Refugees of Jammu & Kashmir - History and Way Forward (Part 2)

And the world remained silent!

Since late 1989 J&K has been in the grip of a vicious movement of Islamist extremist terrorism. Thousands of lives have been lost in this conflict over 2 decades of a sub-conventional war that has inflicted enormous suffering on the people of the State.  Among the worst victims of this conflict are the Kashmiri Pandits, descendants of Hindu priests and among the original inhabitants of the Kashmir Valley, with a recorded history of over 5,000 years. The Pandits have been the targets and victims of one of the most successful, though little-known, campaigns of ethnic cleansing in the world. Pogroms of a far lesser magnitude in other parts of the world have attracted international attention, censure and action in support of the victim communities, but this is an insidious campaign that has passed virtually unnoticed, and on which the world remains silent. Between February and March 1990, 140,000 to 160,000 Pandits had fled the Kashmir Valley to Jammu, Delhi, or other parts of the country.

Simultaneously, there were a number of high-profile killings of senior Hindu officials, intellectuals and prominent personalities. Eventually, an estimated 400,000 Pandits – over 95 per cent of their original population in the Valley were pushed out of their homes as a result of this campaign of terror. Not only did the Indian state fail to protect them in their homes, successive governments have provided little more than minimal humanitarian relief, and this exiled community seldom features in the discourse on the ‘Kashmir issue’ and its resolution.

‘49.13% of children suffer from diabetes and 48.15 % from anaemia. 45% of children suffer from malnutrition and 57% from nutrition related diseases. Almost 42.86% and 57.14% suffered from skin infections and relapsing fever respectively. Improperly constructed latrines cause leakages into the open drainage system causing unhygienic conditions that impact adversely on the health of the inhabitants. Almost half the households do not have a bath or shower in their dwelling; as a result, skin disorders like eczema, bacterial diarrhoeas, water borne hepatitis etc. are common’ - This isn’t the condition of slums in a third world country but statistics mentioned in the CRY report on the refugee camps for the migrant Kashmiri Pandits in Jammu and around. The report also further states that a majority of the Pandit refugees live in such squalid camps with spiraling health and economic problems. More than 2 lakh KP’s still live in abysmal conditions in Jammu with families of 5 to 6 people often huddled into a small room. It is anybody’s guess that such conditions can take a severe toll on their physical and mental health.

Former IGP of Punjab police KPS Gill writes in his article titled ‘The Kashmiri Pandits: An Ethnic Cleansing the World Forgot’ on South Asia Terrorism Portal: “While the Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) claimed a 'secular' agenda of liberation from Indian rule, the terrorist intent was clearly to drive non-Muslim 'infidels' out of the State and establish Nizam-e-Mustafa (literally, the Order of the Prophet; government according to the Shariah)”. This has been further corroborated when KPS Gill writes that “Any proposal to return the Pandits to the Valley in the past has usually been followed by targeted terrorist attacks. Whenever any attempt to facilitate their return to the Valley has been initiated, a major incident of terrorist violence against them has occurred. The massacre of 26 Pandits at Wandhama, a hamlet in the Ganderbal area of the Valley on the intervening night of January 25-26, 1998; the earlier killing of eight others at Sangrampora in Budgam district on March 22, 1997; the massacre of 26 Hindus at Prankote in Udhampur District on April 21, 1998; and the killing of 24 Kashmir Pandits at the Nadimarg Village, District Pulwama, on March 23, 2003; these are the worst of  the many examples of the terrorists’ tactic to block any proposal for the return of migrants to the Valley. These massacres and a continuous succession of targeted individual killings have ensured the failure of every proposal to resolve the problem of the exiled Pandits”.

Coupled with the pathetic conditions of the refugee camps are the increase in incidence of problems such as insomnia, depression and hypertension and birth rates have declined significantly. Given the government utter neglect they are also confronted with the spectre of cultural extinction.

In October 2010, the Government of India constituted a team of Interlocutors to ‘to hold wide-ranging discussions with all sections of opinion in Jammu and Kashmir in order to identify the political contours of a solution and the roadmap towards it’. Though the Kashmir interlocutors report released in May 2012 recommends adequate compensation for migrants from POJK, rehabilitation of Sikh and Pandit families and the grant of state subject status to refugees from West Pakistan as part of CBMs under ‘Human rights and the rule of law’, it has neither addressed the refugee issues as a specific problem in J&K nor has it provided any detailed solutions on how to go about their suggestion! This being the condition of the refugees of J&K, observance of ‘World Refugee Day’ is a farce. It is for the refugees themselves and concerned citizens to raise the issues at national and international fora and demand justice be served.

