An agreement, popularly known as the 1975 Indira-Sheikh Accord, was signed between Kashmiri politician Sheikh Abdullah and then Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi. A large number settled in the Jammu Division of the State and the National Capital Region of India. Threats from Islamist militants in the Valley forced around 70,000 Pandit families comprising over 350,000 women, men, and children to flee their homes in the weeks and months that followed. Sheth, the former director of the Center for the Study of Developing Societies in India (CSDS), lists Indian communities that constituted the middle class and were traditionally "Urban and professional" (following professions like doctors, lawyers, teachers, engineers, etc.) At events in cities in India and abroad to mark their exodus, Pandits pledged to return home. [33] The nature of the planned exodus has remain controversial, with the involvement of then Governor Jagmohan in organising a clandestine exodus been a subject of controversy. Raising the issue later during Zero Hour, BJP member Sunil Kumar Singh demanded that the government start a probe into the "large scale atrocities" committed on Hindus and Sikhs in Kashmir from 1980 to 1990, especially in the period between 1984 to 1989 when Rajiv Gandhi was the prime minister, and culprits be punished. Swamy's remarks come in the midst of a controversy over the movie 'The Kashmir A section of Kashmiri Muslim youth was radicalised, armed, and tutored in Islamic fundamentalism. Much has changed in Jammu and Kashmir. [42] The local organisation of pandits in Kashmir, Kashmir Pandit Sangharsh Samiti after carrying out a survey in 2008 and 2009, said that 399 Kashmiri Pandits were killed by insurgents from 1990 to 2011 with 75% of them being killed during the first year of the Kashmiri insurgency. Click here to subscribe for full access. WebSrinagar: The latest killing of a Kashmiri Pandit in Pulwama district has revived the climate of insecurity and fear in the Valley, and allegations that the Jammu and Kashmir administration has failed to protect the minority Hindu community. Several moved to other cities in India and abroad, where they have done well professionally. Jammu and Kashmir being the only Muslim majority state in whole of India, the protection of minorities and their living peacefully, in their homeland, is crucial for India to remain as a Secular Democratic State. Muslims argue that by arranging for buses to transport Pandits out of the Valley, Jagmohan facilitated their flight, paving the way for the Indian security forces to launch an all-out military offensive against Muslims. 1,168-crore package in 2008 by the UPA government. It sent shock waves through the Pandit community. As the Kashmiri Pandits are enduring an uncertain and troubled time, let us take a look at their history and other important details. He announced that if they chose to stay back, he would not be able to guarantee their safety. 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Short answer: Because of carelessness, lack of courage/desire and vote-bank politics of State and Central government. Long Answer: To know the reas Islamist militants began targeting Kashmiri Hindus - upper-caste Pandits - who were a minority group, in the 1990s. A lot has changed since then but the more things change the more they remain the same. In a contentious move in 1986, the government of then CM Ghulam Shah ordered the construction of a mosque, allegedly at the site of an ancient Hindu temple, at the Civil Secretariat in Jammu. Habibullah denied this and told them that the Pandits could hardly be expected to stay when every mosque was blaring threats and members of their community had been murdered. Kashmiri Pandit Exodus 2022: I dont see myself going back to Valley again A number of Pandits working in Kashmir under the prime minister employment scheme have left the Valley after some of them were selectively targeted and killed by terrorists Samriddhi Sakunia June 19, 2022 07:04:54 IST An Indian paramilitary soldier takes a selfie as Kashmiri Hindu devotees known as pandits offer prayers during the annual festival at the Kheer Bhawani temple in Tul Mul, outskirts of Srinagar, India, June 20, 2018. Congress' leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Monday sought to corner the ruling BJP over the exodus of minorities from Kashmir in 1990s, saying then Leader of Opposition Rajiv Gandhi had urged the then VP Singh government to intervene and stop the "atrocities" being committed on Kashmiri Pandits and Sikhs. With hastily packed belongings and terror in their hearts, Kashmiri Pandits who survived the night fled the Valley on 20 January morning and the weeks that followed, becoming refugees in their homeland. However, Farooq Abdullah's first stint as chief minister was short-lived; he was deseated after an Indira Gandhi-led political coup in 1984. 22 Mar 2022. [71] Frederick J. Simoons says that according to some reports, Kashmiri Pandits also consume fish as part of their diet. It has been a long time since somebody has edited this article and is pending for moderation. Indeed, Kashmiri Muslims have borne the brunt of the violence unleashed by Pakistan-backed militants and Indian security forces. In the lead-up to the events of 1990, Kashmir was in ferment. At the minimum level, these terms would include security to life and property and, at a broader level, a consensual rehabilitation scheme.