[Reader-list] Visit to Pandit migrant camps in Jammu 2002- A personal account

[Kshmendra Kaul]

Dear Gowhar
 
Thank you for sharing this. 
 
Would you agree that they were/are not migrants but were forced by circumstances to seek refuge? Wouldnt 'refugees' or 'internally displaced' be a better term? What do you think?
 
Do you think this exercise can be duplicated with this time around the Kashmiri Pandits visiting Kashmir and similar arrangements for them to meet at least some of those who have similarly suffered intense miseries and more? Is there any such existing mechanism?
 
Your 2002 report conclude with  the comment "a tremendous and deep felt desire to restore the  broken relationships and the way of life that has been lost." Do you think that sentiment still exists? Can the gulf of 'broken relationships' be bridged, by word and action and some sort of a 'return'? If yes; How? 
 
Connectedly, why do you think it is seen neccessary by the Kashmiri Pandits still residing in Kashmir to go and weep in front of SAS Geelani and beg for protection?
 
Connectedly, why was there no hue and cry by the much vaunted Civil Society of Kashmir when Kashmiri Pandits were told that they have to be part of the Tehreek?
 
Connectedly, if the overwhelming sentiment amongst Kashmiri Muslims (who desire separation from India) is towards an Independent Kashmir why does SAS (Kashmir should be with Pakistan) Geelani get the kind of space he does without receiving strong condemnation?
 
Kshmendra


--- On Thu, 8/12/10, gowhar fazli <gowharfazili at yahoo.com> wrote:


From: gowhar fazli <gowharfazili at yahoo.com>
Subject: [Reader-list] Visit to Pandit migrant camps in Jammu 2002- A personal account
To: "reader-list at sarai.net" <reader-list at sarai.net>
Date: Thursday, August 12, 2010, 11:51 AM


Visit to Pandit migrant camps in Jammu 2002- A personal  account
By Gowhar Fazili

After the first reconciliation workshop involving Kashmiri  Pandits and Kashmiri 
Muslim it was decided that a team of Muslim participants  would visit migrant 
camps in Jammu in continuation of the process that had just  begun to unfold by 
the end of the workshop. We realized that enormous amount of  courage on part of 
the participants led them to share their personal and  collective grief and 
suffering. We witnessed that honest sharing can transform  people and must be 
respected and valued. To further explore the spirit of  oneness in suffering and 
to take it beyond the confines of the meeting venue, a  visit by some Kashmiri 
Muslim participants was to be the next step. 


Accordingly, my friend and I were deputed to visit Jammu in  the month of 
September and we visited homes of Pandit participants residing in  and outside 
the camps and also met with some other members of the community.  The experience 
generated so many emotions and thoughts that it will take a  lifetime to unpack 
them but I will try to share some of the observations that  can be made. 


When I told some of my friends in Srinagar about the plan,  they asked why I 
should be visiting Pandit camps while the suffering is far too  greater here in 
Kashmir and no one is bothered. There are too many widows,  orphans, bereaved 
and people who have lost their homes and property in the  ongoing turmoil in the 
valley, while Pandits in Jammu are better off by far.  Some said that Pandits 
are a pampered lot. Both the central and the state  government pamper Pandits 
and they are living better lives in the safety of  camps in Jammu than any of us 
here. They also said that everybody from the  humanitarian organizations to 
politicians visit Jammu camps as a priority while  we (Kashmiri Muslims) are 
merely seen as terrorists who deserve what they are  undergoing because we are 
supposedly the source of all trouble. 


Nevertheless we went ahead with our plan, if only to know if  the stories that 
take rounds in Srinagar are true and to what extent. How do  Pandits themselves 
feel about their migration from Kashmir valley, which has  been their home for 
ages? Are they living away from their homeland by choice?  What were the 
circumstances, which compelled them to leave? Was it merely state  policy whisk 
Pandits to safety, as many believe in Srinagar or was their enough  fear in the 
atmosphere to have made a community of a such small size feel  vulnerable and 
unsafe? What is it really like for a Kashmiri, used to living in  spacious house 
to live in a camp? What is the condition of the camps ... and so  many questions 
that could be answered only through experience and first hand  interaction. 


Since we arrived in Jammu on the eve of a festival, we did  not think it prudent 
to land up in the camps right away. We stayed in a hotel  and from there called 
some people we had met in the reconciliation workshop and  fixed to visit their 
places on the next day. But even before we set out for our  visits we received 
an early morning delegation of Pandits associated with the  Chamber of Commerce. 
They had heard about our work and were curious to know  more. They appreciated 
the idea of faith based reconciliation and assured us  their support especially 
in the section of people associated with trade and  commerce. They also spoke of 
the efforts they had made earlier to maintain  relationship between the members 
of the two communities but that they could not  sustain it for too long. They 
also emphasized the need for a place in Jammu so  that there could be sustained 
communication between the people of two  communities. 


