Panun Kashmir - Probably the biggest impediment for the existence of Kashmiri Pandits?

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!

घना जंगल, घने बादल

घना जंगल, घने बादल, घनेरी घनेरी शाम!
बैठ फकीरा सोंचूं मैं – कैसा जीवन राम? कैसा जीवन राम?
घना जंगल, घने बादल!
घना जंगल, घने बादल!

हम जहाँ जन्मे थे कभी, वहीँ से हैं अनजान!

बीता था बचपन जहाँ, छूट गया वह धाम!
अब बैठूं, रोऊँ मैं – जाओं कहाँ किस गाम?
घना जंगल, घने बादल, घनेरी घनेरी शाम!
घना जंगल, घने बादल!
घना जंगल, घने बादल!

अपने ही अस्तित्व को ढूँढूं सुबहो शाम!

राह राह भटका फिरूं – पुकारूं कौन सो नाम?
जड़ से ही जब काट दिया, ढूँढूं कहाँ पहचान?
घना जंगल, घने बादल, घनेरी घनेरी शाम!
घना जंगल, घने बादल!
घना जंगल, घने बादल!

अंग अंग मेरा टूट गया, बिखर गए मेरे प्राण!

टुकड़े से टुकड़ा न जुड़े, ऐसा टूट गया इंसान!
उठना है, लड़ना है – चाहे जितनी बची है जान!
घना जंगल, घने बादल, घनेरी घनेरी शाम!
घना जंगल, घने बादल!
घना जंगल, घने बादल!

A new compact with whom?

Sometime last week I heard the news about the report from J&K interlocutors being now available. Immediately there were reactions across different segment of people about the various points raised in the report. I wanted to read the report thoroughly myself. I did that over this weekend. To sum it up in one line, reading through the report was a very depressing experience, but not entirely unexpected. 

Over the last two decades of living a life of an exile within our own country, we have understood that the Government of India is not bothered about a minority community that doesn’t show up as a vote bank. We have realized that we are caught between the devil and the deep sea. On one hand we are Hindus, considered to be the majority in India, hence never given any special status. In fact, the moment anybody speaks for our rights, the person is quickly labeled as a communal! On the other hand, we are a single digit percentage of population in the valley, hence too small to make any difference to anybody winning an election.  

The report from the interlocutors is on the same lines, as far as Kashmiri Pandits is concerned. While pages after pages are written about how the Kashmiri Muslims are feeling alienated, the issue of Kashmiri Pandits is completely ignored. Yes, Kashmiri Pandits have been mentioned at some places in the report - but there is no details on the issues they face in exile, there is no mention of crimes committed against them, there is no mention of how should their tormentors be dealt with. Only thing the report keeps harping on is - Kashmiri Pandits should be rehabilitated in the valley. Even that is complete hand waving - there are no details on how that is to be accomplished, there is no detail on how should it be ensured that they lead a life of honor and dignity in their homeland, there is no detail on how should it be ensured that they do not have to face the same atrocities again! 

There is a leap of faith that making Article 370 a permanent clause in the constitution will ensure all Kashmiri Muslims will swear by their Indian citizenship. There is another leap of faith that opening cross border trade across the LOC will make the separatists shun violence. There are many more such vague assumptions in the report. All this to ensure that the Kashmiri Muslims feel they will get what they want, and they can lead a free life. What about Kashmiri Pandits? How do the interlocutors think their faith in constitution of J&K will be improved? How do the interlocutors propose to solve the alienation of Kashmiri Pandits from the majority community in the Kashmir valley? If Kashmiri Muslims feel their distinct identity can only be protected by these special provisions for Kashmir, why doesn’t the same principle apply to Kashmiri Pandits? Why can't there be a portion in the Kashmir valley that has other special provisions that will build the confidence of Kashmiri Pandits to lead a life of honor and dignity?  

There is no mention of the demands of Kashmiri Pandits to bring out a whitepaper on the reasons of the community being forced out of the valley. No mention of the demand to identify and punish the terrorists responsible for the gruesome violence perpetrated on the community since 1989/90. No mention of the demand to accord minority status to the Kashmiri Pandits. No mention of the rapid attempts to change the demographics of the Kashmir valley by renaming ancient places in the valley - e.g., changing the name of the acnient Anantnag town to Islamabad, Shankracharya temple to Takht-e-suleman, Hari Parbat to Koh-i-maran, even Srinagar to Sheher-e-khas! No mention of the desecration and destruction of hundreds of hindu temples in the valley. No responsibility given to the state Government to ensure the restoration of the temples to their rightful glory and protection of the temples and their property! The list goes on and on. The community has been treated like a spec of dust that is expected to settle down on its own!!!  

The current report only focuses on ensuring appeasement of the majority community in the valley, without considering the fallout of such recommendation on the minority community of the valley, and to the very existence of our country! I have only mentioned some points for the perspective of Kashmiri Pandit community. As an Indian citizen, this report is full of recommendations that directly hurt the core fabric of our nation! It is ironic that a party that was formed by the epitome of non-violence considers only the viewpoints of those that use violence to state their demands, that too when the ruling party is headed by the family that bears the surname of the Guru of Ahimsa! We, Kashmiri Pandits,  out rightly reject this report!

