There are many
schools of thought on what Kashmiri Pandits should demand, or settle for. Some
people advise us to just simply return to wherever we can, in Kashmir. Some
people advise us to demand for a twin city in Srinagar and return to "New
Srinagar". Some people advise us to accept fate and continue to live in
exile. Some people demand a union territory within Kashmir where Kashmiri
Pandits can live under the constitution of India, calling this place Panun
Kashmir!
Personally, I
started blindly following the dream of going back to Panun Kashmir. However, I
want to take a step back and question my conviction - Is Panun Kashmir really
what we want? Or, is it an illogical and impractical demand that is going to
ensure that we continue to languish in exile and never return to our motherland
- our homeland? On the face of it, I feel I need a rethink. Maybe Panun Kashmir is actually a hurdle! Let me
describe why I think so.
I am a very proud
Kashmiri Pandit (KP). I am proud of our legacy, of our history that dates back
to at least 5000 years as per written records. I am sure it dates even earlier
to that. We are part of the broader Hindu community that are the aborigines of
the land called Bharata. While I take great pleasure in being a Hindu, I also
cherish that my identity is more granularly defined by being a Kashmiri Pandit.
I feel the bond with my ancestors and I am indebted to them for having kept the
community alive through the good times, the bad times, and the atrocious times!
What defines me as a
Kashmiri Pandit? Is it just the fact that I was born into a family of KPs? That
obviously is one of the essential factors. However, the other important
question is - what is that identity of mine that connects me to my ancestors,
that makes me part of the great community?
Any community
defines itself by its traditions, customs, practices, and language. I am no
different. I identify myself with my language - Kashmiri. I identify myself
with seemingly small and mundane customs like performing Herath Puza (Shivratri
Puja), Gada Bata (Offering fish to the House God), Khyechi Maavas (Offering
Meat to Yakshas), and many other such ancient rituals. I identify myself with
another set of seemingly regular practices like our wedding rituals, posh-puza
(flower ceremony as part of marriage), wanwun (traditional songs and singing
style) athgat (money paid to visiting daughters and daughters-in-law), and
more. I identify myself with the traditional dressing like pheran (Winter
gown), ladies wearing dejhor and athor (ornaments worn after marriage). I
identify myself with the fetish for typical KP food like Monji (Knol Khol),
Nadru (Lotus stem), Haakh, sotchal, (various kinds of greens) etc; and even our
typical cooking style. I identify myself with the sacred places in my homeland
- Amarnath, Ganpatyar, Hari Parvat, Zyeethyar, Shankracharya, Tulmul, Khrew,
and countless others. There is also one critical factor on top of all these, I
will come to that in a moment.
I have the blessings
of identifying with all these as I spent my first fourteen years in my homeland
- the beautiful valley of Kashmir. It is there that I could learn my language,
my customs and rituals, I could experience the places that link me to my lineage,
I could develop myself as a Kashmiri Pandit. However, once I am leading my life
far away from my homeland, how do I connect to my identity? I might still be
able to keep my identity alive by falling back on my first fourteen years. I
might also be able to pass on some of that to my children. However, I feel for
my children. How long will they be able to identify with their legacy by just
listening to my tales about our language, sacred places, dress, food, rituals,
etc? How much out of that will they be able to pass on to their progeny? If we
continue to live in exile, how long will we be able to survive as a KP? I am
sure our progeny will thrive in rest of India. I am sure they will be able to
lead good life here, but will they be KPs?
KPs have seen seven
forced exoduses from their homeland during the reign of various warlords! Each
exodus saw thousands of KPs who could not come back to their homeland. Where
are their progeny? Where are the KPs whose ancestors were forced out of their homelands?
Their children did survive, but they no longer identify themselves as KPs. It
is not out of choice, but it is because they got merged with the local
population and they did not have any way to stay connected to their roots! They
could not pass on their identity (language, dress, food, sacred places, etc) to
their children. I am proud that they must still be Indians and practicing
Hindus. However, I am sad that they got cut-off from their ancestry! I shudder
at the thought that my future generation wouldn’t even know that they are KPs
and that they have such wonderful legacy to which they belong!