[ref]. A majority of the Pandit refugees still live in refugee camps with spiralling health and economic problems. ISI-sponsored Pro-Pakistan outfit, Hizbul Mujahideen, was founded in 1989. [58] and the Anantnag district, where they were 7.84 percent of the population. "We cannot go back in the conditions prevailing in Kashmir. It appears to have archaic features that suggest it is the oldest form of Kashmiri folk singing. Waves of panic hit the community, especially after a local newspaper published an anonymous message, allegedly from the Hizb-ul Mujahideen, asking Pandits to leave. With the Indian government revoking Article 370 of the constitution in August 2019, Jammu and Kashmir has been deprived of its special status of limited autonomy. [56][57] They were distributed into the two districts of Valley, the Baramulla district, where Hindus constituted 2.1 percent of the population; 12,919 Hindus out of 612,428 total. The Indian Express website has been rated GREEN for its credibility and trustworthiness by Newsguard, a global service that rates news sources for their journalistic standards. An eye-witness report by two investigative journalists on the ground in Prato, Italy. The rigged election of 1987 after which Abdullah formed the government was a turning point at which militants took the upper hand. They have not done so because the situation in the Valley remains unstable and they fear a risk to their lives. Speeches were made extolling Pakistan and the supremacy of Islam, and against Hinduism. [36][37], Some Hindus across India tried to help the Pandits. Sanjay Kumar, the father of three minor children who worked as a bank security guard, was shot dead in Achan ad lite Experience $ 19.99 $ 19.99 /year. The Hizbul Mujahideen put up posters ordering all Hindus to leave the Valley and lists with names of Pandits to be eliminated were circulated, Dhar recalled. Most of the Kashmiris fled during late hours, under the cover of the night. This list included the Kashmiri Pandits, the Nagar Brahmins from Gujarat; the South Indian Brahmins; the Punjabi Khatris, and Kayasthas from northern India; Chitpawans and CKPs (Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhus) from Maharashtra; the Probasi and the Bhadralok Bengalis; the Parsis and the upper crusts of Muslim and Christian communities. It is an undeniable fact that the same sentiments that led to the ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Hindus are very much alive and thriving today. A lot has changed since then but the more things change the more they remain the same. The Kashmiri Muslims were instructed to identify Pandit homes so they could be systematically targeted for conversion or killing. Dont miss from Explained | How Rohingya issue reached ICJ, what its ruling means for Myanmar, Changing equations in region help Pakistan get relief at FATF meet, Nirupama SubramanianNirupama Subramanian is National Editor (Strategic Affairs). According to some estimates, notably by the Kashmiri Pandit Sangharsh Samiti (KPSS), of 75,343 Kashmiri Pandit families in January 1990, more than 70,000 fled between 1990 and 1992. By then, the Pandits had begun to be targeted. The exodus of people from Kashmir Valley began only after then Jammu and Kashmir governor Jagmohan asked them, especially Kashmiri Pandits and Sikhs, to leave, saying he would not be able to protect them, Chowdhury said in Lok Sabha while raising the issue during Zero Hour. In this exclusive interview, he recalls the events as they truly unfolded and not how they have been over dramatised and presented in the film The Kashmir Files which, he fears, aims Anti-India sentiment has undergone changes not just in its intensity but the way it is articulated. Southeast Many Pandits, especially the youth, feel little emotional or cultural connect to their Kashmiri heritage and homeland. In a door-to-door mission, Hindu homes were attacked, families killed, and many women raped by militants. At that time, Mr Chowdhury said, the then Congress president and Leader of Opposition Rajiv Gandhi had raised his voice against the exodus of people from Kashmir, and asked the then government to stop it "anyhow", warning that people of the country would not accept it. It was replaced by Urdu in 1889 during the Dogra rule. A township of two-room tenements called Jagti was built in Jammu in the last decade to house 4,000-5,000 Pandit families who remained there. A Kashmiri Pandit refugee camp in Jammu. WebGenocide of Kashmiri Pandits. Brahmins were at that time generally being offered grants of land in other areas by rulers seeking to utilise the traditionally high literacy and general education of the community, as well as the legitimacy conferred upon them by association. And the Prime Minister has said that the truth is coming out. Asia, South A governor of this administration was ruling in Jammu and Kashmir. for Us, opposition to such Pandit-only settlements. [28], They began to leave in much greater numbers in the 1990s during the eruption of militancy, following persecution and threats by radical Islamists and militants. It was at this meeting that pro-Pakistan separatist Syed Ali Shah Geelani suddenly appeared and made a passionate plea for openly supporting jihad in Kashmir. [23], D.L. The disturbances within the social fabric of the Valley was met with some excesses from the Indian security forces. A large number of Hindu houses were attacked, shops