JKLF terrorists and Islamist insurgents forced aborigines KPs to flee as a result of concerted plan of ethnic cleansing
I write this write up as an aborigine proud Kashmiri. On the eve of September 14, the Balidhan Diwas, after 1989, is being observed by the exiled Kashmiri Pandit (KP) community across the world to remember and pay homage to the martyrs. The homage, besides reverence, is a reminder to our next and future generations as to how the Indian state has failed then and it is failing now.
Today, I would have been in the list of killed KPs as I was amongst the first five targets of the terrorists for being an anti-terrorism crusader and very articulate active Congress party office bearer. On account of serious threat perception and on discreet advice of the then DG Jammu and Kashmir Police, I was forced to decide to leave Kashmir in November/December 1989 with my wife and two little kids, leaving behind everything. I was given to understand that situation and law and order would be controlled in a month or so. I never realised that not only me but the entire KP community would be forced to flee the homeland simply to live as refugees in our own country. Thirty years have gone by. KPs never countenanced their traumatic phase of life as internally displaced population in the enlightened times, in free democratic and might of India for last more than three decades with still no plans of Modi-2:0 to reverse the exile.
The harsh ground reality in today’s age of free, independent and constitutional democratic India is that Kashmir today is without Kashmiri Pandits. The aborigine community of Kashmir is out in exile in this modern age of reason and enlightenment. The forced exodus of the Kashmiri Pandits in 1989-1990 designed to effect the motivated ethnic cleansing will go down in the history of India and these native Kashmiris as dark phase of contemporary times.
The aborigines KPs were forced to flee the Kashmir valley as a result of concerted plan of ethnic cleansing with the strategy of “Killing one and scaring a thousand” by Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) terrorists and Islamist insurgents during late 1989 and 1990 onwards. Living in the Valley for more than 5000 years, the entire population of five to six lakh natives, were exiled by inflicting death, destruction, loot, grabbing of leftover immovable properties, agricultural land and orchards etc. by JKLF and other native terrorists. “Killing one and scaring a thousand” tactics for execution of the ethnic cleansing of KPs was employed to rid Kashmir of the Hindu population from Kashmir where their roots are engraved. Its civilisational linkages with India are many centuries old. Today, the demographic profile is completely changed to suit terrorists plans.
It is the 30th year of exile for native aborigines Kashmiris who are persistently longing to return to their homeland. All successive central and state governments have failed this illustrious community to create conducive and secured socio-political environment for a dignified return. The plight of the Pandits has been slowly forgotten. Everybody sheds crocodile tears over their suffering, but there is nothing by way of action. The future of the Pandits, as an important stakeholder to Kashmir imbroglio is less and less talked about. It was believed that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), with a massive mandate, would plan their dignified and secured return back home as a matter of priority agenda. Unfortunately, it has worsened Kashmir affairs and perceived to lack the basic political will to reverse the exile of the Kashmiri Pandits and give them justice.
It was on morning of September 14, 1989 when a colleague, Pandit Tika Lal Taploo, an advocate and senior BJP leader, was assassinated by the militants, at a point blank range outside his residence while he was leaving home for his daily business of vakalat. Several bullets were pumped in his body and he succumbed right in front of his residence. The news of his assassination spread like wild fire throughout the city of Srinagar and in particular in the Habakadal assembly constituency from where he had been contesting elections as BJP candidate. He was a well-known social activist and a lawyer in his constituency and had developed a personal rapport among all the sections of voters, despite being one of the most consistent and ardent RSS/BJP leader. Hearing the sad news, I along with several party political activists and KP leaders sat on Dharna against the brutal murder at Habba Kadal Chowk. Sensing the likely fall out of such brutal killing of a prominent Kashmiri, we mobilised a huge funeral procession of all the segments of Kashmir political class and the civil society including huge presence of lawyers. The ostensible reason given by the JKLF the outfit behind the killings of T L Taploo was they were perceived as a vocal voice against the on-going militancy who had condemned the gun tooting youngsters. Having grasped the political fallout, I immediately went to in the chambers of the then chief minister Dr. Farooq Abdullah and requested him that the assassination of Taploo deserves widespread condemnation by all the political elements and the majority community so that the militants get a message that the peace loving Kashmiris are against any violence and terrorism. Dr. Farooq Abdullah summoned top leaders of his party and advised them to participate in large numbers in the funeral of late Taploo and he himself condemned the killing in the most severe and hard hitting language.
At the High Court Bar Association office bearers meet, we unanimously resolved to condemn the brutal killing of our colleague late Shri Taploo. The lawyers decided to join the funeral procession to pay their last respect and homage to a colleague and in the afternoon of September 14, the mortal remains late Shri Taploo, were taken in a huge procession through the lanes and bylanes of Habakadal constituency to the Karan Nagar cremation ground where thousands of people gathered to bid good bye to Pandit Taploo. Then on September 15, Lal Krishan Advani, the then president of the BJP and Kedar Nath Sahni addressed the condolence gathering at Sheetal Nath, Srinagar in the midst of 10,000 strong crowd condemned the assassination of Taploo and termed it as a murder of democracy. They assured the gathering that the Kashmiris, in general, and Kashmiri Pandits in particular, will be protected by the Indian state and the state government. At that point of time BJP was supporting VP Singh’s government from outside.