गूँज

हर हर हर हर हर महादेव!
धुन यही गूँजेगी सुबह सवेर -
हर हर हर हर हर महादेव!

हारी परबत के शिखर से,
रैनावारी की गलियों से,
कूचा कूचा, बस्ती बस्ती
शहर की भीड़, गाँव के खेत!
हर हर हर हर हर महादेव!
धुन यही गूँजेगी सुबह सवेर -
हर हर हर हर हर महादेव!

क्षीरभावनी के मंदिर से,
मार्तंड के अमर खँड़र से,
चप्पा चप्पा, ज़र्रा ज़र्रा
बच्चा, भूढ़ा
जवां, अधेड़!
हर हर हर हर हर महादेव!
धुन यही गूँजेगी सुबह सवेर -
हर हर हर हर हर महादेव!

शंकराचार्य से, अनंतनाग से,
गणपतयार से, अमरनाथ से,
मिलके मिलके, हर इक दिल से
निकलेगी आवाज़ यही एक -
हर हर हर हर हर महादेव!
धुन यही गूँजेगी सुबह सवेर -
हर हर हर हर हर महादेव!

युथनई म्ये प्राण न्येरनई यपारी

मएज्यि काशीरी मएज्यि काशीरी
पादन तल चान्यन कुर्बान म्ये ज़िंदगी
मएज्यि काशीरी मएज्यि काशीरी

याद छिम प्यवान तिम दोह त राथ
यारन सीथ बोन्यन तल कथ त बाथ
अज़ कतयी रूज़ वन्य सो यार बरादरी
मएज्यि काशीरी मएज्यि काशीरी

हब्बकदलक्येन त्यिमन कोचन मंज नेरान
गणपतयार सूमयार ओसुस ब फेरान
अरमान छुम ब्यय फेरहा तपारी
मएज्यि काशीरी मएज्यि काशीरी

अमरनाथ किस नादस प्रारान
यिथ तिथ छुस ब जुव यि सारान
युथनई म्ये प्राण न्येरनई यपारी
मएज्यि काशीरी मएज्यि काशीरी

Prashant Bhushan - How can we tolerate him?

Prashant Bhushan (PB) has received a lot of flak for his statements on Kashmir. While most people have criticized his statements, he does have a small share of supporters as well. Many observers have pitted Kashmiri Pandits (KP) against PB. Main reason being the loss of homeland of KPs, which will become almost permanent, if Kashmir is taken out of India.

I am a Kashmiri Pandit. I do not support violence. If we supported violence, we would have been sitting in the luxury of mother nature in our beloved Kashmir! We wouldn’t have been ignored by the spineless Government of India, who seem to listen only to the sound of violence (bullets, bombs, stones)!

I thought of putting down my thoughts in this blog article - given that IT has given me this
opportunity to share my thoughts with all those who might be interested.

I heard PB on some news channel where he elaborated on his view point on Kashmir. Here are some key takeaways form his interview, and my thoughts on each of his points:

"Kashmiri people have the right to decide whether they want to be with India or not. We should let them decide."
This is a great thought that one can have without understanding the situation. If PB would understand Kashmir, then this statement would be very naïve to make. Few points here:
Till when do we keep the option open for people to decide on whether they are part of India or not? Does every individual in India have the option to decide whether he/she wants to be part of India or not? If he/she doesn’t want to be part of India, does he/she also have the option to declare his/her owned land as not part of India?

Ok, I give it to the sympathizers of PB that we are not talking about one individual, but a group of people. Now how big a group constitutes a group that can have this say? Is it all people who speak Kashmiri language? Is it all people of one religion living in what we geographically define as Kashmir valley? Is it all people of what is geographically called the state of J&K? Given all the money, blood, sweat spent by all those who consider themselves Indian, for protection and development of J&K, does rest of India have no say in J&K?

Ok, I take the most preferred sub-segment as per the sympathizers of PB (I hope people see the manipulation of the situation by PB like folks, by suggesting arguments based on this sub-segment) - Let us only talk about the people of Kashmir valley. 700,000 Kashmiri Pandits (KPs) do not want Kashmir valley to be separated from India. Does their view hold any value? Or, does the majority decide? If the majority decides, then does that same apply to all other parts of India? Do we then agree to a culture where majority community should decide what bread crumbs to throw at the minority? But, that is not supported by people like PB when Hindus are in majority! What contradiction! What double-standards!

I have my right of opinion, and Indian constitution provides me the right to dissent.
Absolutely true, Mr PB. But, have you forgotten your fundamental duties? The likes of PB always take the argument of right to speech, but conveniently forget their fundamental duties.

Mr PB, you have the voice today because you were raised on the pedestal by the people of India, because they believed in you for your anti-corruption efforts. Now that you have that kind of following, you cannot make any irresponsible statements. Yes, you understood my point right, you no longer can have completely independent thoughts on such sensitive subjects. It amounts to back-stabbing of people like me, who have been blind supporters of the Jan Lokpal movement!

