KASHMIR IN MY HEART

Its about the plight of my kashmir...my motherland

About Me

Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, India
Pandit Chaman Lal Gadoo Co-Chairman, JOINT HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE Chairman, VIDYA GAURI GADOO RESEARCH CENTRE Email: cl.gadoo@gmail.com Blog: clgadoo.blogspot.com

Thursday, April 9, 2020


                           
              CHAPTER III
             UNTOLD STORY OF KASHMIRI PANDITS
            APPEASEMENT OF KASHMIRI MUSLIMS 
          In political manifestos, speeches, and slogans, Hindu nationalist parties highlighted the plight of the Kashmiri Hindu migrant community, arguing that secular political leaders had implemented policies to appease Kashmiri Muslims for decades in order to demonstrate their commitment to the principles of secular nationalism, but had failed to provide adequate protection to the minority Kashmiri Hindu community simply because they shared the religious affiliation of the Indian majority. In this way, Hindu nationalist rhetoric presented the anxieties of the Kashmiri Hindu migrant community as a mirror of the anxieties of the Indian middle classes, who felt themselves vulnerable to increasing mobilization among minority and impoverished classes.” (Haley Duschinski, Ohio University, Athens)
           The Muslims in Kashmir are the ruling elite of the state. They dominate its entire economic organization and enjoy communal precedence in all social forums. Islam is virtually the official religion of the state. Whereas the Muslims constitute a little more than half the population of the State, they possess three-fourths share in legislative bodies, administrative organizations and all the local Government Institutions. In the Kashmir province, the Hindus have no elected representation In the State Legislature, nor do they have any elected representation in the local bodies. They constitute less than five per cent of the administrative services of the State and have less than one percent share in the higher cadres of the state administration. Muslims monopolize 94 per cent of the state services In Kashmir. The Hindus of Kashmir province have absolutely no share in the decision making clusters of the state Government, which have always been constituted by the Muslims of the Kashmir Province.”
(Human Rights Violations in Kashmir, by Dr. M.K.Teng & C.L.Gadoo)    

                     
 Kashmiri Pandits demonstrating against Human Rights Violations             
INDIAN EXPRESS JANUARY 1, 1992, REPORTS]]

         CONFERENCE OF KASHMIRI PANDIT ASSOCIATIONS
         In February 1992, Kashmiri Samiti Delhi hosted a two-day meeting of the Executive Committee of the AIKS, including representatives of its affiliated units, at the Kashmir Bhawan in order to evaluate the situation facing the community and develop a consensus on the future course of action. Chaman Lal Gadoo, President of Kashmiri Samiti Delhi, opened the meeting with an address entitled “KPs at the Crossroads of History”….. “There is an urgent need,” he said, “more than ever it was, for the community to evolve a plan of action for the future rehabilitation and return of our people to our motherland”. He continued by outlining the Kashmiri Hindu community’s right to their motherland: “I want to make one thing very clear. The Kashmiri Pandits will not renounce the right to their motherland. Kashmir belongs to us. Kashmir is our history, Kashmir is our home, Kashmir is our tradition. Our temples are in Kashmir and our entire past is associated with its soil. We will not allow to be dispossessed and our culture to be destroyed.” He also directed the AIKS Executive Committee to to consider the resolution demanding a homeland as proposed by Panun Kashmir at Jammu.  (Gadoo 1992:8)
 (International Journal of Hindu Studies by Haley Duschinski, Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Ohio University, Athens)    