As the situation was unfolding, other prominent Kashmiri Pandits were getting brutally killed. A former judge, Pandit Neelkanth Ganjoo was killed in broad day light in Hari Singh High Street while returning from his court work as an advocate. His body lied on the road for some time because a diktat was issued by the JKLF not to move it and people did not move it out of scare and followed the diktat. The JKLF had meticulously executed this murder scripted by ISI and their spokesman later officially acknowledged that the killing was done to avenge the judge’s role in the death sentence of JKLF founder Maqbool Butt. Meanwhile, the killings of prominent Muslim activists and political leaders also started and those nationalist Muslims and political leaders who condemned such brutal terror attacks of innocent citizens were done to death in more gruesome manner. One of the prominent national leader, Mir Mustafa of Lassjan became another victim of such brutality.
I was practicing in Jammu and Kashmir High Court and on one occasion was sitting in the room of Advocate General, late Shri Altaf Ahmad. From one corner of the High Court a group of militants indiscriminately fired at the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel guarding the High Court. There was no casualty and the militants left through the small by lanes conveniently. It was a very scary situation in the High Court. Both the Divisional Commissioner and the DG Police arrived and gave a very hazy explanation to the Chief Justice, the Advocate General and the lawyers present, including me. The civil administration and the local police seemed confused and clueless because by that time the political leadership which could guide the administration had gone into a sullen mode. The Kashmiri pandit community as a whole became forsaken, insecure and vulnerable. The nefarious designs of the terrorists started gaining legitimacy in certain sections of Kashmiris, maybe to start with out of scare but as the time went by, it appeared that it was out of anger against India for the reasons unexplained so far by those sections of Kashmiris. The nature and pattern of subversion and terrorism got amalgamated and the emotion of the Kashmiri Muslims against India got whipped up only after the kidnapped daughter of then home minister was released in exchange of jailed terrorists. The shadow of terrorists’ guns started looming large over the Valley and the state government was virtual defunct abandoning its responsibility towards the citizens so much so the chief minister started shuttling between Srinagar and Delhi and Delhi-London leaving the state to the mercy of the most incompetent bureaucracy. The writ of the state collapsed.
After having refused to leave my residence at the asking of state administration, one fine evening in November 1989, a highly placed police officer called me up and said that the threat against my life and that of my family has become very serious and severe. He confided that two of the arrested terrorists have specifically named me as their next target. Having listened to the officer, I went home and discussed the matter with my wife and she got frightened but said that how can we plan to go out of Kashmir just like that? I was trying to gain time but things so happened that I was being shadowed for three days by militants. Finally, they called my home on phone to tell my wife that in case they did not succeed to kill me in another couple of days, they will definitely kidnap my small kids. On this, I spoke to the officials of state and central government as, I was senior central government counsel in Jammu and Kashmir High Court through, they advised change of residence to Civil Lines from downtown Shalla Kadal I used to live in ancestral home I didn’t agree to, the other option given was to leave the valley for now, to return back by March possibly by then I was assured the situation would be under full control. We decided to leave. The house and other valuable material was left behind. Priority was to protect myself and the family from the mindless trigger happy urchins, rather than retrieval of materials and safeguarding the house. I conveyed angrily to top government officials who were that time ears and eyes of Indian state in Kashmir, that if a person of my standing and eminence and other few are being hounded like that, what is the guarantee that other nationalist Muslims, the mainstream political activists and members of my community will be secure. I tried to sensitize the Indian state about the magnitude of the threat perceptions and the conspiracy being hatched by Pakistan and militants in Kashmir to create mayhem by killing all those not agreeing to radical ideologies and ethnically cleanse Kashmir of the minority Hindu population and change the demographic profile.
The majority community, scared of gun wielding and trigger happy youngsters, and abject failure of state government became voiceless to stop the mass exodus of KPs and other Muslim targets. Pakistan, ISI and the militants resorted to “Killing one and scaring a thousand” tactics for execution of the ethnic cleansing of KPs. Today, is the Balidan Divas to commemorate the martyrdoms of all the innocent Kashmiris including TL Taploo, N K Ganjoo, Sarla, Sarvanand Premi, Prem Nath Bhat, Lassa Kaul and hundreds of innocent KPs all those who were brutally by terrorists/militants/mercenaries including infants, women, children, young and old, and other patriots and prominent Kashmiris killed by militants. Militants killed scores of Kashmiris Muslims, who they perceived as opposed to their agenda. They killed Mufa-Kir- Kashmir, Molana Muahmmad Syed Masoodi, Mirwaiz’s uncle, Prof. Abdul Gani Bhat’s brother, professors, doctors, journalists, the native Jammu and Kashmir Police and army personals, all those innocents and prominent social activists. Mirwaiz Molvi Muhammad Farroq, who raised publically the issue of killing of innocent Kashmiris and ethnic cleansing of KPs had said that: “Forced exile of KPs shall be the darkest phase of Kashmir rich heritage and history will not forgive Muslims of Kashmir for not standing up for protection of native religious minority.” The terrorists gunned him down right in his house. So many, who professed humanity than terrorism were mauled. Abdul Sattar Ranjur, a prominent Communist leader, Ghulam Nabi Kolar, a senior Congress leader and so many civil society members were either killed or forced to flee the Valley. The veteran journalist, a peace protagonist, and an articulate voice of sanity my greatest friend late Shujat Bukhari was killed too.
Irony is Kashmiris are killing Kashmiris. After all how long Kashmiris have to suffer the political theatre of absurdity and the death and destruction syndrome. I personally salute all the martyrs who laid their precious life for the soil of Kashmir. With my heart bleeding and tears rolling down, I appeal to all the Kashmiris and KPs, the peace loving Kashmiris and the civil society leaders to rise to the occasion, stay united and save the future generations of Kashmir from further mayhem, death and destruction; And to live in peace, inclusive mutual tolerance and safe echo system.
Author is Senior Advocate, Supreme Court and Chairman, (Kashmir Policy & Strategy Group)
ashokbhan@rediffmail.com