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

Sat Jul 19 00:24:28 IST 2008

Dear Pawan,

Apologies if I seem to e taking a side track, but wanted to make some things
clear as a 'displaced' person myself:

1.   As a Bengali who was born abroad, and who's grand-parents from
      both sides of the family are from Bangladesh. am very happy to
      have an Indian passport - though with one grandfather being in the
      now defunct IFS, that's not surprising.

2.    Was born in Vienna, Austria, and spent my 'formative' years all
       over the place.

However, as far as i'm concerned, my country is India, and my city is Delhi,
no matter what any one can say. Just as Pawan and other's are Kashmiri's, I
am an Indian even though I was not born here and I will fight over that. I
was not born here, but India is my identity. I will not argue about borders,
or religion or Gods or lack therof. However, having been out of India and
here as well, have learnt tha we Indians have an innate undertsanding of the
core, and hope that Shivam, Aditya and other will (though Radhikarajen seems
to have suddenly lost both language and comprehension skills).

At the end of the day, whether we are communists, or leftists or BJP
followers or INC followers, we all have to answer to what we truly believe
in, and that is what makes the difference.

The constitution or any other law is what we as citizens make of it - just
as a bus wallah jumps the BRT queue and kills some people - WE make reality.

SO what is the reality we want from out heart?

Apologies for ending in a question, but some points from Shivam, Sonia,
Kshamendra and Pawan have left me open in doubt.

Regards, Partha
....................................