                      Koshur  Samachar , Feb. 1992 reports      


                        
                                       HINDU TEMPLES
         “The establishment of the supremacy of Islam in India is a part of the history of India. The commitment of the Muslims to fight idolatry found expression in the destruction of the Hindu temples, the centers of idol worship in India. “The Hindu temples are the abode of God. They are not prayer houses”. In the Hindu temples Param Parmeshwar is worshipped in the iconic forms, he assumed with the evolution of the Sanskrit civilization of India, as the manifestation of the unity of the universal existence and the embodiment of the creation. The rise of the Muslim power in India set in motion, sociological conflict. The Muslim struggle to efface the religious culture of the Hindu India formed a part of that conflict. The Mughal conqueror Babar, informed of the destruction of Ayodhya, exclaimed in ecstasy, “For Islam’s sake, I wandered in the wilds, prepared for war with Pathans and Hindus, resolved myself to meet the martyr’s death. Thanks be to God, a Ghazi I became”...…. There was no difference in the religious policy of the Muslim rulers in India and the religious policy of the Muslim rulers in Kashmir, who established their hold over the ancient Hindu kingdom in the early fourteenth century AD. The Muslim rulers of Kashmir disapproved of all forms of idol worship, the same way the Muslim rulers in India did. The Hindu temples and shrines, being the centers of idol worship among the Hindus, evidently attracted the wrath of the Muslim rulers, who proclaimed themselves, the defenders of their faith. In many respects the severity of persecution of the Hindus in Kashmir, was greater than in the rest of India and the temples and Hindu shrines were exposed to wider destruction, than they were in the rest of the country.”
                       (Kashmir---Hindu Shrines by Chanman Lal Gadoo)
 Kashmiri Pandits Demonstrating against Destruction of Temples in Kashmir        
             

                            DESTRUCTION OF TEMPLES IN KASHMIR
             “As a major militant assault on the Hindus was delivered in January 1990, the Hindu temples and shrines, religious places and Hindu religious institutions, came under heavy attack of the militants. Almost all over the Kashmir province, temples were who carried, subjected to bomb attacks and at many places, set on fire. In suburban villages and remote regions of the province, Hindus having fled away, there was no one left to report the damage done to the temples or complain about it. The State Government exhibited no interest in the protection and safety of the Hindu temples. The administrative organization, predominately Muslim, and infested with pro-Pakistan and separatist agents, made no efforts to collect any information about the demolition and damage done to the Hindu temples. At many places in Srinagar as well as the other townships of the Kashmir, Hindus who went to lodge complaints  about the desecration or demolition of temples, misappropriation of their  land, arson and incendiary attacks on their homes, were turned back from the police-stations and District and Tehsile offices, without being able to get their complaints registered.”          
            (Kashmir—Hindu Shrines by Chaman Lal Gadoo)




             
             
    DEMONSTRATION IN FRONT OF ‘INDIA TODAY’
             The issue of the demolition and damage to the Hindu temples was raised in the Indian Parliament. On 12 March 1993, the Minister of State of Home in the Government of India stated in the Parliament that thirty eight Hindu temples had been demolished and damaged in Kashmir during the period from 1989, to 1991. He stated that during the year 1989, thirteen temples were demolished and damaged, during the year 1990, nine temples were demolished and damaged and during the 1991, sixteen temples were demolished and damaged.                               
                               YEAR     TEMPLES DAMAGED AND DEMOLISHED
                                 1989                                             13
                                 1990                                    9 
                                 1991                                             16
                           
                                TOTAL                               38
    
            On April 10, 1993, a demonstration was held in front of the office of ‘India Today’ at Cannaught Place, New Delhi, by Kashmiri Samiti. The demonstrators burnt the copies of ‘India Today’ and raised slogans condemning the wrong picture given about Hindu temples of Kashmir. Indian media has been distorting the facts about damaging and burning of Kashmir Hindu Shrines since first onslaught during the year 1986 in South Kashmir.  Kashmiri Hindus had been protesting all the time for the disinformation campaign by the Indian media.
        Later during the day, Delhi police took custody all the demonstrators and kept them at nearest police station for the day. In the evening all the demonstrators were released.


   Delhi police whisking away the demonstrators, S/ Sh. Rajinder Premi,   
           C.L.Gadoo and others seen in the picture



