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PANUN KASHMIR Central Secretariat: 149-Lower Luxminagar, Sarwal, Jammu-180005 (India) ( Phone: 0-9419141214 / 0-9419859983) Ref: PK/2010-Shivratri Date: February 12 th 2010 (Phagun 1, Kashmiri Pandit Nirvasan Samvat-20) MESSAGE On the auspicious occasion of this Mahashivratri, it gives us immense pleasure to release the document book KASHMIR DOCUMENTATION: Pandits in Exile on the Internet. This was a long pending desire of our members and friends in general particularly in the event when the book in question is out of stock. This document was published in April 2004 and released in July 2004 at New Delhi and Jammu. This book has reached members of the displaced Kashmiri Pandit community, government and non-government institutions including schools, colleges and universities in India and outside India and scholars of various universities and accredited schools of learning. It has also found its place in institutions like International Criminal Court, Global Human Rights Defense, PMO, American Library Congress affiliated institutions. It also reached human rights activists and a number of imminent persons active in public field. With its release on the Internet, we hope that a vast audience would be benefited with its contents, and the facts regarding Kashmir and Kashmiri Hindus would be brought into more focus. We are thankful to Shri Sunil Fotedar (US), who has taken this responsibility to release the document book on the NET, for his sincere efforts. May the Almighty bless him. We also convey our special thanks to Shri Sanjay Kaul (US) for his contributions in this regard . With profound regards Ashwani Kumar Chrungoo, President, PANUN KASHMIR Prof. H.L.Jalali, Senior Vice President, PANUN KASHMIR Virender Raina, National Spokesperson, PANUN KASHMIR Email: [email protected] KASHMIR DOCUMENTATION Pandits in Exile PANUN KASHMIR MOVEMENT (PKM) Central Camp Office Jammu (India) KASHMIR DOCUMENTATION Ist Edition 2004 Internet Edition 2010 All rights reserved with –© Panun Kashmir (PK) 149, Lower Laxmi Nagar, Sarwal, Jammu-180005 India E-mail: [email protected] [email protected] 1 Ashwani Kumar Chrungoo PREFACE Twenty years ago, a group of young and dedicated Kashmiri Pandits organised the ‘Hindu Youth Convention’ at Srinagar (Kashmir). With a burning desire to reshape the destiny of the Pandit Community in the Kashmir valley, the Convention raised its voice against repression, intimidation, persecution and Muslim precedence. These voices also reached the corridors of power in New Delhi, but the seat of power chose to turn a deaf ear to the alarming bells in Kashmir. In line with their policy of appeasement, the then authorities in power abdicated their obligations and what followed is history –the history of death and destruction, arson and loot, selective killings and mass massacres, genocide, exodus and ethnic cleansing of the aborigines of Kashmir –the Kashmiri Pandits. The Pandits, in exile, faced a new and unheard form of apartheid. They, after becoming the victims of majoritarianism and fundamentalism, terror and terrorism became the victims of the State too. In a struggle of new dimensions, while they were in the initial phase of their exile, the Pandits launched a movement in early 1990 to espouse their political aspirations. The very group of the Kashmiri Pandit youth, which was instrumental in organizing the ‘Hindu Youth Convention’ in 1985 in Kashmir, formed the core of the organisation to found and take the movement forward. As a part of this group, fortunately for me, I was a party and witness to the developments that followed. The campaign began with the ‘Kashmiri Hindu Convention’ in 1990, followed by a massive and marathon public contact drive for more than one year, resulting in the holding of Margdarshan Conference of 1991 at Jammu. The Homeland Resolution of the Margdarshan- 1991 caught the imagination of the people and made them rally round the leadership which took their concerns to new heights. It was however, observed that the concept which formed 2 KASHMIR DOCUMENTATION the basic foundation of the homeland resolution was being eroded which forced the cadres of the movement for homeland reorganise themselves with a view to resisting the derailment of the Margdarshan Resolution of Homeland. In this process, the Panun Kashmir Movement(PKM) was born. The PKM faced many kinds of challenges. The Panun Kashmir Movement(PKM) spearheaded the struggle with a clear vision, despite heavy odds. With the experiences of success and failures, the PKM took the Kashmiri Pandit movement to new horizons, with special emphasis on the undiluted political ideology, application of human rights and unity of purpose within the Pandit community. In its presentations at the national and international level, the PKM made sincere and serious efforts to document facts about Kashmir and Kashmiri Pandits. A hard labour of