Kashmiri Pandits, who stayed on despite mass exodus of 90s, feel neglected in their homeland

Wearing a long, olive green pheran (Kashmiri gown) with a brown woollen cap and a kangri (traditional Kashmiri firepot) in hand, Ashok Kumar Pandit was heading towards his home for a tea break. Ashok, in his 60s, is a village head of Batpora, Devsar in South Kashmir’s Kulgam district who with his family has spent his entire life in Kashmir. He is one among the hundreds of Kashmiri Pandit families who preferred to live in their homeland despite a mass exodus of Kashmiri Pandits (Hindus) way back in 1990. Ashok said that there were more than 42 families in his village before the exodus but was left with just four families who didn’t migrate and decided to stay.

“In 1990, almost 38 families one after another migrated to Jammu and other parts of India feeling a life threat,” he said. “We have had lived a normal life with our Muslim neighbours and never faced any such untoward circumstances,” Ashok said.

Ashok lives a happy life with his wife, Sweety Kumari and his two sons, Rahul and Rohit. Ashok, with his son Rohit, is running a provisional store and a Khidmat Centre in the main market of their village, and his other son Rahul is a government employee.

Ashok defined the mass exodus in three categories. He said that one group comprised the people who had done something wrong with others, especially Muslims, and then got scared that any of the victim’s kin may turn into a militant and come for revenge.

He said the second group was rich and didn’t want to lose their property and money in the hands of militants and preferred to flee for that reason. The third category had nothing to lose. They were poor and had no or fewer assets. They found migration an opportunity to get monthly relief and other incentives from the government, which were meant for Pandit migrants.

“Apart from these three categories, people like us incurred much loss. On one hand, we faced the most untoward situations, and on the other, we have been totally ignored by the government,” said Sweety. “The migrant Pandits got every kind of relief and jobs, but we were never registered for such benefits despite belonging to the same minority community,” she added.

Sweety said that the situation was altogether the same for her. “My family didn’t choose to migrate, and when I got married in 1992, my in-laws were of the same kind of family,” she said.

Kashmiri Pandit exodus

The exodus of Kashmiri Hindus, also called “Kashmiri Pandits”, is the large-scale migration from Kashmir Valley in 1990. In 1989 an unprecedented insurgency began in Kashmir. The Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) stepped up its activities, and the hanging of the militant leader Maqbool Bhat in 1984 added to the sense of foreboding. In Anantnag, the constituency of Congress leader Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, there was a series of attacks on Hindu temples and shops and properties of Kashmiri Pandits, which were blamed on militants.

By then, the Pandits had begun to be targeted. JKLF initiated armed insurgency with the outright support of ISI. A BJP leader Tika Lal Taploo was killed right outside his residence on 14 September 1989. Barely three weeks later, retired judge Nikalanth Ganjoo was killed in broad daylight. Coincidentally justice Ganjoo had ruled the death sentence to Maqbool Bhat, one of the founding leaders of JKLF.

According to reports, newspapers, posters and mosques issued declarations asking Kashmiri Pandits to leave Kashmir. On the night of 19 January 1990, the valley was reverberating with war-cries of extremists and pro-Pakistan slogans raised by a huge crowd relayed through loudspeakers.

Tens of thousands of Kashmiri Muslims, including young, old, children and women, poured into the streets, shouting “death to India”. The slogans continued till morning, making it clear to the Pandits that they were in the line of fire.

On 13 February 1990, Lassa Kaul, the Station Director of Doordarshan Srinagar, was shot dead. Fear-stricken, the hapless Pandits had no option but to leave their old homeland, properties, jobs, farms, and temples. According to several scholars, approximately 100,000 of an estimated Kashmiri Pandit population of 140,000 left in the span of a few weeks in February–March 1990, and only around 3,600 families stayed back.

At the time of their exodus, Kashmiri Pandits initially moved to the Jammu Division, where they lived in refugee camps. As the exile lasted longer, many displaced Pandits who were in the urban elite were able to find jobs in other parts of India, but those in the lower-middle-class, especially those from rural areas, languished longer in refugee camps, with some living in poverty.

South Kashmir: A hub of militancy and Jamaat-e-Islami

Albeit all the villages in South Kashmir have remained the favourite place of militants and Jamaat-e-Islami (the extremist sect of Muslims), still the hundreds of Kashmiri Pandits never felt any threat from such elements. During the last three decades, South Kashmir has witnessed many volatile situations, militant attacks, mass protests, and one of the major incidents was the killing of Burhan Wani. After killing Burhan Wani by security forces, the valley erupted with violent protests in which dozens of civilians lost their lives, hundreds of civilians, policemen, and other security personnel were injured. The months-long violent situation in Kashmir was another tough time for the Kashmiri Pandits living in the villages of South Kashmir.