                   UNTOLD STORY OF KASHMIRI PANDITS            
         The exodus of the Hindus from Kashmir was followed by widespread depredations of their places of worship. Almost everywhere in the valley the archaeological remains of the ancient Hindu temples, which stood an eloquent testimony to the Hindu heritage of Kashmir, were subjected to wanton attack. The ancient ruins of the temple, which were destroyed during the Muslim rule, were sacred to the Hindus, who visited the sites as a part of their religious tradition. At many places, the ruins were dug up, to wipe off their last traces. Hindu religious, cultural and minority institutions were destroyed with greater zeal. The Hindu religious congregations were prohibited and the places where they were conducted, closed down. The famous shrine of Sharika, situated on the slopes of Hari Parbat hill and commanding a view of the old city, was covered by a pale-grey tarpaulin, for the satisfaction of the Muslims. The other religious places were either burnt down or closed.
          The buildings, in which the offices of the Hindu social organisations were located, were also burnt down or subjected to bomb attacks. The Hindu educational institutions were either burnt down or taken over by desperadoes supported by the militants. Temples and shrines were destroyed by fire or subjected to bomb blasts. The ancient shrine of Bhawan at Tulamulla in Srinagar, was subjected to rocket attacks, which, however, struck the surrounding structures, causing the shrine little damage. Almost the entire organisation of the Hindu schools and colleges run by the Hindu educational societies, including educational institutions run by the Hindu Educational Society, the Dayanand AngloVedic organisation and the Vishva Bharti Trust were either burnt down or seized by the militant sponsored Muslim organisations in a swift manoeuver.
         The Minister of State for Home, the Government of India, stated in the Indian Parliament on 12th March, 1993 that 28 temples and Hindu shrines were demolished, damaged and desecrated in Kashmir during the year 1989 to 1991. The actual number of the temples demolished and damaged in Kashmir was much larger and vandalism to which the Hindu shrines were exposed was widespread. Sixty eight temples and shrines located in the remote villages, far more ancient and sacred than the mosques the Moghul imposters had erected, were burnt and demolished or damaged, about which reports were never collected by the State Government. In most of these remote places, there were no Hindus left behind to have lodged complaints with the administration…                     
            The destruction of the temples and religious institutions was evidently aimed to destroy the Hindu religious tradition and culture and to pave the way for the total Islamisation of Kashmir. The militant organisations followed a systematic policy to uproot the Hindus from Kashmir, economically and socially, and break their resolve to return home. Right from 1989, when the militant violence commenced, the militants followed a scorched earth policy of demolishing Hindu localities, dispossessing the Hindus of their land, orchards, business establishments, trades, shops and other properties to deprive them of the means of their livelihood and burning of their houses.
( WHITE PAPER ON KASHMIR—Dr.M.K.TENG & C.L.Gadoo)


