and only if they unite and speak in one voice.

For quite some time past, return of KPs to their home-land is gaining momentum. KPs have the inherent right to live in the land of their forefathers and ancestors and nobody on earth has the right to dictate them to live or not to live at a particular place of their liking. They have been braving the blinding sun, winds and dust, suffocation and hardships and they continue to grapple with the traumatic experiences of the loss of their home and hearth. What gives them some amount of consolation is that even in the most difficult situation and tough times they have succeeded in preserving their inner radiant beauty and the determination to maintain their identity has not lessened.

KPs in general are firmly rooted in the spiritual, humanitarian and cultural values of ‘Kashmiriyat’. They are peace-lovers; and desirous to return and live peacefully in their home-land without any covetousness and wickedness and wish that no one disquiet them with an assault or alarm; they want to go back to their home-land and live there with dignity and honor and participate in the reconstruction of the structures of the Kashmir civil society. They have apprehensions and fears also, not for no reason; they are forward-looking; they consider the challenges they have to face tomorrow while dealing with the challenges of today. They see that a window is open that is going to rid them off from the smugness and gloom and the opportunity is knocking at their door but they want to live without violence, insecurity, fear and chaos.

As for as the return of KPs to their homeland is concerned, they fall in three categories: one, those who are desirous and longing to go back to their home-land; two, those who are very much eager and want to go but, somewhere in the back of their mind, they have apprehensions of economic survival (honorable and dignified source of livelihood) and security; and, three, those who don’t want to go to start their life afresh. KPs, who have not still forgotten the good old days of their past in the valley have a burning desire to go back; a section of the community that has not  been capable of pulling themselves out of the situation they are placed in, for the last more than two decades, are also eager to go back to the valley, waiting for an opportunity; and the KPs, who got settled and settled well in various parts of the country as also abroad, which include the whole new generation born just before or after the exodus, do prefer to stay back and enjoy the life in their own style.

The other side of the picture is: Majority of the moderate Kashmir Muslim, who in the past had lived together with KPs in a harmonious manner, truly want the honorable return and rehabilitation of KPs in the Valley; and, for them, Kashmir is incomplete without ‘Bhattaz’, which is quite encouraging.

There is a section of people among the Kashmiri Muslims (KMs), which is numerically small but patronized by some tall people who want to tear to pieces the whole frame and contexture of the pluralistic civil society by propagating wrong doctrines and philosophies animated by fanatical atheism. This section comprises mostly of those who were born just before or after the exodus of KPs; and, they are always in search of an opportunity to invent new mischief or to aggravate and inflame the old through their utterances and actions, which is quite disturbing. The section of people includes those who encashed the vitiated atmosphere in Kashmir to remain in the lime-light by whipping up the emotion of the people, and, that became the ladder through which they climbed to prominence at  the expense of the overall health of the civil society. And, then, there are some people, who have encroached or grabbed the individual or community properties, would never like the KPs to return.

In addition to this, there are people from both the communities, who have distorted drives and visions, selfish temper and confined views.

All said and done, KPs  need to see the writing on the wall that with each day passing, the number of its community members who are eager to go back to their home-land is dwindling fast and after few more years the number shall dwindle further. KMs have to keep this thing in mind that KPs have inalienable right to live in Kashmir as its rightful citizens and they must come forward to play the big-brother’s role with a view to facilitating the return of KPs for preserving the scientific, humanist and secular philosophy and the social fabric of Kashmir.

The Governments, both at the centre and state, shall have to make sincere and impassioned efforts to preserve ‘Kashmiriyat’ and the CM of the state shall have to come to its fullest flowering in the changed dynamics and accept the sacred trust seriously and not to treat it lightly. KPs need a Budshah, let Mufti Mohammad Sayeed be that. The Coalition Government in the state shall be guilty of committing a sin if they do not uphold justice by every means.

Courtesy: www.dailyexcelsior.com