Killing of Kashmiri Pandits-Past and Present
At the end of February this year, once again a Kashmiri Hindu Pandit got killed in Kashmir. The Hindu Pandit named Sanjay Sharma worked as a security personnel at a local A.T.M. It is worth mentioning that his family did not leave Kashmir even in the 90s of the last century and were secure. But now, when the BJP government is claiming that peace has returned to Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370, this incident happened. This is the first incident of murder this year. Naturally, the Kashmiri Pandits are not only suffering from insecurity, they are also annoyed with the government.They are stating that, while the attacks of the terrorists are continuing the government claims that the situation in Kashmir has returned to normal. It is also being seen that the communal propaganda that is being spread that only Kashmiri Pandits are targets of such terrorist attacks is not the actual case. Two days before this incident, a Muslim man named Asif Gani was also attacked though he survived. Last year in the month of January Asif Gani?s father was killed by terrorists. Additional Director General of Kashmir Police, Vijay Kumar, told a reporter of The Outlook that a total of 29 people died in terrorist attacks last year, 2022. Among them, 21 are locals and 8 are from other provinces. Of these 21 locals, 6 were Hindus, including 3 Kashmiri Pandits, while the remaining 15 were from the Muslim community. It is evident from this information that people from both Hindu and Muslim communities have been victims of by terrorist attacks. In this context, it may also be mentioned that the police also reported 172 terrorists have been killed in encounters last year1. Present Lieutenant Governor of Kashmir i.e. LG Manoj Sinha himself has said that these events should not be viewed from a communal perspective, since many people from other communities are also dying.
Hence, it is clear from their words that, the way the Central government and some radical Hindutva organizations have been picturing the events in Kashmir as Muslim versus Hindu community, is untrue. It is better to say that now they are forced to admit the truth. Actually, since the beginning, the Indian government has always tried to portray the protests of the Muslim-majority Kashmiri people in false colours of communalism. Various Central governments and their parties, especially the radical Hindutva organizations including the BJP, have tried to create a communal atmosphere throughout India with this propaganda earlier also and even today. Now, it is clear from LG's words that continuous promotion of Kashmir incidents on communal lines by several Central Governments was fallacious.
The Kashmiri people's struggle started with the struggle of Kashmiri nationality. It was not a fruit of communalism. The word Kashmiriyat was of immense important to all Kashmiris irrespective of whether they were Hindus or Muslims. Subsequently, a politics of polarisation and division started through various incidents. Until the 80s-90s of the last century, the Kashmiri people, regardless of their Hindu or Muslim identity, fought with the ruling class of India for their demands. In the next phases, attempts were made by the Indian state as well as by some fundamentalist organizations to divert the anger of the people of Kashmir and divide them under the guise of religion. As a result, it became easier to suppress the anger. Not only that, it also became easy to create a communal environment in the entire country with the help of this. The naked manifestation of which was seen in Kashmir in the 1990s.
After 1987, when the movement in Kashmir again took a serious turn, the Indian army used severe repression to suppress the movement. A lot of people died, and most of them were Muslims due to their populational majority. Muslim fundamentalists also did not spare this opportunity and provocative statements started from their side as well. Using this opportunity, the provincial government was dissolved by the Indian state followed by the imposition of president's rule, and Jagmohan was appointed as LG. In the meantime, politics of murder started and terrorist organizations also became active. As a result, it was an easy opportunity to label the situation in Kashmir as communal. Jagmohan used that as a tool to insist that the Kashmiri Pandits were being killed, and on the pretext of their protection they were pushed and prodded to leave Kashmir. Although till then, Hindus and Muslims jointly endeavoured to make a peace initiative. But, Jagmohan discouraged them and created a situation of fear among the Kashmiri Hindu Pandits, compelling them to leave Kashmir. There was widespread propaganda that Kashmiri Pandits were being massacred. The number of Kashmiris who have died at the hands of the army or the police is many times more than this, and many of them were ordinary innocent people. Even the media reports show that people who have died in terrorist attacks, constitute more Muslims than Hindus. Few such reports are being mentioned below:
· In a report of Times of India in 1993, according to official sources, militants killed 1,585 people between January 1990 and October 1992. Among them, 981 are Muslims, 218 are Hindus, 23 are Sikhs and 363 are security personnel.
· According to a research by the Strategic Foresight Group, 29 Muslims were killed in militant violence in 1988. There are no reports of any Hindus being killed.
· In 1989, 6 Hindus and 73 Muslims were killed and in 1990, 177 Hindus and 679 Muslims were killed.
· In 1991, 34 killings of Hindus and 549 of Muslims were recorded2.
Then, why Jagmohan asked only Hindus to leave Kashmir on the pretext of killing? It is clear from the data that people from both the communities were killed by the terrorists at that time. And if the number of Muslim people killed by army is added to this, a grim picture emerges. So the question is why did Jagmohan do it? Actually, by doing this, the administration succeeded in two objectives--one, is to create an anti-Muslim communal atmosphere throughout India. The result of which we are still borne by us. Number two is that it became easier for the government to unleash the state repression. The government did not have to think much about firing on millions of people marching. Let's not talk about it. What we want to say is, what LG Manoj Sinha is saying today, was it not true even then? At least that's what the facts say. Obviously Jagmohan's reason for not speaking out the truth is firstly to separate Kashmiris from the rest of the people of India in the name of communalism and to carry out brutal repression of the movement of Kashmiris and secondly, to increase the communal polarisation throughout India thus further vitiating the atmosphere of communal hatred. Today, when Article 370 has been abandoned and Kashmir has been brought directly under the rule of Central government, their previous campaign has boomeranged. Hence, they are speaking in a different tone.
References
2. https://sabrang.com/cc/archive/2005/jan05/cover.html
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