[Reader-list] KPs and facts

Pawan Durani pawan.durani at gmail.com
Mon Aug 4 23:03:30 IST 2008 

Shee Vaham ,

You just know everthing . Guni & Gyani

PD



On Mon, Aug 4, 2008 at 4:28 PM, rashneek kher <rashneek at gmail.com> wrote:

> Yes they dont have to......
>
> On Mon, Aug 4, 2008 at 3:41 PM, Shivam Vij शिवम् विज् <mail at shivamvij.com
> >wrote:
>
> > Yes, thanksfully indeed. Though I don't know if Kshmendra, Aditya Raj
> > Kaul and Pawan D agree with you on this, but then, they don't have
> > to...
> >
> > On Mon, Aug 4, 2008 at 9:35 AM, rashneek kher <rashneek at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > > Just goes on to show that Pandits are not a monolith and thanfully each
> > one
> > > reatins his/her individuality as a thinking being.
> > >
> > > On Sat, Aug 2, 2008 at 3:11 PM, Shivam Vij शिवम् विज् <
> > mail at shivamvij.com>
> > > wrote:
> > >>
> > >> Divided House, Delayed Return
> > >>
> > >> Deep fissures in the Kashmiri Pandit community stand in the way of
> > >> government efforts to rehabilitate them, reports PEERZADA ARSHAD HAMID
> > >>
> > >>
> http://tehelka.com/story_main40.asp?filename=Ne090808divided_house.asp
> > >>
> > >> SANJAY TIKOO, a Kashmiri Pandit living in Barbar Shah, Srinagar,
> > >> braved all odds and remained in the valley when thousands of Pandits
> > >> left their motherland. It was 1990 and the armed insurgency in Kashmir
> > >> had begun, followed by press releases in newspapers ordering Hindus to
> > >> leave.
> > >> No one home Most of the high-security government flats built
> > >> exclusively for returning Pandits have found no takers Photo:Javed Dar
> > >>
> > >> The Tikoo family were defiant and resolute. They would not migrate.
> > >> They weathered the pressure and fear and lived on in their ancestral
> > >> home. Eighteen years later, those days remain vivid for Sanjay. He
> > >> clearly remembers the prolonged strike calls, the curfews and, above
> > >> all, the migration of fellow Pandits from the valley.
> > >>
> > >> Sanjay credits his mother for the decision. "I thank the women of my
> > >> house and, particularly, my mother, who gave her steadfast support to
> > >> our decision. If either she or my sister had shown even the slightest
> > >> weakness, we too would have fled, forced to uproot ourselves," muses
> > >> Sanjay.
> > >>
> > >> The Tikoos were soon singled out. A threatening letter was nailed to
> > >> the entrance of their house. Sanjay clearly remembers that fateful
> > >> day.
> > >>
> > >> "It was July 16, 1990. I had gone to the top floor of my house to
> > >> smoke a cigarette. While pacing up and down, I saw a group of people
> > >> reading something on our gate. I rushed down and brought the message
> > >> in," recalls Sanjay.
> > >>
> > >> At about the same time, posters purportedly written by militants
> > >> became ubiquitous. Along with threats such as the one Sanjay's family
> > >> received, they contained strike calls and reports of militant
> > >> activities. Disturbed, Sanjay discussed the letter with his family and
> > >> then approached a local Urdu newspaper, which published the letter
> > >> along with his family's decision: they would not leave the valley and
> > >> were willing to face the consequences. Thereafter, a group of
> > >> militants belonging to the Al-Umar Commandos approached the family and
> > >> denied having issued the letter. This increased the confidence of the
> > >> family and encouraged them to stay back.
> > >>
> > >> The relief department of the state government estimates that 56,148
> > >> families, including a few Muslim families — approximately 2.5 lakh
> > >> people — migrated from their homes following the armed insurgency
> > >> during the period 1989- 92. Of this, 34,690 families went to Jammu and
> > >> 19,338 to New Delhi. While police records say 209 Pandits were killed
> > >> in Kashmir in the past 18 years, Pandit organisations put the figure
> > >> at about 1,100. An estimated 20,000 Pandit families, however,
> > >> preferred to stay.
> > >>
> > >> These people occupied scattered pockets in urban and rural areas,
> > >> detached from each other. This forsaken community faced difficulties
> > >> in their social life that were felt acutely during marriages,
> > >> religious functions and, most of all, when performing the last rites
> > >> for their dead.
> > >>
> > >> "During the initial years, finding brides for our sons was difficult
> > >> as few migrants were ready to send their daughters back to the valley.
> > >> There were no priests to perform prayers. However, the situation is
> > >> now improving and people don't consider marriages to families in the
> > >> valley that dangerous," Tikoo says.
> > >>
> > >> Sanjay initiated efforts to unite Pandit families and strengthen their
> > >> interaction. He and his friends founded the Kashmiri Pandit Sangharsh
> > >> Samiti (KPSS), which is undertaking a census of Pandits in the valley.
> > >> They advocate the safe return of Pandits and oppose government plans
> > >> to give Pandits high-security residential flats.
> > >>
> > >> "The government has constructed separate buildings and has given CRPF
> > >> security to them. However, this is an effort to create a Palestine-
> > >> Israel type divide in Kashmir," asserts Tikoo.
> > >>
> > >> The KPSS is also critical of hard-line Pandit organisations like Panun
> > >> Kashmir and Roots in Kashmir, because of their demand for a separate