Changing the present

Poul Hartling, former UN High Commissioner for Refugees had said “A lasting solution, the possibility to begin a new life, is the only dignified solution for the refugee himself”. Any solution to ameliorate the plight of the refugees must be lasting and acceptable to the refugees themselves.
Following are a list of suggestions the government of India (GOI) and J&K should implement:

• Govt. of J&K should grant ‘State Subject’ status and issue domicile certificate to refugees from West Pakistan. This will provide them with the right to vote in State Panchayat, local bodies and assembly elections which has been denied to them all these years. They will also be able to secure many benefits under various schemes of the state govt.
• Compensate POK refugees for their properties they left behind in POJK. Refugees from POJK should be accorded the ‘refugee’ status and the Central Act of 1954 (Displaced Persons Compensation and Rehabilitation Act) by virtue of which the displaced persons from West Punjab and East Bengal were settled permanently, should also be applied in their case.
• Govt. of J&K should nominate people from the refugee community for the 24 seats in the assembly that represent the parts of J&K state which are under the illegal occupation of Pakistan and China and hence are lying vacant.
• Rehabilitate Kashmiri Pandit & Sikh families back to their original homes with security zones created for them. These zones should be accorded ‘union territory’ status**.
• Land identified as evacuee property under the Evacuee Property act and whose validity for reclaim has long elapsed, should be used for the rehabilitation of the refugees. Such land should be given to the refugee families or used to construct permanent settlements for them.
• GOI should create a uniform policy for refugees of all categories and provide comprehensive package for all with special attention to employment, education and reservation in professional/technical colleges and jobs, de-addiction centres and immediately shifting of camp inmates to the newly constructed satellite towns.
• To address all the above issues of the refugees, a Special Refugee Development Board should be constituted to provide the justice to the Refugee families. Fresh registration refugee families should be carried out and a special economic and employment package should be provided.
• It should also abandon its ‘valley centric’ approach which is a hindrance to address any issues in J&K outside of the valley.
• Last but not the least, the GOI should abrogate article 370 and enable the complete integration of J&K into the Indian union.

Together we make a world of difference

While we expect the governments to act on the suggestions above, there are lot many things refugees themselves and people sympathetic to their cause can do to alleviate their condition:

• The refugees should organize themselves at the national and international levels and raise voice at UN, EU and other international fora.
• More books, periodicals and blogs which highlight the problems of all refugees in J&K should be published. Articles should be written in national and international dailies frequently to garner voice for the refugees.
• Concerned MLAs of J&K should take up the issue in the state assembly by moving resolutions regularly on the refugee problems. For.eg. A MLA could move a resolution pertaining to the violation of human rights of the refugees and another can move a resolution to grant State subject status to them. MPs of national parties should also raise the issue during question hour and elicit response from the GOI.
• Research scholars and academics in various universities across India who are sympathetic to the refugees cause should take up the task of writing and publishing research papers and present the same at various national and international arenas. PHDs should be obtained in the study of the conditions and solutions for refugees in J&K.
• Organize peaceful protests regularly in J&K and other cities of India until the government comes up with a lasting solution for the issues raised by the refugee fraternity.
• Organize regular get-together's of the refugee families, so that the present and next generation of the refugees do not forget their culture, tradition, customs and the problems they faced. A lasting solution is only possible when the new generation is aware of the travails faced by their ancestors. 

Each category of refugees has its specific problems but the above suggestions will go a long way in addressing issues faced by them. But first of all a thorough study is needed to know the exact situation. If the government is not interested or is unable to do that, some NGOs and research scholars should undertake the task in an objective and impartial manner as is possible. Above all, the political and community leaders should rise above partisan and regional or religious considerations and treat this as a human problem which essentially it is.

Credits and References:

'Refugees of J&K - A Hapless lot' by Prof.Virendra Gupta

In Jammu's Camps, No Relief by Aditi Bhaduri - http://goo.gl/BfqAm

A lost generation in Jammu's refugee camps by Anju Munshi- http://goo.gl/ue7Q6

The Forgotten People of Jammu and Kashmir: 'Refugees' from PoK by D. Suba Chandran
Asst. Director, IPCS- http://goo.gl/iHTWC

Refugee problem in Jammu and Kashmir by Balraj Puri - http://goo.gl/IOh60

Apathy towards Refugees by Ramesh Arora (Adv.) - http://goo.gl/dRDLZ

The Kashmiri Pandits: An Ethnic Cleansing the World Forgot by KPS Gill - http://goo.gl/O04p8

-- Concluded --

Note: Photos have been sourced from the web. Hence all photos belong to their rightful owners.