TARGETED KILLINGS IN KASHMIR

 

TARGETED KILLINGS IN KASHMIR

Written By:  Mugdha Adhikary

4^th year – B.A.LL.B.(H)

Banaras Hindu University, Banaras

 

Edited by: Harshika Kapoor

2^nd year – LL.M

ILS, Pune

Abstract

“Agar Firdaus Bar Roo-e Zameen Ast, Hameen Ast-o Hameen Ast-o”, meaning “If there is Paradise on Earth, it is this, it is this”. This is a beautiful quotation by Amir Khusrau elucidating the beauty of Kashmir. Kashmir once was the most important center for Hinduism and later Buddhism. In 9^th century a native tradition named Shaivism arose under the rule of Karakota Dynasty. In 13^th century Islam was introduced in Kashmir and eventually Shaivism declined. With this advent Kashmir became the only Muslim dominated state of India. Pakistan never totally let go some parts of the valley and their desperate attempt to make Kashmir a part of Pakistan was the very beginning of this cruelty against the Kashmiri Pandits and other Hindus which till date has not been resolved. In this article I’ll be talking about the genocide that took place in the early 1990s in detail and why it is still an unresolved issue.  

Kashmiri Pandits

 

Before getting into the dreadful history of Kashmir one must be aware of who are Kashmiri Pandits. For the starters Kashmiri Pandits were the original inhabitants of Kashmir. They were the devotees of Spiritual and Academic pursuits. They were the progenitors of Kashmir Shaivism i.e., the philosophy of oneness of mankind. Kashmiri Pandits gave an immense contribution in literature (mainly Sanskrit), language, philosophy and science. Kashmiri Pandits were the one who actually beautified and glorified the Kashmir who is now been treated as the intruders and are being brutally murdered and are being forced and threatened to leave their homeland. Since the 14^th century, the present mass of the Kashmiri Pandits is the 4^th mass exodus.

 

Genocide of the Early 1990s

 

Before the genocide 99%of Hindus in Kashmir was constituted of Kashmiri Pandits i.e. 350,000 people in approximate. By the end of 1989 the Hindu population in the valley specially the Kashmiri Pandits were pushed out of the valley or were brutally killed by the Militants who were trained in Pakistan. The Anti-India insurgency in Kashmir began during the period of 1989-1990.Ralib Galib Chalib was a famous Islamic slogan meaning Convert, Die or Leave, used at that time for the Hindu population of the valley.

The militants believed this brutality against the Hindus as the CLEANSING OF THE VALLEY. This ethno-religious community was forced to leave their homeland and live as exiles in their own country. The people were terrorized to leave their homes by the acts of murder, loot, arson, etc. Thousands of Kashmiri Pandits flee from their homeland to Jammu and various other parts of India.

There were certain factors responsible for creating of such tragic history of the most magnificent state of the India.

1.  Role of Pakistan

 

Ø  The terrorism in Kashmir was basically an ideological struggle with some political commitments which was fundamental and communal in character. The Kashmiri Pandits’ fight and struggle was against the secessionism, communalism and fundamentalism of the militants.

Ø  The main aim of the violence was to disengage the state of Jammu & Kashmir from India and its annexation to Pakistan.

Ø  This aim was becoming difficult to fulfill as the Hindu community of the Valley were not getting along with the idea of separation from India neither wanted to be governed by the state that derives its sanction from the law and precedent of Islam.

Ø  Some of the strategies which were used against the Kashmiri Pandits in order to make them helpless were:

·       Extermination of Hindus.

·       Forcing them to exile by giving threatening letters, kidnappings, torturing to death, molestation, and gang rape of women folks which created a great deal of fear and humiliation.

·       The residences and places of worship of Hindus were destructed and burned down and even their properties were looted.

Ø  By this the secular and pluralistic character of Kashmir society was destroyed.

Fact sheet of Atrocities on Kashmiri Pandits:

 

Educational Institutions burnt, damaged forcefully occupied	105
Religious & Cultural Institutions Destroyed/burnt, damaged (Temples/Ashrams/Dharamshalas)	103
Business houses destablised (Including shops looted/burnt, factories looted/burnt, occupied)	14,430
Agriculture dependent families deprived of their land and source of income	20,000
Horticulture dependent families deprived of their resource	12,500
Houses Burnt	more than 20,000
Houses looted	95%
Torture killings of Kashmiri Pandits in the Valley	more than 1,100

 

2.  Religious Sadism

 

Ø  The killing of such a huge lot of Hindus in Kashmir clearly depicts the prevailing of religious sadism in the valley.

