It is proclaimed that the government is a group of people who make laws to ensure the well-being and harmony of all the citizens in the country. In a democratic country, we choose the people whom we believe will protect the rights of everyone. What would happen if those very individuals left the public to fend for themselves? The Kashmiri Exodus is an ideal example of such an incident.
It is well-known that there is massive tension prevalent amongst Hindus (Kashmiri Pandits) and Muslims; however, the situation in Kashmir is viewed as an extreme case involving several shootings.
It’s been over thirty years since the Kashmiri Exodus, or the anti-Hindu campaign. It was a truly tragic event that essentially left the Kashmiri Pandits with no choice but to flee a place they once called ‘home’. A place commonly referred to as ‘heaven on earth’ saw bloodshed and chaos. On January 4th, 1990, a local Urdu newspaper published a warning which demanded the local Kashmiri Pandits to leave the locality immediately. Following this were several hate speeches, recorded cassettes, reports, and slogans carrying the same warning: leave the valley and never look back or children will be hurt. Loud broadcasts were played in mosques which exhorted hysterical mobs to embark on Jehad.
Furthermore, a letter was written which noted the following:
‘We order you to leave Kashmir immediately, otherwise, your children will be harmed- we are not scaring you but this land is only for Muslims, and is the land of Allah. Sikhs and Hindus cannot stay here. A grim threat was added to the end ‘If you do not obey, we will start with your children. Kashmir Liberation, Zindabad.”
The hysteria, shootings, angry mobs left the Hindus with no alternative but to leave everything behind. The first efflux occurred on January 20th, 1990, and continued for years to come. According to estimates by Kashmiri Pandit Sangharsh Samiti (KPSS), from 75,343 Kashmiri Pandit families in January 1990, more than 70,000 fled between 1990 and 1992. The KPSS recorded that Kashmiri Pandits killed by militants from 1990 to 2011 to be 399, the majority of which took place during 1989-90.
The one person who has the power to control or at least mitigate the disastrous impact on people is the chief minister of the state. Farooq Abdullah was the chief minister at the time of these events. The public put their entire faith in him. However, on the night of 19th January 1990, a night that would be remembered for years later, Farooq Abdullah resigned from his post as the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir- a step that left the state in complete darkness.
This event has shown us how a powerful man and a government who could have saved the lives of thousands let them down. How an unserviceable government drove thousands of families away from their beautiful homeland. How a ‘puppet-like government’ encouraged rogue behavior.
A government has immense control over the happenings of the state but instead chose to leave the minority, the threatened, stranded. And that is the tale of the Kashmiri Exodus. Estimates suggest that there are around 3,000 Pandits left in the valley today – a horrendous decrease from the 300,000 who used to live there.
Although this incident took place decades ago, it should not be something we mourn and move on from. It cannot become a ‘forgotten tragedy’. We must work together as a nation to ensure our fellow citizens do not become the ‘prey’ because not standing up for them means we help the ‘predators’. This devastating event was an eye-opener and taught us to protect our land, our people.
3 replies on “Looking back: The Kashmiri Exodus”
Loved the article! Precisely sums up a rather unfortunate event with all the details one needs to know. Kudos to the author.
One of the most upfront and accurate article!
I believe that we Hindus are partially responsible for this, if only we stood shoulder to shoulder with our brothers and sisters this wouldn’t have happened.
After WWII a German poet wrote about how the Nazis killed the socialists, then the Catholics and he didn’t speak up because he didn’t belong to those groups and when they decided to kill him, by then no one was left to speak up.
Similarly, they went after the Kashmiris and now they’re in Bengal, and before we know they’ll be in our cities.
A brilliant article, very happy to see that someone considers this discussion worthy otherwise these days people only talk about the internet problems in Kashmir.