And, when you do make such statements, be prepared for backlash from people who feel frustrated and angry at such comments. When you can understand and empathize with the violence perpetrated by the Kashmiri terrorists, when you canempathize with the guns and bombs that ethnically cleansed the aborigines of the Kashmir valley, when you can empathize with the stone pelters - why this double standard of not empathizing with three young men who just gave you a few blows. Yes, "just" few blows, because
these few blows to one person is negligible (not even worth a mention) to the violence you empathized till date (that I listed earlier in this para)!

One of the PB like, self proclaimed Human Rights activist, Gautam Navlakha, once said that he supports armed struggle for the rights, and aspirations of people. But, when they personally get even a slap on their face (leave aside feeling the pain of people tortured to death) they cry foul!May God grant them the strength when they introspect and realize what hypocrites they are!

Parties like Sri Ram Sena should be banned in India
I have no idea about the group called Sri Ram Sena (SRS). I have only heard about them for their disapproval of Valentines day. I do not agree to any such moral policing. One can preach one's ideology, but cannot go and take law in their hands. Having said that, even before there was any confirmation of whether any of the three people who heckled PB were part of SRS, PB demanded that they should be banned in India! How pathetic of such a so-called "expert" lawyer to have forgotten the principles of law and principles of justice, to directly proclaim the verdict without any investigation or validation! If such an incident had happened to somebody like Pramod Muttalik, PB would have first argued that he got the fruit of his actions, and would have then declared - let law take its own course! In fact, if my memory serves me right, it did happen with Pramod, and everybody declared that Pramod got what he deserved. But, the same principles do not apply to highly intellectual people like PB. How sick can that be!

I couldn’t bear him anymore, so I changed the channel. Later I read some newspaper reports and read some facebook comments of people who support India Against Corruption (IAC). Here are some key takeaways from those forums:

We should protest against the attack on PB.

So, from now on, even if PB commits a murder, no action should be taken against him! Right? I completely understand that some vested interests want to split the Jan Lokpal movement. I understand that we need to stay together to defeat such forces that want to derail this movement. But, the first ownership for such unity lies with the leaders of the movement. When cases were slapped against Anna, Arvind, Kiran Bedi, etc, we were vigilant. We assured them of our support. But, this is a statement by PB himself. He is being irresponsible. Even if he had apologized for such a statement, things could have been buried there and then. He went on and on with his statements on national television. If he is going to be in the leadership team of the movement, the movement is bound to fail! When we want to stay united for the cause, then such people shouldn’t be allowed to use this support for any other motive but anti-corruption!

If India Against Corruption protests for this attack on PB, they are then moving away from anti-corruption movement and supporting an anti-India movement! Sorry, I would never ever be part of such a movement. Wake up brothers and sisters, we are here for Jan Lokpal, and not for PB pal!!!

It is PBs personal view and that shouldn’t derail IAC movement.
I heard even Anna give this statement. If this is true, and if we are OK with people having such personal opinions on such sensitive topics, then why distance yourself from Baba Ramdev? Why distance from BJP? Why distance from RSS? We distanced this movement from them because we said the movement should not get embroiled in other controversies like so-called communalism (any pro-Hindu stance is communal stance in India). Why doesn’t the same principle apply to PB? We should immediately distance ourselves from this person with communist ideology! We should immediately distance ourselves from this person with anti-national ideology!

I hope our mature and intelligent Indian citizens are able to clearly see the real PB (and his likes). Either PB, and his likes, are completely naïve, or they have sinister designs and vested interest in breaking our dream called India. Either way, they should be condemned by all, and shunted away from all people's movements like Jan Lokpal!

Jai Hind!

मैं लौट के इक दिन आऊँगा!

मेरी ज़मीन मुझे बुलाती है, एक आवाज़ लगाती है!

कब आएगा लौट के घर को तू, बस यही सवाल सुनाती है!

 

वो पल अकसर याद आते हैं, जब मौत नाची थी राहों में!

काफिर काफिर कह कह के जब, पीठ घौंपी थी अपने ही यारों ने!

 

एलानों में यालगारों में, हर जुलूस में लगते नारों में,

कश्मीरियत को जलाते रहे, मुखबिर कहके दहलाते रहे!

वो दहशत के पल रब जाने, कब जाएँगे मेरी यादों से!

 

मेरी ज़मीन मुझे बुलाती है, एक आवाज़ लगाती है!

कब आएगा लौट के घर को तू, बस यही सवाल सुनती है!

 

मेरे हुमवतनो मेरे साथियो, मेरे कदमों के साथ चलो!

मेरे संघर्ष में, वनवास में, मेरी थोड़ी सी मदद करो!

मुझे मेरा गाँव चाहिए, वो चिनार की छाँव चाहिए!

मेरा घर वो मेरा आशियाँ, जहाँ बीता था बचपन चाहिए!

 

ऐलान यह करता हूँ अभी, सुन ले मेरे कातिल सभी,

मैं लौट के इक दिन आऊँगा, फिर वहीं जहाँ बसाऊंगा!

अपने आँगन में फिर से मैं, अपनी दुनिया सजाऊंगा!

मैं लौट के इक दिन आऊँगा, मैं लौट के इक दिन आऊँगा!