Ethnic cleansing
in Kashmir
Sir,
This is in
reference to the editorial ''Pandits A
Disintegrating Community'' dated 8th August 2001.
The Editorial is a compact piece which depicts
our exile and the present State in which we are
living.
Exodus of Pandits
from the Valley is the culmination of the process
of ethnic cleansing and genocide against the
community in Kashmir. The ethnic cleansing was
carried out so meticulously in the Valley that
even our remnants and our symbols were not left
undestroyed. The most distressing part of the
process of ethnic cleansing is the cultural
genocide which includes destruction of temples,
vendalisation of cultural symbols, encroachments
of the community's religious properties, changing
of names of the important places to suit the
process of Islamisation and desecration of
religious symbols. The ancient monuments and the
other symbols of antique value, which are the
most precious treasures of history of Kashmir,
have been over the past twelve years consigned to
apathy and continuous neglect. The properties
attached to religious and cultural places in the
valley have either been encroached upon or
illegally occupied. What is left undone is being
done now through the Govt sponsored scheme to
manage the affairs of these properties in
Kashmir. The cultural genocide is a fascist
approach which depicts the mind-set of all those
who claim day in and day out that their fight is
a ''freedom struggle''. Killings of minorities,
extermination of their members, rape, torture,
cultural genocide and unleashing a disinformation
compaign are the most important ingredients of
this so-called freedom struggle in Kashmir. The
whole tribe of these ''freedom fighters''
alongwith their other freedom lovers are yet to
explain their heinous acts of human rights
violations in Kashmir. These violations are
continuously effecting minority exodus from the
hills of Jammu region.
The perpetrators
of these human rights violations need to expalin
to the people and particularly from those
platforms and those forums, which they misuse
nowadays outside the J&K state, as to what
are their response to the pronouncements made by
important and accredited institutions regarding
Kashmiri Pandits. The Amnesty International
reports regarding brutalities on the minorities
by the groups in Kashmir, the US Refugee
Committee's admission that the Pandits have been
turned refugees in their own country by Islamic
Jehadis in Kashmir, the declaration of National
Human Rights Commission that acts akin to
genocide have taken place and a genocide type
design may exist against them, the Jammu and
Kashmir High Court judgement that Pandit exodus
has no parallel. United Nations High Commissioner
for Refugees (UNHCR) and United Nations Human
Rights Commission's (UNHRC) various deliberations
and recognition of the 'Pandit reverse minority'
as a displaced community due to the ethnic
cleansing in Kashmir are some of the glaring
realities to which the proponents of ''quest for
self-determination'' are yet to respond. Infact,
the whole process of the last seventy years and
particularly for the last twelve years is for the
establishment of an Islamic State in Kashmir to
which its proponents are committed till date.
The Kashmiri
Pandits have all along rejected theocratic state
and style of functioning. Their resettlement in
the valley cannot be made possible by adhocism in
mind. There is no need for patch-work. The
Government's plan to draw funds on the basis of
''bureaucratic working papers' for the so-called
rehabilitation of Pandits in the valley has no
community support. 'Luring' or 'purchasing people
to hoodwink the nation that everything is rosy in
Kashmir is a political sin if not a crime. Only
those who have an eye upon the funds will be
interested in this ''loan-aid mela'' projects.
Kashmiri Pandits have already rejected any such
rehabilitation scheme. The onus of the
consequences of the exercise will be entirely on
the Governments concerned.
Kashmiri Pandits,
though in exile and in a disintegrating
situation, have not reconciled to their being
refugees. Their resolve to live again in the
valley of Kashmir in an appropriate geo-political
context (i.e. the homeland with political powers)
is the expression of their political will to live
as a community with a mission. They will not
succumb to the challenges that they are facing on
a number of fronts. We have survived the medieval
onslaught and are conscious of our historical
role. The only lesson we need to learn is to
persue our mission unitedly and cohesive, however
difficult it may seem to be. We are poised to
regain what we have lost.
Yours etc...
Ashwani Kr Chrungoo
President
Panun Kashmir Movement (PKM)
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