Kashmiri Pandit Exodus – Burning Issues

Table of Contents

Exodus

Kashmiri Pandits , a Hindu minority living in the region of Kashmir were forced to leave their from early 1990 onwards, due to threats from Islamic radicals and militants.
Their ‘overnight’ exodus came as a humanitarian tragedy as lakhs of pandits lost their homes, jobs, land and were (some still are) forced to live like refugees in their own country without proper housing and other facilities.

1982 – Sheikh Abdullah died , leaving the leadership of the National Conference passed on to his son Farooq Abdullah.
1983 – NC led by Farooq Abdullah won the assembly elections.

July 1984 – Just 8 months into the term, the Abdullah govt was brought down by Congress + Ghulam Mohammad Shah
Shah’s administration, which did not have people’s mandate, turned to Islamists and opponents of Indian state.
Many incidents/riots were reported in various areas where Kashmiri Hindus were killed and their properties and temples damaged or destroyed.
Rajiv Gandhi (centre) with Farooq Abdullah (left) and Mufti Mohammad Sayeed (right) in 1986

Governor’s rule was imposed in March 1986 when the Congress withdrew support to G.M. Shah
The Farooq-Rajiv accord was signed in December 1986, and Farooq Abdullah was reappointed Chief Minister.
The March 1987 Assembly election, contested jointly by the National Conference and Congress, went down in Kashmir history as one of the most fraudulent with allegations of open rigging.

Historically, most of Kashmir had a Sufi tradition of Islam with Hindus thriving in a majority Muslim population.
But during this time period(1980s) Islamization of Kashmir began –

Pro Independence organisations like JKLF and the pro-Pakistan Islamist groups including Jamaat-e-Islami Kashmir mobilised the fast growing anti-Indian sentiments among the Kashmiri population.

The defeat of Muslim United Front despite that widespread popularity led to further disenchantment and radicalization in the valley.
The Kashmiri militants killed anyone who openly expressed pro-India policies.
Kashmiri Pandits were targeted specifically.
By 1988, insurgency had set in, with open demands of Independence and Islamic rule in Kashmir being voiced on the streets by JKLF,etc

Benazir Bhutto, the Prime minister made many speeches promoting ‘Jihad’ in Kashmir and extolling young Kashmiris to fight ‘India’.
Hundreds of young Islamic militants were recruited from the madarsas to do the ISI’s dirty work in Kashmir.

14 September 1989 – Militants killed Pandit Tika Lal Taploo, an advocate and a prominent local leader of BJP
2 October 1989 – Pandit Nilkanth Ganjoo, a retired judge (who had sentenced the JKLF founder Maqbool Bhat to death in 1984) was shot dead
December 1989 – Central Govt released 5 terrorists to secure the daughter of Home minister Sayeed. Militants were emboldened multifold due to this.
27 December 1989- Journalist-lawyer Prem Nath Bhat was shot dead in Anantnag

Mufti Mohd Sayeed, now a member of VP Singh’s govt (1989-1990) ‘advised’ the PM to appoint Jagmohan as Governor again (to dismiss the Farooq govt.)
19 January 1990 – Jagmohan reached Jammu, but could not reach Srinagar du to inclement weather
CM Farooq Abdullah resigned the same day in protest against Jagmohan’s appointment

On January 04, 1990, local Urdu newspapers published a press release issued by Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, asking all Pandits to leave the Valley immediately.
Masked men carrying AK 47s took out military-type marches openly, threatening Pandits to leave .
Hit lists of Pandits were in circulation.
Waves of panic hit the community
Bomb explosions and sporadic firing by militants became a daily occurrence.
Explosive and inflammatory speeches were being broadcast from the public address systems of the mosques .

On the evening of 19 January 1990, matters came to a head.
Highly provocative, communal and threatening slogans were raised all across the valley in unified and ‘planned’ manner
Speeches were made extolling Pakistan , supremacy of Islam, against Hinduism and asking the Pandits to leave.
The Kashmiri Pandit community decided to leave.
On January 20, the first stream began leaving the Valley with hastily packed belongings in whatever transport they could find.
A second, larger wave left in March and April, after more Pandits were killed.
13 February 1990 – Lassa Kaul, Station Director of Srinagar Doordarshan, was shot dead.

According to the accounts of Pandits who fled, many women were kidnapped, raped and murdered, throughout the time of exodus.
Many killings took place even during 1991 – 2004
Different accounts give different statistics of the total number of Kashmiri Pandits who fled ~1 to 3 lakh .
Official government date – 219 KPs were killed in the region between 1989 and 2004.
Other sources – 700/800 killed
According to the Kashmiri Pandit Sangharsh Samiti (KPSS), of 75,343 Kashmiri Pandit families living in Kashmir in January 1990, more than 70,000 fled between 1990 and 1992.
The flight continued until 2000.
800 families have remained in the Valley through these three decades.

Most Pandits fled to Jammu.
Their homes in the valley were either occupied by squatters or sold at throwaway
A mostly educated, affluent, middle-class community found itself living in makeshift tents in squalid, filthy camps in Jammu
Some went to Delhi and other cities.