On Fri, Jul 18, 2008 at 7:26 PM, Pawan Durani <pawan.durani at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Dear Shivam,
>
> You create too much ideas. Trust,Kshemendra does exist.
>
> Anyways, for some of your questions regarding the package and non return of
> Kashmiri Hindus to their homeland i quote the following :-
>
>
> The way the package was declared in Akhnoor, caused bad feelings against
> Kashmiri Hindus, rather than acting as a balm on their wounds. Wittingly or
> unwittingly, the announcement tried to pit the interests of displaced
> Kashmiri Hindus against aggrieved and devastated border migrants, PoK
> refugees or internally displaced Hindus of Jammu.
>
>
>
> The so-called package trivializes the wholesale religious cleansing of
> Kashmiri Hindus and conveys a spirit of abdication of responsibility by the
> government to reverse the genocide of Kashmiri Hindus.
>
>
>
> By reducing the issue of genocide to merely constructing a shelter in
> Kashmir Valley, that too in hostile environs, the UPA government has
> displayed lack of vision in confronting the larger challenge of Jihadi
> terrorism. If having a house in Kashmir was the only problem for Kashmiri
> Hindus then none amongst them would have left Kashmir in 1990. Why did not
> even a single Kashmiri Hindu family return to the so-called clusters in
> Budgam and Mattan?
>
>
>
> The real issues linked to the permanent return of the Kashmiri Hindus are :
> tackling of all dimensions of terrorism, decommunalisation of the social
> milieu in the Valley and creating a viable political and economic
> dispensation for Kashmiri Hindus, in order to ensure no future refoulment.
>
>
>
> The UPA government by announcing this package has demonstrated its
> inaptitude and abject failure in comprehending the real challenges to the
> return of Kashmiri Hindus. The Government seems to have completely ignored
> the concerns and apprehensions, Panun Kashmir raised during the Round Table
> Conferences and Working Group meetings.
>
>
>
> It requires national vision and will to respond to the challenges of
> religious cleansing of Hindus living in the only Muslim majority state of
> India. Gimmicks like announcing funds for housing societies in the Valley
> for Kashmiri Hindus, knowing well that none accepted them during past two
> decades, will only complicate the issues. In the prelude to coming
> elections
> in the State and the Centre, Kashmiri Hindus expected those at the helm to
> be more clear and forthright in setting an agenda of strategic
> reconstruction and nation building in the state.
>
>
>
> The government has ironically announced availability of funds where there
> are no takers. It has desisted from announcing the relief, where it was
> required the most. It should have addressed the issues of forcible and
> fraudulent grab of Pandit property and shrines, end to the process of
> acquiring Pandit property for so-called public utility purposes by the
> State
> government, compensation and release of rental arrears for Hindu houses
> occupied by the security forces, waving of loans and income-tax for
> traders,
> comprehensive employement package, passing of the Protection of Shrines and
> Temples Bill, etc. etc. It should have considered the primary demand of
> setting up a Commission of Inquiry into the core issue of Hindu Exodus and
> religious cleansing and fixing the responsibility.
>
>
>
> The Prime Minister seem to have played into the hands of that section of
> political elite of Kashmiri Muslims, which irrespective of party
> affiliations, wants the issue of displacement and religions cleansing of
> Kashmiri Hindus to be pushed under the carpet. It is this section which has
> constantly put obstacles to the permanent return of Kashmiri Hindus and
> addressing their grievances.
>
>
>
> Creation of Homeland with a union territory status, north and east of river
> Jhelum in Kashmir valley, remains the only viable option which can help
> displaced Hindus to return to Kashmir valley.
>
> To be continued.
>
> Pawan
>
> On 7/18/08, Shivam Vij शिवम् विज् <mail at shivamvij.com> wrote:
> >
> > Dear Pawan,
> >
> > Many thanks for your reply, although it was directed at Kshmendra, who
> > has surprisingly not replied so far. Sometimes I wonder whether
> > Kshmendra exists at all or if he is elusive like the solution to the
> > Kashmir dispute.
> >
> > > Regarding the 16000 crore package , the finer things
> > > about the package is not known to many people and
> > > most of the media just caught up with the headlines.
> > > We may discuss the 16000 crore package sometime else.
> >
> > The details have indeed come out:
> >
> http://www.greaterkashmir.com/full_story.asp?Date=26_4_2008&ItemID=51&cat=1
> >
> > Your attempt to brush this away makes me wonder even more: now when
> > the government is paying to share substantial costs to return to the
> > Valley, now that militancy is at its lowest, why don't you return?
> > More details about how the package would be operationalised are
> > immaterial because various Pandit leaders have rejected the very idea
> > outright.
> >
> > > When you quote that many Kashmiri hindu businessman spend 6
> > > months in Kashmir , i may not disagree that the few people do.
> > > I am sure you know the percentage of Kashmiri
> > > Hindu businessmen . Kindly share it with rest of the group.
> > > My idea is that it is less than 1%.
> >
> > Well, I met some such and was told about them. But the point is that
> > if it is safe for some to live for six months, why is it unsafe for
> > others to live for twelve months? You can say that a certain district
> > is still unsafe, you arre afraid, but why can't those in Srinagar want
> > to return.
> >
> > One point you haven't answered is: WHY WOULD SOMEONE WHO HAS SOLD HIS