Ø 

Farooq Ahmed Dar aka Bitta Karate

The Hindus were subjected to extreme tortures such as-

·       Strangulating them with steel wires

·       Hanging

·       Impaling

·       Branding them with hot irons

·       Burning them alive

·       Lynching

·       Bleeding them to death

·       Gouging out of the vital organs

·       Drowning them alive

Ø  Many Barbaric Acts were done by the militants such as “Death Dance” after killing their target.

Ø  Several times the dead bodies of their target weren’t allowed to be cremated properly.

3.  Failure of the Government of India

 There was big failure of the Government of India as well as Government of Jammu & Kashmir in protecting the Kashmiri Pandits of the valley. This in my opinion was the substantial reason for such a menacing history of the Valley.

Ø 

Farooq Abdullah

BJ alleges that Farooq Abdullah, who was the president of Jammu & Kashmir National Conference, was responsible for the genocide. He resigned his post, fled away, and left the state under governor rule. On many press-conferences held, some of the Kashmiri Pandits openly blamed him for the genocide and that he could have stopped it or could have airlifted the Hindu community from the valley to a secure place.

Ø  It is a considerable point that should have been focused before that Kashmir is the only state of India with Muslim majority and minority groups were supposed to be protected and safeguarded by the government in order to retain India as a secular and democratic country.

Ø  The unlawful killings in valley clearly depicts the failure of the Government with keep up with the fundamental right guaranteed under the Article 21 of the Constitution of India which says that every citizen of India has a right to live with dignity and honor irrespective of their caste, creed, religion or color.

After the Exodus 

The Kashmiri Pandits along with other Hindus fled the valley for their survival. Only 2 dozen families stayed back in Kashmir while rest left the state. Government made seven transit camps for temporary stay of the Hindus. In this forced exodus more than 5000 people died some in camps only.

People died of sunstroke as they couldn’t adjust with the extreme hot temperature of central and south India. Many died of heart attacks due Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, psychological trauma and mental pressure. Many of them died in the camps only due to gastroenteritis, typhoid epidemics, snake bites, etc. 

On 23^rd March, 2003, militants entered in Nadimarg in Pulwama District of Jammu and Kashmir, where a camp was built by the government for the Hindu community. Lashkar-e-Taiba entered the camp dressed as counterfeit military at 11 pm in the night and killed 24 Kashmiri Pandits. The victims’ ages ranged from 2 years to 65 years old. This Nadimarg massacre shook the whole community to their very sole.

After all these incidents the Kashmiri Pandits became reluctant to head back to their homeland. Some wanted to return in the very first possibility but it became a slow and tedious process as the political dynamics of the region changed and the threat of militants was not over.

    2008—Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in that year, made various packages to encourage the return of the Kashmiri Pandits and other Hindus to the valley. PM promised rehabilitation of Hindus in the valley providing them with facilities of education, jobs, financial assistance for building and buying homes, and many other such daily needs for a person in order to survive.

    2019—In the year 2014 Bhartiya Janta Party won the election and made many promises to the Kashmiri Pandits which was also in their election manifesto of the year 2019. There was a special mention for the Pandits that all the efforts and measures will be taken in order to help the community returning to their homeland. Amit Shah passed 2 resolutions under The Constitutional (Application to Jammu & Kashmir) order 2019 which replaced The Constitutional (Application to Jammu & Kashmir) order 1954 with the help of power provided under Article 370(1) of the Indian Constitution. The resolutions passed by Amit Shah were:

·       Jammu & Kashmir Reorganization Bill

·       Making Article 370 of the Indian Constitution Inoperative

With making Article 370 inoperative the Constitution of Jammu & Kashmir was also dissolved leaving Jammu & Kashmir nothing different from the rest of India.

These resolutions passed by the government made the militants furious about their motto and even their survival in the valley. There is no doubt that the government should have provided with a certain level of security to the Pandits. This made the Hindus vulnerable in the valley again.