looted, and temples vandalised in Vanpoh, Anantnag, and Sopore, among others. Kashmiri Hindus find themselves reliving the fear of the early 1990s amid a wave of targeted killings, but the government is keen to prevent another exodus. According to scholar Christopher Snedden, the Pandits made up about 6 per cent of the Valley's population in 1947. The deadly attack on security forces in Indian Kashmir has Kashmiris in the rest of India afraid for their safety. Get briefed on the story of the week, and developing stories to watch across the Asia-Pacific. Consequently, riots broke out in Jammu and Kashmir. But as the situation in Kashmir spiralled into a full-blown militancy, return began to look remote if not impossible. On August 5, 2019, when the government did away with special status to J&K, among the loudest to cheer were Kashmiri Pandits, who saw it as a long pending revenge for what had happened to them three decades ago. 4000+ stories. WebPersian began to be used as the court language in Kashmir during the 14th centuries, under the influence of Islam. Anantnag, the constituency of then Congress leader Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, bore the brunt of the violence. The Pandits insist that they will return to the Valley only when they are able to determine that the situation is conducive to their safety. The Exodus of Kashmiri Pandits Ghulam Mohammad Shah came into power after snatching the position from his brother-in-law Farooq Abdullah and became On January 19, Kashmiri Pandits across the world observed Holocaust Day. It was on that day 30 years ago that the Pandit exodus from the Kashmir Valley began. [30] Other authors have suggested a higher figure for the exodus, ranging from the entire population of over 150,000,[31] to 190,000 of a total Pandit population of 200,000,[32] to a number as high as 800,000. That night, the politically-disturbed Valley reverberated with war cries, communal calls, and threats to Pandits. Some 800 families have remained in Speaking truth to power requires allies like you. BJP leader Subramanian Swamy on Saturday said it was not the then chief minister Farooq Abdullah, but the then prime minister VP Singh and his home minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, that were responsible for the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley. According to some estimates, notably by the Kashmiri Pandit Sangharsh Samiti (KPSS), of 75,343 Kashmiri Pandit families in January 1990, more than 70,000 fled between 1990 and 1992. Historical India is an opensource community based project dedicated to the history of Greater India. [43][44], The exiled community had hoped to return after the situation improved. Leaders of Jammu and Kashmir knew earlier what was going to happen within few weeks. PTI Vivek Agnihotris The Kashmir Files, a movie that delves into the 1990 exodus of lakhs of JKLF targeted a Kashmiri Hindu for the first time on 14 September 1989, when they killed Tika Lal Taploo, a lawyer and a prominent leader of Bharatiya Janata Party in Jammu and Kashmir, in front of several eyewitnesses. Thirty years after they fled their homes in the Valley, an older generation of Kashmiri Pandits continue to yearn for the lives they led before the exodus. The LG administration and the central government are primarily concerned with addressing security problems. Twenty-four Hindus, including two children, were lined up outside their houses and shot dead by terrorists who belonged to the outfit, Lashkar-e-Taiba. Indian forces are specially ordered to keep high surveillance on Kashmir and Kashmiris. Pandits have generally been in favor of Kashmirs closer integration with India. By then, the Farooq Abdullah government had been dismissed and Governors Rule imposed. A number of such errors mar Agnihotri's film, which has been called out for its communal bias. Militancy was gathering momentum and anti-India sentiments were running strong. 30 years after they were forced to flee, the return of Hindu Pandits to the Kashmir Valley remains a distant dream. It marked a shift in the motivations behind the militancy in Kashmir hitherto driven primarily be a separatist sentiment, it now took a more communal colour and moved towards jihad. [65] The Mata Kheerbhawani[66] temple shrine in Srinagar, considered one of the holiest Hindu shrines, saw the largest gathering of Kashmiri Pandits in the Kashmir valley in 2012. "These terrorists played a role in genocide.nation wants to know," he said. Yearly Plan. Indian forces are specially ordered to keep high surveillance on Kashmir and Kashmiris. [15], A historically contested region, Northern India was subject to attack from Turkic and Arab regimes from the eighth century onwards, but they generally ignored the mountain-circled Kashmir Valley in favour of easier pickings elsewhere. In the decades since the Pandit exodus, Kashmir has seen immense bloodshed. The fleeing Pandits did not think they would never return to the Valley. We are a group of patriots who love our motherland - Bharat Mata! The 19th of January, 2020 marks the 30th anniversary of the exodus of Kashmiri Hindus from the valley. But within two years, the Centre broke up the NC, and installed dissident Ghulam Mohammed Shah as Chief Minister. In 1986, as opposition to the Shah government grew, Rajiv Gandhi resurrected Farooq Abdullah, who became CM once again. 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