[Reader-list] India-Pakistan Road Map to Peace: Insult to Indian Patriots by Kamal Hak

[Aditya Raj Kaul]

*India-Pakistan Road Map to Peace: Insult to Indian Patriots        *  *
Kamal Hak*




 The 150-odd gathering in the India International Centre Auditorium was
oblivious of the irony of the situation. While Yaseen Malik, self-proclaimed
father of religious terrorism in Kashmir, was threatening the nation with a
return to arms, a couple of highly agitated Kashmiri Pandits outside were
inhumanly dragged into police custody. Their fault? They were trying to be
mirrors to reflect the failure of Indian civil society towards their
internal displacement in the land.



In my heart of hearts, I was glad Rajinder Sachar provided us an opportunity
to give vent to our pent-up frustrations. Listening to Sachar’s apologetic
introduction on ‘Indian treachery in annexing Kashmir’ (yes, it’s true, he
said that), I found reasons for continuing my struggle for a separate
homeland in Kashmir.



Yaseen Malik was not destined to have it easy that day. This group of young
displaced Kashmiri Hindu boys and girls were determined to make the event
memorable for him. He looked ruffled. As somebody pointed out, no man would
like to be damned as a ‘ra---t’ in the presence of his wife. Later, his
repeated attempts to explain his position clearly betrayed his discomfort
and invited more protests.



I resisted a strong temptation to be adventurous. Perhaps the spectacle of
young boys and girls, many of whom might not have set foot in the lost
homeland even once, taking over the baton of our struggle had a calming
effect on my nerves. I sat down patiently to listen to the trash being
blared out from the dais. An elderly lady sitting to my right with a
snobbish expression on her wrinkled but botoxed face declared the protestors
‘oxymorons’. I was amused and felt sorry for her; later I discovered she was
part of the organizing team.



Yaseen was boring. His articulation is more self-aggrandizement, distortion
of facts and constructed ideology. He laid claim to five thousand years of
Kashmir history and dumped Kashmiri Pandits as only a small class of
society. A small section of the audience with preconceived notions nodded in
approval. He proceeded to insult displaced Kashmiri Pandits by accusing the
protestors of being ‘paid whipping boys of Indian intelligence agencies’.
This evoked another strong reaction from the protestors. This prompted me to
look towards the young boys and girls shouting at the top of their voices.
Sudden realization dawned…



The parents of most of the youngsters expressing anger at the VIP treatment
being accorded to the person responsible for rendering them refugees in
their own country are personally known to me. Yaseen Malik dubbed them
members of an affluent section of Kashmiri Pandits. This might be an
exaggeration. That these youngsters belong to families that have done well
during the last twenty years can’t be denied. But was it so always?



Many of these young persons were either not born or were mere toddlers when
the Malik-led JKLF unleashed a campaign of terror against their families.
The process of selective killings of Pandits reached its climax with a mass
frenzy created through an eruption via thousands of mosques dotting the
Kashmir landscape during the night of 19 January 1990. And while the boorish
section of the audience were enjoying their cushy lives in India and abroad,
the parents of these young persons were abandoning their homes and ancestral
homeland in the stealth of dark winter nights. I still shudder at the memory
of those initial years when most of us struggled to provide some semblance
of human existence to our children and parents. I wish Yaseen Malik had seen
us living six to eight persons in 8ft by 8ft rooms without basic amenities.



Today Kashmiri leaders and their cohorts in India lament the tragedy of the
families who fell to the bullets of militants or security forces. I wish
they were there with us when most of our parents and grandparents died a
thousand deaths before succumbing to heat-strokes, mosquito bites,
stress-related diseases, unnatural accidents and unfulfilled longing for
their lost homes.



At times I pity Yaseen Malik’s intellect and laugh at his idiotic
articulation. For him, Kashmiri Pandits living in Delhi need not be taken
seriously as they drive their own cars and live in air-conditioned homes.
The oxymoron in him forgets Kashmiri Pandits, unlike his own community, have
traditionally valued only two things – their own roof over their heads and
their children’s education. Malik, though aware of this fact, doesn’t allow
his politics to admit it. I have a strong conviction that Malik and his ilk
can’t reconcile with the survival and prosperity of displaced Pandits. It
would have mightily pleased them to see Pandits begging on the roads of the
Indian plains.