>From then on Anil (one of the participants in the workshop)  played our host and 
guided us to residences of the members. He had already  fixed our schedule for 
the day and we felt very relaxed to be guided in this  manner. We began by 
visiting members who lived outside the camps. The houses we  visited looked 
similar to the ones in Kashmir as though there were a deliberate  effort to live 
back the life as it was in Kashmir. One of the houses even had  an elaborately 
and exquisitely designed Chinar like gate. The residents  explained that this 
keeps the memory of my homeland alive. We felt very much at  home possibly 
because of our common culture and the foods that we were treated  to. The 
conversations went on endlessly as they do in Kashmir. There was a  special 
feeling like when we meet relatives separated from us for a long time.  There 
was so much to catch up on. We could sense among our hosts a deep longing  and 
love for the homeland. It didn't need to be said it was clearly evident by  the 
manner in which they had maintained continuity with their way of life in an  
alien land and the profusion artifacts that they had surrounded themselves  
with. We could also sense genuine gladness in their eyes to receive us in their  
homes and I guess a lot of healing must have taken place while we shared about  
our experiences and the situations we are faced with in either place. 


The greatest fear that seemed to override the minds of most  Kashmiri Pandits 
was not economic loss but the fear of losing community itself  in the vast sea 
of humanity that is India... They so much want to remain  Kashmiris and so 
easily find extension of their selves among the co- community  of Kashmiri 
Muslims. At least with Kashmiri Muslims they can share the  language, culture 
and the local idiom even though their religion is different.  They can talk to 
us and share the inherited meanings while it is not possible  with 
co-religionists from other parts of India. In Kashmir they also shared a  
relationship of mutual respect with other Kashmiris, while in a place like  
Jammu or Delhi no one recognizes them as a special community. They are merely  
outsiders who are encroaching on the local resources. But even now when we meet  
after thirteen years of separation, we seem to be familiar and know how to  
address each other and can share so much. In all our conversations the use of  
'we' to signify all Kashmiris including Muslims and Pandits was frequent. We  
could still identify ourselves as a people apart from others. 


>From the homes we visited it was clear how much they must  have had to struggle 
to settle themselves in a place like Jammu. It had taken  years for some to 
finally resolve and make permanent houses in Jammu. For a  long while they felt 
that their stay in Jammu was temporary, hoping to return  very soon. Some said 
that they can still not relate to these houses as their  own, and that whenever 
they dream of home they can only visualize their houses  in Kashmir. 


I realized the difference between migrating for better  opportunities like many 
of us do and being forced by circumstances to migrate  from home and having no 
place to return to. I realized that Pandit migration  was a tragic event for 
Kashmiri community as a whole because they took with  them so much that was us. 
It was especially tragic for the Pandits who feel so vulnerable  as a community 
away from home. 


>From there Anil led us to the camps for the first time.  Since most of the 
participants for our workshop had come from the Porkhu camp  we went there to 
meet up with the people. I must confess that my idea of Pandit  camps while in 
Srinagar was that these must be decent flats as befit the  so-called 'pampered' 
community. To my shock the camp can be described no better  than a slum. Pandit 
camps in Jammu are shanty barracks made of plywood or  single brick walls. In 
the barracks each family has been allotted a room or if  the family is really 
large two rooms at the most. The lanes between the  barracks are narrow and 
lined by deep open drains. The residents have  constructed toilets and small 
kitchens and walls around the space on their own.  Once inside, we felt very 
hot. Three children who were sleeping in the room  where shifted to one side to 
make room for the seven men who had visited the  house. The immediate feeling 
that came to our mind was that this was no place  to live for ten days and these 
people had managed to live here for more than  thirteen years. Yet we were 
treated very hospitably, as we would be in Kashmir.  Again we realized that 
Kashmiri culture was being lived with a vengeance even  in terms of the food 
they continue to consume like Namkeen Chai and traditional  Kashmiri bread 
(chochwor!) We met up with most of the members who had visited  Kashmir. Some of 
the members in the camp had to give serious explanation for  having participated 
in the workshop at Gulmarg and had been blamed of having  made a compromise with 
Kashmiri Muslims. We had to assure them once again that  there was no hidden 
agenda and that none of the known political organizations  had anything to do 
with our work. We decided to visit the camp once again on  the next day in order 
to hear from more people and also to share the idea of  reconciliation with 
them. 