   INDIAN EXPRESS REPORTS March 14, 1993
        
       PRESS CONFERENCE held by KASHMIRI SAMITI on June 10, 1993
Scrap Temporary Art. 370 for Peace and Prosperity of Jammu & Kashmir!
Truth about Article 370 of Indian Constitution (Abridged Backgrounder)                 
             The Indian federal polity grew out of two diametrically divergent processes which underlined the devolution of authority to the provinces, in what was known as the British India before the independence, and the integration of the Indian States, which had acceded to India in accordance with the Instruments of Accession. The Instruments of Accession envisaged the procedure by virtue of which the Indian States, after the British withdrawal from India and the lapse of Paramountcy, exercised the right to accede to the Dominion of India. The federal organization of India was, therefore, constituted of the erstwhile Indian provinces of the British India and the Indian States which were liberated from the British tutelage after the British colonial organization came to its end in 1947.             
             Maharaja Hari Singh, the ruler of the Jammu and Kashmir State, acceded to the Indian Dominion on the terms and conditions envisaged by the Instrument of Accession which was drawn by the States Ministry of the Indian Dominion. Hari Singh signed the standard Instrument of Accession, which the rulers of other acceding States has signed earlier and he bound himself to the same obligations, which the rulers of the other Indian States had accepted. There was no condition attached to the accession of the State to India, which provided for any separate set of constitutional relationships between Jammu and Kashmir and the Dominion of India. All the acceding States and Unions of the States, Jammu and Kashmir being no exception, were reserved the right to convene their own Constituent Assemblies to draw up the constitution for their respective governments. Indeed, Constituent Assemblies were instituted in Mysore State and the Surashtra States Union.
             Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah and the other National Conference leaders were in jail when India won freedom and were released from imprisonment months after the British had left. After their release the Conference leaders laid no conditions for the accession of the State to India which they supported, except that they demanded the transfer of State power to the people, a process to which the Indian Government was equally committed. The claims made by several State leaders as well as many national leaders that National Conference had endorsed the accession of the State to India on the condition that Jammu and Kashmir would be constituted into a separate and autonomous political identity on the basis of the Muslim majority character of its population, is a distortion of history. The Conference leaders did not lay claim to any immunity from the future Constitution of India nor any Indian leader gave any assurance to the ruler of the State or the Conference leaders, about any special constitutional position, Jammu and Kashmir would be accorded in the Indian federal organization.
                In May 1949, the Premiers of the State's took a stupendous decision in a Conference at Delhi, in which the Negotiating Committee of the constituent Assembly participated and entrusted the Constituent Assembly of India, the task of drawing up the Constitution for the States. The Jammu and Kashmir did not accept the decision arrived in the Premiers Conference and expressed its preference to convene a separate Constituent Assembly to draft a separate constitution for the State. Consequently, a separate meeting was held on 14 May 1949, in Delhi between the representatives of the State Government and the representatives of the Constituent Assembly in which Sheikh Mohd Abdullah, Nehru and Patel participated. In the meeting the Conference leaders blankly refused to accept the inclusion of the State in the constitutional organization of India. They told the Indian leaders, in veiled words, that they favoured a separate constitutional organization for the State in view of the Muslim majority character of its population which they feared would be subjected to the dominance of the Hindu majority in India.
           Article 306-A was renumbered Article 370 at the revision stage. Jammu and Kashmir State was included in the First Schedule of the Constitution of India which described the territories of India. No other provision of the Constitution of India was extended to Jammu and Kashmir. An explicit limitation was placed on the application of the Constitution of India to the State, except in regard to the provisions of the Seventh Schedule corresponding to the subjects by the Instrument of Accession to the Indian Dominion. Accordingly, the power of the Union in respect of Jammu and Kashmir was limited to the subjects in the Instrument of Accession viz. foreign affairs, defense and communication.
            Article 370 of the Constitution of India envisaged provisions which stipulated; (a) limitations on the application of the Constitution of India to the State, (b) the division of powers between the Union and the State, (c) extension of the provisions of constitution of India to the State, (d) modification and termination of the operation of Article 370, and (e) the institution of a separate Constituent Assembly for the State.
            The only part of the Constitution of India which was extended to the State independent of Article 370 was the First Schedule of the Indian Constitution, which described the territorial jurisdiction of the Indian Union. Jammu and Kashmir was listed in the First Schedule and included in the territories of India. As a matter of fact, the State was included in the First Schedule, in consequence of the Instrument of Accession executed by the Ruler of the State which accomplished the irrevocable integration of the State in the Dominion of India. The territorial jurisdiction of the Indian State was created by the Independence Act of 1947, and Instruments of Accession executed by the rulers of the erstwhile Princely States. The Constitution of India described the territories of the Indian State, constituted by the transfer of power to the Indian Dominion on 15 August 1947 and the accession of the States that followed in due course. The inclusion of the State in the First-Schedule of the Constitution of India actually placed it alongside the other Princely States which had acceded to India.       
          The integration of Jammu and Kashmir into the State of India was, therefore, brought about by the accession of the State to India and not by Article 370.
               Article 370 was included in the transitional provisions of the Constitution of India and was therefore, presumed to be of transitory nature. Indeed provisions were incorporated in Article 370 by virtue of which the President of India was empowered to modify or terminate the operation of its provisions by a notification, provided recommendations to that effect were made by the Constituent Assembly of the State. The President was empowered to extend the application of the provisions of the Constitution of India to the State by an order issued by him in concurrence with the State government. Presumably the temporary provisions, envisaged by Article 370, were meant to remain in operation only so long as the Constituent Assembly of the State completed its task. Evidently, the founding fathers of the Indian Constitution could not have visualized a perpetual Constituent Assembly for the State.     Dr. Mohan Krishen Teng & Chaman Lal Gadoo      



Scrap Art. 370 for Peace and Prosperity of Jammu and Kashmir
        A Press conference was held by Kashmiri Samiti on 10th June 1993, urging Government of India to scrap Art. 370 for peace and prosperity of trouble torn Jammu & Kashmir and include Kashmiri Pandits, the original inhabitants, for future talks on Kashmir.
        




