[Reader-list] Disinformation On Ethinic Cleansing Continues

[Pawan Durani]

http://www.kashmirsentinel.com/feb2003/23.html
**
*Disinformation on Pandit ethnic cleansing continues* **

*"The ethnic cleansing of 2,48,000 Kashmiri Pandits contained within it all
the seeds of an ethnoreligious movement, the like of which the world has
witnessed in recent times in erstwhile Yugoslavia and Ruwanda. Had the
Pandits dithered or delayed their departure from the Valley, they too would
have suffered the cruel fate of serbs and Muslims croats in
Bosnia-Herzegovina. The eviction of the Pandits must also be viewed against
the background of 97 Hindu temples being destroyed since 1990, a fact that
has been underplayed in the overall interests of communal harmony and
religious amity". *

*--Major General Arjun Ray in "Kashmir Diary- Psychology of Militancy.*

*Hindal Tyabji, **a (non Kashmiri) Muslim Bureaucrat *

"There should have been no need for the Hindus to leave the Valley. After
all, we have not had communal riots here like there have been in other parts
of India...

Jagmohan has denied that the government deliberately encouraged the Hindus
to leave and provided them with transport. What I can say is that the
government certainly didn't discourage them. The local police did say things
like "The militants will use your houses to hid in and we don't want you to
get hurt". And some of the Hindus did leave in military transport...

It suits the government to have Hindu refugees in Jammu. They can be shown
to foreign visitors as an example of the suffering caused by the militants.
At the same because their property has not been protected, it has been taken
over by locals who have a vested interest--so the problem is a criminal land
mafia, not communal".

*- "India in Slow Motion" By Mark Tully *

*Ghulam Mohammad Sofi, **The Editor Srinagar Times *

*Q: As per a survey by Kashmir Images, a weekly published in Kashmir, 68 per
cent Muslims believe that Pandits betrayed them in their hour of distress.
Do you agree? *

*Sofi: *No, I am not in agreement at all. The Kashmiri Pandits were not in a
position to help in any way. They were compelled to leave their homes, their
jobs, and their land overnight. So what is this betrayal all about?* *

*Q: The reference obviously is to suffering of common Muslims in the street
during cordon-cum-search operations, crackdowns and arbitrary arrests
resorted to by the security forces to control the militancy. Have they not
been wronged? *

*Sofi: *Majority community should understand that they are the victims of a
proxy war. This war was neither been engineered nor supported by Pandits. In
fact they were the first victims of the scheme which forced them to leave
the state. Therefore this is an unfair "charge" against Pandits.* *

*Q: The political chief of Jamaat-i-Islami says that not a single cadre of
his "Jamat" was responsible for Pandit killings. What is your view? *

*Sofi: (*Smiles*)*:* *Technically he may be right. Even today they claim
that there is no connection between the present killings and Jamat-i-Islami.
But the ground realities should also support their views.* *

*Q: Most people in the Valley blame Mr. Jagmohan, the erstwhile Governor of
the state, for encouraging the Pandit flight. Do you agree? *

*Sofi: *It is a total lie. It is a part of systematic propaganda. The Pandit
flight from the Valley was the sequel to a plan hatched well in advance from
the state. It had nothing to do with Jagmohan.* *

*Q: **Why could Mr. Jagmohan not organise Pandit camps in some among the
30-odd military stations in the Valley itself? *

*Sofi: *The situation was too bad for Jagmohan when he assumed office. Mr
Rajiv Gandhi (not prime minister then) came for an overnight visit. Both I
and Jagmohan were present in Centaur Hotel in the lake. Rajiv Gandhi said,
"Kashmir is slipping away from us". Such was the situation for Jagmohan.
Even Mr. M.L. Fotedar and the then Dy. Prime Minister, Mr Devi Lal, were
accompanying Rajiv Gandhi when he said so.* *

*Q: **What was the problem in housing the Pandits in makeshift barracks,
schools, dharmshalas, institutional army buildings close to military
stations? The whole race of Pandits would have been saved the tragedy of
deserting their homeland? *

*Sofi: *One has to appreciate the January 1990 situation in the Valley.
Jagmohan stayed in Jammu for one night. He took a flight from Jammu and
arrived in Srinagar Raj Bhavan the next day. He called some of his friends.
He called me too. Had I known that the situation was as bad as it later
turned out to be, frankly, I would not have gone to Raj Bhavan. There were
just three people in the room when I arrived in Srinagar Raj Bhavan. He
offered a cup of tea to me but there was nobody to bring one. I saw him go
towards the kitchen three times; presumably, he made the tea himself. There
was no administration worth the name anywhere in the state, I mean in the
Valley. The police stations all over the Valley were centres of operation
for the militants. Jagmohan could not have done anything. Nearly 32,000
Kashmiri Pandits' houses have been burnt since 1991. Is there Jagmohan's
hand in this too?* *People like you, even in 1997, need courage to come to
the Valley. Otherwise it is still not safe here. Look what happened in
Sangrampura in March 1997 when seven Pandits were mercilessly gunned down.

*Q: **What is your opinion of the Kashmir Images Survey in which 76% Muslims
population wanted the Kashmiri Pandits back in the Valley? *

*Sofi: *The fact is that even today your erstwhile neighbours wish that you
all should come back. They would even extend warm hospitality to you when
you visit them. But even they will be harbouring a sense of fear while
dealing with Pandits. We all need to wait for normalcy which is not yet in
sight. ****

*- *"Interview with Omkar Razdan in "*The Trauma of Kashmir-The Untold
Reality   *