[Reader-list] Kashmiri 'bandits' should .... return to their ancestral home - Washington declaration

Fri Jul 18 16:34:53 IST 2008

You and I - we are talking in individual terms, ignoring that the
inerplay between individuals and communities they are part of is not
that simplistic.

On Fri, Jul 18, 2008 at 4:12 PM, S. Jabbar <sonia.jabbar at gmail.com> wrote:
> Well, then you and I are made of very different stuff...Good luck!
>
> On 7/18/08 4:10 PM, "Shivam Vij शिवम् विज्" <mail at shivamvij.com> wrote:
>
>> That is a personal question directed only at me. Yes, perhaps I
> wouldn't,
>> particularly if I am part of a community that is
> overwhelmingly not in favour
>> of returning, and I would return only
> with a large group. And particularly if
>> I am well settled in a job in
> Delhi.
>
> best
> shivam
>
> On Fri, Jul 18, 2008 at
>> 4:08 PM, S. Jabbar <sonia.jabbar at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Ok, your take entirely,
>> but you still haven't answered my question, which is
>> would you not return to
>> your home because you wanted to score a political
>> point?
>>
>>
>> On 7/18/08
>> 4:00 PM, "Shivam Vij शिवम् विज्" <mail at shivamvij.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Dear
>> Sonia,
>>
>> I don't think I was being either naive or
>>> offensive.
>>
>> best
>>
>> shivam
>>
>> On Fri, Jul 18, 2008 at 10:58 AM, S. Jabbar
>>>
>> <sonia.jabbar at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> Shivam,
>>>
>>> I'm surprised that it's
>> you
>>> asking this question.  It is both offensive and
>>> naïve to suggest
>> that
>>> Pandits are not returning because they are holding on
>>> to a sense
>> of
>>> victimhood to further political ends.  Though there are,
>>>
>> undoubtedly,
>>> political formations that benefit from the continuing
>>>
>> displacement of the
>>> Pandits, including the Government of India, it is
>> wrong
>>> to suggest that over
>>> 200,000 people who have lost their homes,
>> lands and
>>> livelihood would prefer
>>> to stay in some dump in the plains
>> because of
>>> political gain.
>>>
>>> Would you
>>> think like that if it had
>> happened to you?  I wouldn't.  If it was
>>> safe
>>> enough for me to return, I
>> would.  The way things are at present no
>>> Kashmiri
>>> Pandit would risk
>> moving back without guarantees of safety to life
>>> and limb.
>>> Who will give
>> them that, the GoI that has been helpless when
>>> massacres have
>>> taken
>> place?  Kashmiri Muslims, who themselves are at risk
>>> from the
>>> militant's
>> gun?
>>>
>>> Tragically, in the past, every time the GoI announced some
>>>
>> package to
>>> facilitate the return of the Pandits and the press made a
>> noise
>>> about a few
>>> families returning, there were massacres of the
>> Pandits that had
>>> remained in
>>> the valley: Wandhama, Telwani, Sangrampora,
>> and Nadimarg. The
>>> killings were
>>> brutal and they were brutal because the
>> killers wanted to send
>>> out a message
>>> in no uncertain terms.  I doubt
>> anyone in their right minds
>>> would ignore
>>> that and put their loved ones
>> at risk.
>>>
>>> The return of the
>>> Pandits would signal the end of militancy
>> and a real
>>> return to normalcy.
>>> Obviously there are groups that will
>> oppose this unless
>>> it is part of a deal
>>> between India and Pakistan on
>> Kashmir.  Only with a
>>> formal end to the war, a
>>> settlement of the Kashmir
>> issue, with the
>>> declaration of various packages
>>> for various groups, can
>> the Pandits actually
>>> return.  Until then, of course
>>> individuals are free
>> to come and go and
>>> nobody is 'holding a gun to their
>>> heads,' but that is
>> surely not the same
>>> thing.
>>>
>>> Interestingly, there are
>>> many thousand
>> Kashmiri Muslim  men stranded on the
>>> other side of the border
>>> who left
>> Kashmir in the early days of the movement
>>> and long to return to
>>> Kashmir.
>> They fear arrest and torture.  I met some of
>>> them when I was in
>>>
>> Pakistan.  They, too, dare not risk returning until the
>>> formal end of
>> the
>>> war.
>>>
>>> With so many lives at stake-- those who have left, those
>> whose lives
>>> remain
>>> hellish in J&K, it is imperative that we keep
>> pressuring the
>>> governments of
>>> India & Pakistan to settle this issue.
>> Sadly, the momentum
>>> has been lost
>>> because of domestic compulsions in
>> both countries, and I don't
>>> see things
>>> getting resolved in a
>> hurry.
>>>
>>> -sj
>>>
>>>
>>> On 7/17/08 6:42 PM,
>>> "Shivam Vij शिवम् विज्"
>> <mail at shivamvij.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> While a typo can be
>>> ignored, the
>> question is worth asking: what
>>>> prevents
>>> pandits from being
>>>
>> 'faciliated' to return? Militancy has declined,
>>>> nobody is
>>> holding a
>> gun
>>> to Pandits' temples and quita  few happily
>>>> (especially
>>>
>> businessmen) are
>>> spending six months in the Valley and six in
>>>> Delhi.
>> But
>>> many. Why has the
>>> package of Rs. 16,000 crores been rejected? Do
>>>>
>> Pandits
>>> even want to
>>> reurn, considering 70% have sold their land back
>> home?
>>>> And why
>>> don't they
>>> want to return, considering they can buy
>> land? Is it
>>>> political
>>> reasons
>>> rather than safety? Is is that many
>> non-Jammu migrants are
>>>> well
>>> settled
>>> in Delhi, Pune, Bangalore, New
>> York? Is it that returning would
>>>> mean
>>>
>>> giving up the political uses
>> of victimhood and let 'separatists' say,
>>>>
>>> "Look,
>>> even the Pandits are
>> back." I am not making these allegations but
>>>>
>>> asking
>>> questions. Like
>> all communities the Pandits are a divided
>>>>
>>> community.
>>> Kshmendra Kaul
>> does not represent them all. Everyone has
>>> different
>>>> reasons
>>> and
>> different circumstances.
>>>
>>> best
>>> shivam
>>>
>>>
>>> On
>>> 7/16/08,
>> Kshmendra Kaul
>>>> <kshmendra2005 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> A
>>>
>> "International Kashmir Peace
>>>> Conference" was held Washington D.C,
>>>>
>>>
>> 14th-15th July. It adopted the
>>>> "Washington Declaration".
>>>>
>>>> The
>> website
>>> of "Association of Humanitarian
>>>> Lawyers", one of the
>> sponsors
>>>> of the
>>> Conference, furnishes the text of the
>>>>
>> "Declaration"
>>>>
>>>> Point 8 in it
>>> reads "The Conference calls for
>> protection of
>>>> all minorities.
>>>> All the
>>> displaced persons including
>> Kashmiri bandits should
>>>> be facilitated
>>>> to
>>> return to their ancestral
>> home."
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>> http://www.humanlaw.org/kashmirstatement.html
>>>>
>>>>
>> Did not know that
>>> "bandits"
>>>> had been displaced out of Kashmir. At
>> least
>>>> they are being
>>> called
>>>> 'displaced' and not 'migrants'
>>>>
>>>>
>> KK
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
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