days, months and years brought to the fore a voluminous material about issues of concern. We feel greatly satisfied that these meticulously drafted pieces of labour helped to make the parliamentarians, congressmen and senators, human rights bodies, commissions, courts and tribunals, international opinion makers and the key players in and outside the country, besides the general public, aware about the real face of Kashmir imbroglio. These documents of great value were quite in demand for a long time. The political and human rights activists, research fellows and students of history, politics and Kashmir affairs, the government and the non-government representatives from both within and outside the country, desired to have these documents for study, perusal, information, knowledge and follow-up action. In order to cater to these needs and demands, the PKM was of the view to reprint these documents and make them available, in the shape of a new book, to the people at large. It was a dream, difficult, if not impossible, to be realized. After a great deal of thought, Prof. M.L.Raina, senior member of the PKM, was considerate and kind enough to own the responsibility to edit the new document. It is the outcome of his two years of vigorous efforts in the capacity of the Editor- Project Documentation, that we have KASHMIR DOCUMENTATION Pandits in Exile in our hands. No words are adequate enough to thank Sh. R.K.Raina, a dedicated activist of PKM, 3 for his outstanding help to Prof.Raina to complete the project. My special thanks are due to the Cyber Systems, Jammu (India) for their painstaking efforts to help us publish this document. We hope our efforts will bear fruit. In a long drawn out struggle of generations, Kashmir Doumentation is a precious gift of this generation to the generations that will follow. I salute the activists of the PKM for their unstinted support, assistance and encouragement. It would not have been possible, without their support, to realize this dream. I also feel indebted to those who were a part of us earlier, for their valuable contributions. They have been always a source of strength to me and the Panun Kashmir Movement(PKM). I salute them too. On the occasion of the completion of the fifteenth year of the exile of Kashmiri Pandits and on the completion of ten years of its existence as an organization, the Panun Kashmir Movement(PKM) rededicates itself to the cause so dear to it. It is time to redefine the PKM to carry forward the legacy of ascetic commitment and Karmayoga - An agitation of truth to expose brazen lies, A rebellion against subjugation, A fender against felony, A crusade to overcome neglect, A long battle to win the war of survival, A campaign for restoration of rights, A struggle to keep the issues alive, And a movement to regain what is lost……… Is the name that is called the Panun Kashmir It is verily the mission -with a vision- in action. Ashwani Kumar Chrungoo, President, Panun Kashmir Movement (PKM) Jammu - India [email protected] 0191-2532400 / 2533252 14 th April, 2004(Baisakh 2 nd , Kashmiri Pandit Nirvasan Samvat-15) 4 KASHMIR DOCUMENTATION Invocation ;Kl t+il O;ogkjl;W XoM ps++;W Lojku izFk dkjl;W A dkjl vuku Nq[k p+;W tek vkse Jh x.ks”kk; ue%AA We reverently bow to you, gracious Lord Ganesh, And seek your kind help, ever and always. All matters, spiritual and mundane, Be they sacred oblations, Or musings of a higher import, Or be they acts of worldly concern -- All these are preceded By an ardent invocation of your name, For, all our pursuits on various planes See their fulfilment and fruition Through your free flowing grace. We offer our humble obeisance To you, gracious Lord Ganesh . * * * 5 INTRODUCTION Realities are, at times, stranger than fiction. Kashmiri Pandits, the aboriginal inhabitants of Kashmir, could have never imagined even in the wildest of their dreams, in this modern age of reason and enlightenment, that they would be pushed out, at gunpoint, and forced to live outside the Valley, the place of their birth and the ancient abode of their forefathers, with the status of refugees in their own country. The forced exodus of the Kashmiri Pandits in 1990, designed to effect the motivated ethnic cleansing, will go down, as yet another dark period, in the chequered history of these aborigines of Kashmir, who have been facing continual persecution and genocide for hundreds of years at the hands of Muslim rulers. The embers of hatred against the Kashmiri Pandit Community were never allowed to die down with the passage of time, but were, instead, caused to flare up every now and then, and, as a result, the members of this hapless community could neither escape the wrath of the public nor the perpetual fear and panic, and suffered in silence. The atrocities they were subjected to reached their peak, during the dark days of despotic rule of Muslim kings.

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