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!