JANSATTA REPORTS   




        
KASHMIRI HINDUS URGED HOMELAND
              The Kashmiri Pandits are the original inhabitants of the valley of Kashmir ever since the birth of the valley. The origin of the valley is said to be by divine intervention when Kashypa Rishi materialized it from a huge lake. It has a history of more than five thousand years of continuous habitation. Kalahanas Raj Tarangni, highlighted as the first historical record of ancient India, was written by a Kashmiri Pandit Kalhana. It offers a lucid account of the Hindu Kings and the rich cultural traditions in the valley (Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah, 1969: 92).
             The ruins of the famous temples like „Martand‟, Parithaspura at Pattan, and Narannag at Kangan and the excavations at Burzhoma in the outskirts of the city of Srinagar speak of the architectural attainments as much as of the religious beliefs and practices of ancient Kashmir. Kashmir during those days was the centre of learning and the seat of a great University at Bijbehara near Anantnag to which scholars thronged from all parts of the world for knowledge and learning and for the study of Sanakrit, Literature, Philosophy etc.
 (Wessis Anita and Zulfiqar Gilani, 2001: 69-70)
            The forced exodus of the blameless Kashmiris and its unspeakable aftermath is not only a shameful blot on the Indian government and the people responsible for bringing about this situation. It portends the death of secularism and the tearing to shreds the country’s fabric of integration so tenuously held together against the rapidly increasing ferocity of the assaults on it from within and outside India.(“A Tangled Affair,” 1992).
                              
          HINDUSTAN TIMES AUGUST 14,1993 REPORTS


            THE HINDU, August 14, 1993, REPORTS
                                    
               HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN KASHMIR
                        SAMITI OBSERVE BLACK DAY
                       (A Report by Koshur Samachar)
             The Kashmiri Samiti observed black day to protest against the Pakistan sponsored militancy which was root cause of an exodus from Kashmir. A silent march was taken out from Feroz Shah Kotia grounds towards Gandhi Peace Foundation to participate in a symposium on the human rights violation in Kashmir. The marchers, who carried banners and as a protest had their mouths closed black cloth.  
            The Symposium ‘Human Rights Violations in Kashmir’ was held as part of protests on August14, 1993, Pakistan’s Independence Day. Among those who spoke on the occasion were Shri Kidar Nath Sahani, Shri Arun Shourie, Shri Arun Jaitley, Shri C.L.Gadoo, Shri Ashok Pandit, Shri H.N.Jattu,Shri A.N.Vaishnavi and Dr. Kaushalya Wali. 
              Eminent speakers at the symposium said militants were the worst violators of human rights in the Kashmir valley; they have killed hundreds and forced out over three lakh Kashmiri Pandits from their homes. They blasted the Government and the so-called human rights organizations for suppressing facts and blaming security forces for committing excesses in the state. 

