[Reader-list] one more Kashmiri Pundit email & I'll commit suicide

[Tapas Ray]

Kshemendra,

I have a certain respect for you (not that you can't live without it), 
and take your criticism seriously.

You are right. These people are indeed refugees or internally-displaced 
in official jargon. It was a mistake on my part to use the term 
migrants, which is a neutral term that does not adequately indicate 
their situation. I apologise for that.

However, I think you might have noticed that I have always expressed 
sympathy for this group. If I remember, I wrote long ago that their 
plight was similar to those Palestinians who have been forced into 
exile. Of course, the Palestinian refugees have to live in foreign lands 
- Jordan, Lebanon, etc. - where the local populations, despite being 
Muslims and Arabs like themselves, are not particularly welcoming 
towards them, while the KPs and other Kashmiri displaced are refugees in 
their own land.

I have never said that anyone who speaks for the Kashmiri refugees is a 
Hindu fundamentalist. You have spoken for them if I remember, but I do 
not consider you as someone who even remotely resembles Aditya, Pawan, 
etc. At least that is the impression I have gathered from those posts I 
have read, which are probably fewer than those I haven't been able to read.

But I cannot stress enough that the others not only are the foot 
soldiers of Hindutva but soldiers with fascist tendencies if not 
outright fascists. I have come to that conclusion from the totality of 
their posts, not just their support for the KPs' cause. My understanding 
is that these people are exploiting KPs in the Parivar's interest and 
damaging the KPs' cause by doing that. In other words, for those of them 
who are KPs themselves, Hindutva is more important than the interests of 
those members of their own community who are less fortunate than themselves.

Tapas



Kshmendra Kaul wrote:
> Dear Tapas
>  
> With what you have written, what is the difference between you and such 
> voices who unthinkingly brand as "Anti-Hindu" or "Pseudo-secular" or 
> "Islamists" etc those people who might talk about issues of Humanism?
>  
> Talking about Kashmiri Pandit issues does not automatically make a 
> person a follower of the Hindutva agenda.
>  
> You might have a better appreciation of the "angst" shown on this List 
> by KPs if instead of that idiotic term of 'migration' you see the 
> reality of the Internal Displacement that took place.
>  
> You might better understand the frustrations when you recognise that a 
> Unique Human Socio/Cultural/Religious Sub-Set, removed from the Land 
> where it should exist for it's continuation and evolvement, is on the 
> verge of extinction because of the Internal Displacemernt from it's 
> nurturing environment.
>  
> I am always amazed that people who can be highly sensitive to various 
> Displacements (Tribal, Forest etc) and sensitive to to sub-sets of 
> species becoming extinct (Turtles, Deer, Tigers etc) have a completely 
> different (contradictory and hypocritical) attitude if the 'on verge of 
> extinction' Human Socio/Cultural/Religious Sub-Set of Kashmiri Pandits 
> is brought to their notice.
>  
> I will be the first one to admit that the issues concerning Kashmiri 
> Pandits are not presented in the most appealing manner. That does not 
> take away from the seriousness of the issue.
>  
> Kshmendra
> 
> --- On *Sat, 10/25/08, Tapas Ray /<tapasrayx at gmail.com>/* wrote:
> 
>     From: Tapas Ray <tapasrayx at gmail.com>
>     Subject: Re: [Reader-list] one more Kashmiri Pundit email & I'll
>     commit suicide
>     To: "sarai list" <reader-list at sarai.net>
>     Date: Saturday, October 25, 2008, 11:42 PM
> 
>     Kirdar,
> 
>     These people are simply using the migration issue to foist the Hindutva 
>     agenda on this list and to wreck it if they can't. So, I am afraid your 
>     logic will have no effect.
> 
>     People who do this sort of thing, are not the kind this list is meant 
>     for. If they don't shape up, they will have to ship out - or be shipped 
>     out - eventually.
> 
>     Tapas
> 
> 
>     Kirdar wrote:
>     > One more Kashmiri Pundit email on this list and I will commit suicide,
>     honestly.
>     > There are millions of people on this earth who have been tortured and
>     > displaced and raped and massacred by someone or the other, but life
>     > moves on, yaar.
>     > 
>     > I want to ask you folks: Because of your displacement from Kashmir,
>     > are you in physical pain right now? Are you starving? Are you living
>     > on footpaths? Are you living in flooded waters? Are you dying of
>     > cancer? Are you taunted and abused on the streets? Are your present
>     > houses being burnt down? Are you being persecuted at the moment as you
>     > live in the rest of India? I doubt if the answer to any of the above
>     > is yes. Then why have you become a pain for us on Sarai?
>     > 
>     > Some months ago, someone on Sarai posted a report about a conference
>     > or convention of Kashmiri Pundits which happened in Delhi in Chinmaya
>     > mission or something. It was reported that each Kashmiri Pundit came
>     > to attend the convention in such large limousines that there was no
>     > space left for people to walk. So, what are we complaining about?
>     > 
>     > Please leave this list and start a special one for KPs alone. At the
>     > moment, neither you nor us are able to convince each other - nor are
>     > we making any headway in any discussion. We can't also discuss any
>     > other sane topic on this list.
>     > 
>     > So, please get the hell out of here.
>     > 
>     > (I know my email will lead to further abusing of sanity. Somebody
>     > please write my obituary on Sarai)
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