To our surprise more people turned up for the meeting than  we were prepared to 
face. We expected not more than fifteen to twenty people in  the meeting. But 
the hall meant for marriages and other functions began to fill  until we had 
more than hundred people many of whom did not understand why we  were there. 
Some of the people were charged up due to the election campaigns  and the offer 
made by the central government to give rupees seven-lakh  assistance for Pandits 
who chose to return to the valley. One of the elderly  persons emphasized that 
they did not want this package because they saw it more  as an insult added to 
the injury. He said that the problem of Kashmiri Pandits  was not about money, 
but about insecurity and how they can redeem the way of  life that was lost. 
“Would they be able to return the security we felt in  living among our own 
people and how would they ensure that now, with the  changes that our people 
have undergone by living away from each other?” 


It was clear that some of the people in the camp were  mistaking us for the 
representatives of some political party or the central  government. After 
hearing to some angry expressions some of our hosts thought  that we must be 
asked why we have come to the camps in the first place. We  began by explaining 
that we did not represent any official initiatives for  rehabilitation of 
Kashmiri Pandits and that we have just come as concerned  individuals who are 
not happy with the situation as it exists. “We have no  offers to make because 
have nothing to offer except a patient hearing. In a  sense we feel guilty for 
not having done enough to stop the migration when it  took place and also for 
not having been in touch for the last thirteen years.  It is partly to absolve 
ourselves of that guilt that we have come. We have also  come to hear from your 
experiences and to observe how you people are living  away from home and what 
you have to say.” 


This brief introduction changed the tone of the meeting and  then on almost all 
the members individually began to share their experiences.  Some laid emphasis 
on the unique brotherhood that existed among Kashmiri  Muslims and Pandits and 
how they longed for its return, while others expressed  the pain of living for 
thirteen long years away from Kashmir. While the elderly  were very vivid about 
their memories of Kashmir and their desire “to at least  die in Kashmir”, the 
younger ones were bitter about the state of helplessness  and feared whether 
their future would be safe if they were to choose to return.  Some of the 
members related the number of times Kashmiri Pandits have had to  migrate from 
Kashmir and how every time after the peace was restored they  returned to their 
homeland. They also said that if they were to return this  time, they would want 
the surity that they do not have to migrate yet again. 


Some of the younger members were very bitter about the  circumstances that led 
them to leave Kashmir and said that under no  circumstances are they willing to 
forget how some of their people were tortured  and killed. We tried to explain 
that to reconcile did not mean that one has to  forget and we did not expect 
them to forget what they had experienced. Asking  one to forget would amount to 
disrespecting their pain and suffering. We only  feel that hate should not be 
the motive for our actions and that we must forgive  without forgetting. 


One of the members explained how the state was maintaining  the camps in bad 
repair so as to win the sympathy of the foreigners and  visitors to the camps as 
a means of propaganda to impress upon them their own  version of the conflict in 
Kashmir. He explained that they felt like animals  kept in a zoo, displayed 
whenever the need was felt. The state according to  them could do better and at 
least afford to provide reasonable conditions of  living for the migrants. The 
dilapidated condition of the camps was a  deliberate state policy. 


Almost all the people appreciated our effort and felt that  it was in some ways 
different from all the other efforts that are being made  for their return and 
rehabilitation. They also felt that our efforts were in  the least sincere and 
thus need to be expanded. Many emphasized that the  greater part of the work is 
required in Kashmir, as they being a minority do  not pose a big problem. It is 
only when certain receptiveness is created among  the majority community in 
Kashmir that the return of Pandits can be made  possible. 


There was a difference of opinion whether they should return  to their own 
respective villages or a separate enclave should be created to  rehabilitate 
them in the valley. For some the texture of the villages over the  years had 
changed so drastically that it was no longer possible for them to  feel safe in 
their old homes. So though the interaction between the members of  the two 
communities should get restored, but for their safety they must be  settled in 
an all Pandit habitation. Some felt that this arrangement would not  be healthy, 
as it would not help restore old relationship and increase  suspicion and 
segregation. 


The meeting lasted well over five hours into the night and  at last when most 
people had spoken we sought permission to leave. But the  people would not let 
us go and took us back to their homes where more rounds of  tea and informal 
conversation resumed. We had to leave finally because of an  earlier commitment 
to dine with one of our Pandit hosts living outside the  camp. The conversations 
at the dinners during our visit, which lasted well past  midnight, were in my 
opinion, most fruitful. They operated in a language that  can only be possible 
with the members of ones own community. There was endless  joking and laughing! 


To sum it all, I think what we encountered in Jammu was  beyond our 
expectations, a tremendous and deep felt desire to restore the  broken 
relationships and the way of life that has been lost. People are  cautiously, 
willing to explore ... because the stake is worth every bit of  effort.



      
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