The biggest
challenge for KPs today, while living in exile, is - how do we ensure our
progeny continues to have the KP identity and they take our community and
culture forward? That brings me back to the point I left earlier - the most
critical factor defining the identity of a community: it is the land to which
they belong. Tamil people belong to Tamil Nadu, Marathis belong to Maratha land
(Maharashtra of today), Bengalis belong to Bengal, Americans belong to America,
British belong to Britain - similarly KPs belong to Kashmir! They only way to
sustain our identity is to be back where we belong - our homeland! If we
continue to live in exile, it is just a matter for couple of generations and
then our progeny would no longer be KPs. So, if we have to keep our community
alive, we have to be back in Kashmir at the earliest possible time! It is here that I feel Panun Kashmir might be causing
an impediment! While we make our demands clear, we also need to be
cognizant of the fact that anything that delays
our return to Kashmir, is pushing us towards the path of complete extinction as
a community!
Why delay our return
for a utopian kind of demand? The first thought that comes to my mind is: we should immediately start our efforts for return to
Kashmir without any further discussions and debate! However, if we go
back as individuals, we expose ourselves to the same dangers and risks that
caused us to leave Kashmir in the first place. We will, as individuals (or
individual families) face the disparity, bias, and discrimination from the
majority community, and the local Government, that we faced for last many
decades. We will also subject ourselves and our future generations to live a
life of curtailed freedom, as we used to live before the exodus of 1990. The
day will also not be far when there is another tide against the minorities and
our future generation will suffer the same genocide and ethnic cleansing that
we bore during the last two decades! Hence,
going back to Kashmir and trying to lead our lives as we used to pre-exodus, is
not practical at all! We need to do a little better than that!
We could surely go back as a community. We could build
a few colonies and stay close together as a community. This will ensure
we don’t have to face the extremities as individuals, but collectively we could
brave the tide. However, will we lead our lives in a kind of house-arrest? We
can't lead our lives in small colonies. Where will we work? Where will our children
study, play, understand nature, and express themselves? Who would be governing
these colonies? Who will provide essential services like water, electricity,
civic amenities, etc to these colonies? Will we be at the mercy of the local
Government agencies again? What have we learnt
from existing township like Jagti? Jagti is a township where KPs
currently live in Jammu district. With no electricity for many hours a day,
with miniscule civic amenities, and constant struggle of the residents for
basic necessities, this township provides us clear insights on what fate small
KP colonies in Kashmir are bound to suffer! This doesn’t look like a path to
take! We need to find another option!
This is where the idea of Nov Srinagar (New Srinagar)
comes across as the most practical and attractive one. We can have a
bigger area earmarked for KPs. This is where KPs can live, and work, and lead
their lives. We will have access to schools, offices, markets, entertainment,
and other essential amenities, as a community. We will be able to live in
Kashmir and practice our culture and rituals. However, the governance would
still be under the same people who were in part responsible for our miseries
and destruction in the past two decades! We will still have to struggle to get
Government jobs. We will still have to struggle to get access to modern
facilities, in fact - even basic facilities. We will still have to be subject
to the same bias and discrimination in all walks of life. Our children will
again struggle to get admissions to good colleges! The fate of this "Nov Srinagar" would be no better than Jagti
township!
What would it take
for us to live a life guaranteed by the Indian constitution to all citizens of
India? What would it take for us to live a life free of fear, free of
discrimination, with freedom to practice our religion, with freedom to practice
our customs, with freedom to express ourselves? The
only instrument that can provide us all of this is - the Indian constitution
itself!
The only way we can
survive as KPs, the only way we can keep our customs, culture, language alive
for ourselves and our progeny - is to have a place in Kashmir that is governed
by the Indian constitution in letter and spirit. So, that is what we should demand,
that is what we should strive for, and we should not settle for anything less!
Hold on! Isn't that
exactly what Panun Kashmir is? Looks like that is the only path we have!
With all this
rethinking and reconsideration of all alternatives, my conviction for Panun
Kashmir has only strengthened manifolds! I salute the visionaries who thought
about this way back in the early 1990s. I bow my head with respect for they
could create this vision in spite of being in the midst of the worst crisis any
person can be in. When most communities, facing even lesser situation, play
victim, and surrender to fate and foes, our leaders had the courage and wisdom
to pick our people up and come up with the demand that will ensure continued
existence of our community! I am more convinced
than ever - there is only one way for us - Panun Kashmir, and I will settle for
nothing less!