                                
KASHMIRI PANDITS BECAME REFUGEES IN THEIR OWN COUNTRY! The Kashmir Valley is in grip of terrorist trauma engineered by Pakistan. In fact, it is a low cost proxy war declared by Pakistan against India to grab Kashmir. The grimmest fallout of this atrocious Pak operation is the total exodus of the Hindu minority from Kashmir Valley. It has threatened the unity of India and the very survival of Kashmiri Hindu minority. They have been uprooted from Kashmir Valley. The future is bleak and their existence is in danger. The following census figures speak volumes:
Year 
Muslims 
Hindus 
Others
1941 
83% 
15% 
2%
1981 
92% 
5% 
3%
1991 
97% 
0.1 % 
2.9%
         Along with the selective killings of the prominent Kashmiri Pandits, the terrorists resorted to their intimidation, loot of their property and the rape of their women. These terrorists pasted names of the Kashmiri Pandits, listed on their hit lists, on lamp-posts in Hindu localities, to terrorize the community. Notices, fixing the dates for the Hindus to quit the Valley, were issued through local papers.                 Anti-Hindu and pro-secession and Islamic fundamentalist slogans were blared, for nights together, over loud-speakers from mosques, throughout the valley. Lakhs of Muslims demanding secession, chanting slogans of “Nizami Mustafa” and led by armed terrorists, paraded in the streets of Srinagar and elsewhere. Hell was let loose on the minority community.
            Kashmiri Pandits left the valley, leaving behind their valuable immovable as well as movable properties, worth several thousand crores. They were compelled to give up their jobs, business, and other income yielding assets.
           The traumatic experiences of Kashmiri Pandits were so acute that they found themselves left along to their fate, face to face with death and dishonour. The total breakdown of the law and order machinery spread a sense of insecurity, which was so severe that the most of the Pandits, more than 400,000, fled the valley and migrated to Jammu and Delhi in the dark hours of the night without any belongings. There by the ethnic cleansing of the Pandits was completed. This concluded the process of liquidation of Kashmiri Pandit community from Kashmir.          
Unfortunately, the assessments made by some of the Human Rights organizations are faulted in their very fundamentals because such assessments have been based on avowedly partisan evidence. It is a tragedy that even after some of the "watch dog" groups like Asia Watch report was made public certain people in this country fell prey to the Pakistani and terrorist disinformation and have developed a mind-set totally indifferent to the plight of Kashmiri Hindus who have been reduced to refugees in their own country for their patriotism, tolerance and secular ideals.                              
                                SUFFERINGS FOR SURVIVAL
               It is a savage battle that the community is fighting for shelter, livelihood, education, health care, employment and above all for its survival. It is heading towards unmitigated disaster as the deprivation hurt and humiliation have worked havoc on the physical, psychological and mental well-being of the community and taken a huge toll of its members (Reddy L R, 2002: 219).
               They are discriminated even vis-à-vis the handful of refugees from the valley, mostly political bigwigs of discredited parties who have been housed in spatial and furnished lodgings; who are neither to get registered as refugees nor to stand in queues for relief or rations in burning Sun, nor to run from pillar to post to prove their bonafides as displaced, nor to wait for release of the amenities. On the contrary cash relief and other facilities are given to them in advance for months together (Chopra Pran, 2002: 128)

NATIONAL HERALD,Aug.15,1993



            ASIAN AGE REPORTS


                            SUFFERINGS FOR SURVIVAL Cont
             The community continues to perish while the nation looks on unconcerned. More lives have been lost due to starvation, malnutrition, disease and accidents than due to militant bullets. The community is facing dispersal and extinction. The displaced yearn to return to their homes and hearths, to till their own land, pursue their own professional calling and visit their Gods and temples; but all doors are closed to them (Schofield Victoria, 2000: 77).

   


                                                 BALIDAN DIWAS
             Pandits become the victims of militants and wicked Politicians. Their jobs have been usurped, houses burnt down or looted, lands mutilated and encroached upon or annexed and their temples desecrated. The community is at a loss to pick the loose ends of the tangle and to free itself from the web in which it finds itself enmeshed. It is hard pressed to preserve its religious and ethnic identity and maintain its glorious cultural traditions. It is at pains to uphold the principles of secularism, social justice, freedom of faith, democratic pluralism and nationalism, the very principles at the altar of which it was sacrificed in the valley and driven into exile (Tikko Ramesh, 2006: 127).
          The UN Secretary General in his June 1992 blue-print about the role envisaged for UN in the case of refugees made a proposal for an International Convention defining inalienable minority rights and also called for a declaration to be placed before the UN General Assembly. The year 1993 all over the world was celebrated as the year of „indigenous people all over the world under the auspices of the UN. Kashmiri Pandits are the indigenous people of Kashmir with the continuity of a distinct ethno-religious tradition of more than five thousand years. (The Herald dated 12 January 1993)
          In 1993 Government of India passed an act for the protection of Human Right which provided for the constitution of National Human Rights Commissions, state Human Rights Commissions in states and human rights courts. Fundamental rights guaranteed by constitution have not been given protection of rights of P and it community (Ragavan S R, 2007: 129).

(L to R) Dr. Romesh Raina, Sh.N.N.Zijoo, Sh.H.N.Jatu, Sh. Sunil Shakdar,      Sh. O.P.Kholi & Sh. C.L.Gadoo

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