The self-declared intellectuals sitting in the auditorium and frowning at
the protestors would have done well to understand the sociology of the
Kashmiri Pandit community. They would have understood how even under
extremely hostile circumstances, the Pandits not only survived, but most
even prospered. I wish they knew *we are because we believe*.



We may not eat one meal, but we will not deprive our children the best
education. Our success is due to this inherent quality. The Maliks and
Sachars of this world have no right to deny us the claim on our homeland
because we came to protest in our own cars. Unlike those whose millions have
accrued from liberal contributions through Indian peace interlocutors,
Pakistani masters, and other dubious sources, Kashmiri Pandits have shed
their own blood and sweat for their little accumulations. While Yaseen shows
his discomfort at the prosperity of Pandits, his sympathetic audience should
have known that displaced Kashmiri Pandits collectively pay enough Income
Tax to feed all the poor families in the Valley.



Yaseen Malik finished his speech with threats of returning to militancy and
no achievable solutions to offer. He was clearly shaken by the protestors
accusing him of the alleged rape and murder of a Kashmiri Pandit girl.
Meanwhile, a young person in a black jacket came up to me and asked:

-        “Sir, don’t you think it is unfair to brand him as ra---t?”

-        “Why?” I counter question.

-        “Because you can’t prove it,” he replied, almost innocently.

I decided he deserved no further attention.



The next speaker went through his speech unhindered and it was time for
summing up. Under fierce pressure of the protesting youths, Rajinder Sachar
allowed a few interventions. Further shocks awaited us. To an observation
from a Kashmiri Hindu, Sachar brazenly declared that the nation should be
grateful to those who centuries ago forced the Kashmiri Pandits out of
Kashmir. He extended a sadistic logic behind his assertion, “we would have
otherwise been deprived of persons like Nehru.” There was more commotion and
still more before the session ended.



We came out of the auditorium and decided we could not partake lunch with
the people who paid no cognizance to our geo-political aspirations. We also
did not want to give company to the biggest terrorist in the country. We
began dispersing. Some of us had a task at hand. We needed to seek the
release of friends detained earlier for objecting to the presence of a
staunch enemy of the nation in the national capital. For me the day was not
finished. A person calling himself Engineer Rashid, a sitting Kashmir MLA,
walked up to me aggressively and started a discussion.



-        “Are you Pandits aware that during the last two decades more than
80,000 Muslims have lost their lives in Kashmir?” His tone was arrogant.



I may not agree with the figures, but I can’t deny the immense human tragedy
that has befallen Kashmir. But I was in no mood to prolong the discussion.
Though the country may have failed to utilize Kashmiri Pandits in
understanding the psyche of Kashmiri Muslims, given an opportunity no one
can score in a dispassionate argument with them.



-        “Why are you lamenting the death of 80,000 Muslims?” I asked
Engineer Rashid.



-        “These people died for a cause as they wanted to be part of
Pakistan. And why should thousands of Pandits have died? They had no cause
to die for.”



Probably Rashid understood where this discussion could lead; he walked away
sheepishly.



As I was walking towards my car, I was suddenly stopped in my tracks by the
young man in the black jacket.

-        “Sir, you didn’t answer my question. How can you prove Yaseen Malik
r---d and k----d that girl?”



Impressed by his persistence, I decided to give him some hard-earned wisdom.
On enquiry, he revealed his connections with some civil liberties group (but
naturally).

-        “Have you ever heard of Bitta Karate?”

-        “No sir.”

-        “Haven’t the apologists told you about him?” He looked awkward at
his ignorance.

-        “Please ask your promoters about him and if they don’t tell you
then call me to know your answers.”

He stared at me bewildered as I walked away.



[*Bitta Karate is a Kashmiri terrorist who confessed – to a journalist on
video – to killing around 40 Kashmiri Pandits. He was arrested for his
crimes and released without conviction for want of witnesses*]



*The writer is a displaced Kashmiri Pandit living in Delhi and a senior
Panun Kashmir activist*