> > >> homeland in Kashmir, northeast of the Jhelum. The KPSS considers
> > >> Kashmir a political problem and a dispute between India and Pakistan.
> > >>
> > >> Panun Kashmir believes that the insurgency was a communal riot
> > >> engineered by Islamic fundamentalists to drive the minority Hindus
> > >> from the valley. They accuse Muslims of ethnic cleansing. Panun
> > >> Kashmir has demanded land along the Jhelum in south Kashmir to be
> > >> secured to build colonies for Pandits. The group also wants this zone
> > >> to be made a Union Territory.
> > >>
> > >> "Our community has suffered badly. We have been uprooted from our
> > >> homeland and unless adequate arrangements are made, we won't go back
> > >> and will continue our fight for our rights. Residential flats are not
> > >> the solution — that's just moving us from one camp to another. Our
> > >> return to our motherland should be final and secure, so that we will
> > >> not be forced to leave again," asserts Ajay Chrangoo, Chairman, Panun
> > >> Kashmir. Chrangoo has been living in Jammu since his migration and
> > >> strongly advocates a separate homeland.
> > >>
> > >> Chrangoo refers to flats constructed at Mattan in South Kashmir and at
> > >> Sheikhpora on the outskirts of Srinagar that the state government has
> > >> spent crores on, in order to coax Pandits to return. No Jammu Pandits
> > >> were ready to return here, and most flats remain locked.
> > >>
> > >> Another voice representing the migrant community is the All India
> > >> Kashmiri Samaj. Headed by Ram Krishan Bhat, it works to keep the
> > >> Kashmiri sentiment alive among Pandit youth. Though he praises the
> > >> Pandits who remained in the valley and calls them "daring", he says
> > >> their continued presence in the valley is not enough to convince other
> > >> Pandits to return.
> > >>
> > >> Chrangoo disagrees. "There is nothing special in some Pandits staying
> > >> back. While some members of the community stay behind in conflict
> > >> zones where there is a mass exodus, this can't obscure the bigger
> > >> picture — the fact that most Pandits have fled. Moreover, those who
> > >> remain, remain in fear," he adds.
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> THE LARGE numbers of Pandit groups — representing migrants and
> > >> non-migrants — claiming to fight for the rights of Pandits have
> > >> confused people both in India and abroad. The clamour of voices has
> > >> added to the complexity of the issue. While all groups claim to
> > >> represent the aspirations of Kashmiri Pandits, all of them differ on
> > >> when, where and how Pandits should return. "Pandits are as divided as
> > >> the Muslims are," quips Sanjay Tikoo.
> > >>
> > >> Sanjay Saraf, a migrant politician, adds another dimension to the
> > >> debate. Saraf plans to contest the coming assembly elections and is
> > >> state president of the Lok Jan Shakti Party.
> > >>
> > >> Recently, national and regional parties from outside the state have
> > >> started making inroads here. The elections will see candidates from
> > >> the SP and the BSP, who have held rallies in Srinagar.
> > >>
> > >> Saraf, however, relies more on Muslim votes than on Pandit ones.
> > >> Though he is a migrant, he has been visiting the valley regularly for
> > >> the past seven years for party meetings and constituency visits. He is
> > >> critical of Panun Kashmir and Roots in Kashmir that are headquartered
> > >> outside Kashmir and describes them as stooges of fundamentalist
> > >> forces. "They are dancing to the tune of the BJP and the VHP and are
> > >> trying to create a communal wedge," Saraf alleges.
> > >>
> > >> The divide among Pandits deepened during the recent crisis over land
> > >> for the Amarnath shrine board. While most Pandit organisations based
> > >> in Jammu and New Delhi favoured the transfer of land to the board, the
> > >> valley-based KPSS stood alone in its demand for the pilgrimage to be
> > >> placed under resident Kashmiri Pandit organisations. Saraf supported
> > >> this demand from the beginning. "Pandits cannot remain outside the
> > >> valley and pay mere lip service to the cause. We have to be here to
> > >> say we belong to the land. Raising a hue and cry while staying outside
> > >> hardly matters," avers Sanjay Saraf, while acknowledging KPSS'
> > >> efforts.
> > >>
> > >> Ideological differences have increased the divide between migrant
> > >> Pandits and those who stayed back. Eighteen years after Pandits fled
> > >> the valley, various groups continue to pursue their own agendas and a
> > >> consensus remains elusive.
> > >>
> > >> WRITER'S E-MAIL
> > >> peerzadaarshad at gmail.com
> > >> From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 5, Issue 31, Dated Aug 09, 2008
> > >> _________________________________________
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> > >
> > >
> > > --
> > > Rashneek Kher
> > > Wandhama Massacre-The Forgotten Human Tragedy
> > > http://www.kashmiris-in-exile.blogspot.com
> > > http://www.nietzschereborn.blogspot.com
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > National Highway http://shivamvij.com/
> >
>
>
>
> --
> Rashneek Kher
> Wandhama Massacre-The Forgotten Human Tragedy
> http://www.kashmiris-in-exile.blogspot.com
> http://www.nietzschereborn.blogspot.com
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