“The situation was bad at the time of Burhan’s killing. We were scared but the situation improved without any harm to us and our property,” said Chaman Lal Bhat from Manigam, Kulipora in South Kashmir. Chaman Lal, 59, is one of the three families who didn’t migrate during the last three decades.

Bhat lives with his wife, children and with his widow sister Bimla. He is a farmer by profession and has continued this profession for the sustenance of his family.

“Many of our neighbours migrated in 1990, but we didn’t opt for that,” Bhat said. “The mass exodus happened in February and March, and I chose to be busy in my agricultural field rather than thinking about the situation,” he added.

Chaman Lal, according to him, has never faced any threat of killing. “I don’t know what happened with others. There are black sheep in every community, and we can blame the whole community for the misdeeds of few persons,” Bhat said.

Property losses

At the time of the exodus, thousands of Kashmiri Pandits abandoned their houses and other properties. After a few years majority of the Pandits sold their properties at lower prices due to the uncertainty of the situation. The people who sold their properties in Kashmir purchased the houses and lands in Jammu and other parts of India. But the rest of the properties are in shabby conditions.

“The people who sold their properties at the right time were saved, and they instead purchased properties at other places,” said Chaman Lal and added, “I don’t think it was a bad decision to sell the properties, and their new properties have proportionally increased in their values.”

Government Initiatives

The Jammu and Kashmir administration claimed to have restored land belonging to 610 pandit migrants in the past five years. Under the Jammu and Kashmir Migrant Immovable Property (Preservation, Protection and Restraint on Distress Sales) Act, 1997, district magistrates (DMs) of concerned districts in Jammu and Kashmir are the legal custodians of the immovable properties of migrants. The DMs are further empowered to take all steps to preserve and protect such properties. The Government of Jammu and Kashmir has launched a portal on 7 September 2021 to address the grievances of Kashmiri migrants related to immovable properties and community assets.

To bring back the migrated Kashmiri Pandits, the government had sanctioned the construction of 6,000 transit accommodations in Kashmir Valley at an estimated cost of Rs 920 crore to provide accommodation to employed Kashmiri migrants.

Mohan Lal Koul, a 70-year-old Kashmiri Pandit, has nothing to do other than farming. His is one of the three families at Tilwanpora, Adigam of South Kashmir’s Kulgam district.

Mohan Lal is living with his two sons and is engaged in farming. He alleged that the government only took care of the migrant Kashmir Pandits and ignored the condition of the people like him.

“It was better to migrate than staying here as all the relief packages are meant for the Pandit migrants,” said Koul. He said that the government is taking all the initiatives to bring back the migrated Kashmir Pandits and are doing various things to lure them but what the people who have been living here for the last many decades.

“We never got any relief either our children got any special job opportunity when the government has/had announced various special packages for the migrant Pandits,” said Koul. “I am not against anyone but doesn’t the government have any responsibility for us as we belong to the same community,” he said.

Koul said that the people of Kashmir are peaceful, and what happened in the past is past. He suggested that all the Kashmiri Pandits who have the properties here should return without any delay. “We have been living here for many decades, and we didn’t face any untoward circumstance. I think the people are giving an unnecessary hype to the situation and want to continue with the free packages and reliefs,” alleged Koul.

While narrating the scenario of the 1990 exodus, Koul said that the atmosphere was scary and mass migration of Kashmir Pandits was taking place. “We too were suggested by our Pandit neighbours to flee from the valley, but we didn’t take any step in haste and assessed the situation. The Muslims in our village came to our home and encouraged us to stay and which minimised our fear,” he said.

“The only unfortunate thing is that our sons and daughters are unemployed despite being educated. We would wish that we should be considered as part of the Pandit community and should be given all the benefits which the migrants are getting,” said Koul.

Security of Kashmiri Pandits

Though many times, the government took steps to provide security to the Kashmiri Pandits in various areas of Kashmir, there is visible police protection at multiple community centres and Pandit colonies in Srinagar City, including Humhama and Abi Guzar Srinagar. Still, in most of the villages, the situation is different. The Pandits living in rural areas have refused police protection, showing no need for that.

“We had been asked by police to take protection but why do we need it when we don’t feel any threat?” asked Chaman Lal. “The protection and the presence of police is itself a threat, and we feel safer with our neighbours and Muslim brothers than under police protection,” he said.

“We celebrate our festivals with our villagers and share our sorrows as well. We have maintained our trust and brotherhood what our forefathers had earned,” Bhat added.

Permanent Kashmiri Pandit families in Kashmir

Sanjay Tickoo, president of the Kashmiri Pandit Sangharsh Samiti (KPSS said there are 808 families with 3,600 people living in entire Kashmir who didn’t migrate during the last three decades. The majority of these families, especially in rural areas, have refused any police protection.

Eighty Kashmiri Pandit and Rajput families live in south Kashmir’s Kulgam district and 16 others in rented accommodation.

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Ajaz Rashid