> > PROPERTY RETURN? I am told that 7 in 10 migrants have sold their
> > properties and have thus given up their stake in the valley -
> > something that the Pandits who refused to migrate are pained about.
> > What are the reasons for selling property?
> >
> > > where they are welcome as tourist
> > > but not as permanent residents
> >
> > This is completely untrue. The local population is in fact guilty that
> > the Pandits were kicked out in the first place, and the 'separatists'
> > regret it even more because the Indian government used the plight of
> > the Pandits as a scoring point against the separatists.
> >
> > (For the same reason not a single yatri was attacked, and in fact
> > Muslims held langars in Srinagar, during nine days of strike,
> > agitation and CRPF firing in the Valley. It was not so much an act of
> > charity but a politically calculated act of restraint.)
> >
> > > Also once bitten is twice shy , and Kashmiri
> > > Hindus have been bitten more than 8 times in last 1000 years .
> >
> > And the Pandits have been migrating for ages. In my city, Lucknow,
> > they have had a rich history, as also in Delhi. Not all Pandits are
> > refugees, and not all pandit refugees live / lived in camps - somehow
> > the discourse on pandits have stereotyped a hardworking, literate,
> > upwardly mobile community as refugees and  nothing else.
> >
> > > This time the return has to be on terms of Kashmiri Hindus.
> > > And one of the term is a separate homeland with a
> > > full flow of Indian constitution.
> >
> > Pandits did not leave Kashmir in protest of the J&K constitution. In
> > 1989 Pandits did not say, "Extend Indian Constitution to Kashmir or
> > we'll leave." They left because of threats of violence and if the
> > threats of violence have been replaced by calls for return and
> > assurances of safety, why don't they return? And most refugees went to
> > nearby Jammu where the 'full flow' of the Indian Constitution applies
> > as much as it does in Sopore. There were also Pandits displaced within
> > the valley many of whom have accepted a rehabilitation package from
> > the J&K government.
> >
> > Why should Pandits have a separate homeland? And if that is what they
> > want, why shouldn't Kashmir have independence from India? This seems
> > to be going in the logic of the Partition of India. The kashmir issue
> > is an unsettled sore thumb of the partition.
> >
> > The Pandits were and are a part of the state of Jammu and Kashmir
> > which had independence for three months, which is the only state to
> > have its own flag, its own Constitution, rules debarring outsiders
> > from buying land. It has 28 vacant seats for PoK but this logic is not
> > extended to the Parliament of India. J&K has a UN observer mission, it
> > has an LoC rather than an international border - in short, even the
> > Constitution of India indirectly admits that kashmir is a disputed
> > territory.
> >
> > Now you can demand a separate homeland for Pandits or demand whatever
> > whether you are living in Anantnag or Amsterdam. But, again: that is
> > not why you left Kashmir. You left because of killings and threats,
> > and now that they are no more, why don;t you return? And cosnidering
> > you have sold your land, do you even want to return? Would my dear
> > friend ARK leave Ramjas College and go to Kashmir University - or the
> > Vaishnu Devi university or the proposed Sharda Peeth for that matter?
> > If 2500 people who are still there and who never migrated, can live
> > there, why can't you?
> >
> > And Kashmir has something stronger than the 'full flow' of the Indian
> > Constitution. It has the Indian army, BSF, CRPF at every nook and
> > corner.
> >
> > best
> > shivam
> >
> >
> >
> > On Fri, Jul 18, 2008 at 10:04 AM, Pawan Durani <pawan.durani at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> > >
> > > Dear Shivam ,
> > >
> > > I appreciate your curiosity.
> > >
> > > Regarding the 16000 crore package , the finer things about the package
> is
> > not known to many people and most of the media just caught up with the
> > headlines. We may discuss the 16000 crore package sometime else.
> > >
> > > When you quote that many Kashmiri hindu businessman spend 6 months in
> > Kashmir , i may not disagree that the few people do. I am sure you know
> the
> > percentage of Kashmiri Hindu businessmen . Kindly share it with rest of
> the
> > group. My idea is that it is less than 1%.So if less than 1% Kashmiri
> Hindus
> > visit Kashmir , where they are welcome as tourist but not as permanent
> > residents , that should not be a quoting figure for normalcy.
> > >
> > > Also once bitten is twice shy , and Kashmiri Hindus have been bitten
> more
> > than 8 times in last 1000 years . This time the return has to be on terms
> of
> > Kashmiri Hindus.And one of the term is a separate homeland with a full
> flow
> > of Indian constitution.
> > >
> > > For Kashmiri Hindus , the political reasons do not make any reason for
> > their non returning . They don't have a representative in assembly or the
> > national parliament. The reason has everything to what they had witnessed
> > sometimes back , which made them run away to save lives and honour.
> > >
> > > Regards
> > >
> > > Pawan Durani
> > >
> > >
> > > On 7/17/08, 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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> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> --
> > >> /National Highway/ http://shivamvij.com/
> > >> _________________________________________
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> >
> >
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> >
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-- 
Partha Dasgupta
+919811047132