Spike in Killings 

Some of the Hindus returned to the valley after 2019, from the same year the killings in the valley again started. This time not only the Hindus but also the Muslims who worked for the Indian government were also targeted.

Ø  31^st December, 2020— A Hindu jeweler was targeted and killed by the militants.

Ø  17^th February, 2021—Son of a famous eatery was killed by the militants.

Since then, more than 10 Hindus were killed in the valley. But the threat started to re-emerge from the beginning of the year 2022.

Ø  29^th January, 2022—Ali Mohammad Gannai, head police constable, was shot dead near his residence.

Ø  4^th April, 2022—A Hindu pharmacist was shot and grievously injured outside his home.

Ø  13^th April, 2022—A Hindu truck driver was killed in Kulgam.

Ø  12^th May, 2022—A government employee, who was a Kashmiri Pandit was killed inside his office.

Ø  2^nd June, 2022—A masked gunman shot a migrated Hindu employee inside a bank.

Ø  17^th June, 2022—Farooq Ahmad Mir, a police sub-inspector, was killed in Pulwama District.

Killing of Kashmiri Pandit, Rahul Bhatt enraged the fear of next genocide in the valley. According to The New Indian Express, 24 people have been killed in the valley till 21^st June of this year which included civilians, policemen, people of minor community, and CRPF and RPF jawans. Recently 2 more civilians have been killed in the valley.

Reasons for this spike in killings are-

·       A backlash to the Modi government for splitting the State in 2 Union Territories and bringing them directly under the central rule and the government’s initiative for returning the Kashmiri Pandits to their homeland and proving the government that Kashmir still is in a state of war.

·       The movie- The Kashmir Files enraged the Kashmiri Muslims and Muslims along India. They say that this movie is biased towards the Kashmiri Hindus, which I won’t disagree with. But the militants are using the sentiments of Muslim Community as a cover to not just kill the Pandits, but anyone who revolt against them by serving the government of India in Kashmir Valley.

All these reasons have put Kashmiri Pandits to a vulnerable position that should be resolved as soon as possible in order to save the lives of many more innocents whose lives are still in stake.

Measures to Cease the Killing

Ø  The government should target the militants who were responsible for the killing of thousands of innocent civilians.

Ø  The people who are still supporting and funding the militants should be targeted and pressurized and stopped.

Ø  The people of the Kashmir valley who provide shelter to the militants should be checked upon.

Ø  Maximum of funds and help is provided to them by no one else but from Pakistan. They are the main source of the militants’ external help. Pakistan has eyed on the state of Jammu & Kashmir since the division of India and Pakistan and is trying to raise war between both the countries, maybe direct or proxy.

Ø  The government should promote inclusivity narrative.

In order to attain all these measures, the current government should work more efficiently and certainly a great deal of carelessness done by the government due to which thousands of innocent life ended and hasn’t stopped yet.  

Conclusion

It won’t be fare to the humanity if I say that only the Hindu Community suffered in the genocide of 1990. But I won’t be just to the Hindu Community if I don’t address that they were the main victims of the genocide and are still suffering. The killings that are still ongoing in the valley is religious and bias in nature and this can come to an end only if the government protect them not only by bringing changes in our Constitution but working on the ground. Such changes of course demand time. So, till the time is not right and the valley is not again safe for the community, they should not be asked to return to their homeland. The beautiful and magnificent valley of Kashmir should not be feared but treasured and admired. 

 References

1.     https://ikashmir.net/history/genocide.html

2.     https://thediplomat.com/2022/06/targeted-killings-of-hindus-in-kashmir-trigger-panic/

3.   https://reliefweb.int/report/india/violence-kashmir-why-spike-killings-signals-ominous-new-trend

4.     https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/periscope/how-to-stop-targeted-killing-of-hindus-in-kashmir/

5.     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Kashmir

6.    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_Nadimarg_massacre#:~:text=2003%20Nadimarg%20massacre%20was%20the,terrorists%20on%2023%20March%202003

7.     https://www.news18.com/news/politics/bjp-manifesto-2019-resettlement-of-soldiers-return-of-kashmiri-pandits-scrapping-article-35a-on-agenda-2093359.html

8.     https://www.news18.com/news/politics/election-tracker-live-amit-shah-arrives-in-lucknow-late-at-night-will-address-up-bjp-workers-today-2092975.html