This article is written by Miss Haya Ashraf, BBA LLB 3rd year student from Jemtec School of Law, Greater Noida.
Introduction
Kashmiri pandit, a Hindu (any person who is a Buddhist, Jain or Sikh)(1) minority group part of the larger Saraswat Brahmin community, with a large number of educated people and most of them at the job of teaching, living in the region of Kashmir, who were forced to leave Kashmir valley from early 1990 onwards due to threats from the Islamic radicals. This was considered a hamartian tragedy as lakhs of pandits lost their homes, jobs, lands and had to live like refugees in their own country without any proper facilities like housing etc. This article aims to draw out how the justice delayed is justice denied with the reference of the Kashmiri Pandit as due to the delay they were denied justice and still, there has been no resolution regarding this case.
Political History of Kashmir
In 1980 Sheikh Abdullah was the chief minister of Kashmir and was considered a towering figure in the history of J&K as he was there since the time of independence and was a friend of Jawaharlal Nehru. Sheikh Abdullah was there for 30 years in Kashmir's politics but by 1980 he began to think that his control over the state is loosening so he changed his secular outlook to a bit radical one and started addressing Kashmiri pandits as ‘mukhbir’ or ‘others’, so this event marked as the beginning of discrimination against the Kashmiri pandits but it was only limited to only some speeches and there was no outright policy of the government regarding it. He died in 1982 and his seat was passed on to his son Farooq Abdullah.
In the 1983 national conference led by Farooq Abdullah won the assembly elections and came into power, he also took his oath by governor Jagmohan like Sheikh Abdullah.
In July 1984 Farooq Abdullah's government was bought down by congress along with a few members of the national conference and Ghulam Mohammad shah commonly known as Gul shah, Farooq Abdullah's brother-in-law, came into power. The government of Gul shah wasn't stable at all as many riots took place during his rule, temples were demolished, Hindus were killed and their properties were damaged and what he did was “nothing”.
Rajiv Gandhi's central government was unhappy with the government of Gul shah and in 1986 he decided not to support Gul's government and the governor's rule was imposed in March 1986 when the congress withdrew its support to gul shah. The Farooq-Rajiv accord was signed in December 1986 and Farooq was reappointed as the chief minister of Kashmir but this election happened in march 1987 which went down in Kashmir's history as one of the most fraudulent and rigged elections and this election changed the history of Kashmir.
Opposition of Farooq was an organisation called MUF Muslim united front and it consisted of people who were unhappy with the early 1980’s policies, state government and central government. Most of its leaders later went on to become known terrorists. There was a popular wave in favour of MUF and it was believed that MUF would win the elections but when the results were out MUF won only 4 seats, so these 1987 elections were called as rigged and even Farooq Abdullah later in an interview accepted it.(2) So, because of this people got mad at the government as well as the Indian state.
One more interesting thing that one should know about this election is that many famous faces were also involved in this election like Syed Salahuddin who later became the main commander of Hizb-ul mujahideen, Yasin malik right hand of Salahuddin and was later convicted for the murder of 4 Indian air force personal during an attack in 1990 and kidnapping of Rubaiyya Sayeed(3), Gulam Qadir Wani JKLF's publicity secretary, Syed Ail Shah Geelani member of Jama'at e Islami and called as the father of Kashmiri jihad(4), Mohammad Ismail Bhat member of Jama'at e Islami, whose son and many family members later joined Hizb-ul-Mujahideen.(5)
So, the 1987 elections are considered a watershed movement in the history of Kashmir.
Islamisation in Kashmir
Islamisation in Kashmir began more rapidly after these world events-
1-The Afghan jihad against the Soviets in 1979 was supported by Pakistan as well as the USA and apart from this Pakistan government even started to promote jihad in Kashmir.
2-The Islamic revolution of Iran, as an outcome of which the Islamic government came into power which gave these Islamic radicals confidence that if Iran can do it so can we.
3-Spread of Wahabism from the nations like Saudi Arabia etc. (via Pakistan). Wahabism ideology which is the ideology of radical Islam and the ISI and Pakistani government were the ones to spread this radical ideology in Kashmir.
So, ISI and Pakistan started training the cadres of organisations like JKLF (Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front), giving them weapons like ak47, they were given training on the other side of LOC which is Pakistan occupied Kashmir.
So basically, there were 2 groups at that time who mobilised the fast-growing anti-Indian sentiments among the Kashmir population who were already mad at that time because of the 1987 elections-
The JKLF wanted independence from India and no merger with Pakistan that is they wanted a separate or say independent Kashmir.
Jama’at e Islami Kashmir which was more or less a social organisation wanted to merge Kashmir with Pakistan.
The run-up from 1987-18th January 1990
1-After the defeat of MUF, the MUF cadre became more radical and disenchanted with the Indian government.
2-Kashmiri militants started threatening and even killing anyone who openly expressed pro-Indian policies and Kashmiri pandits was specifically targeted because firstly they were Hindus and a minority in Kashmir and secondly, they were not concentrated in any particular area that is they were present all over the valley and also as they were into education so their number in bureaucracy was also more.
3-By the end of 1988, insurgency had set in with open demands of independence of Kashmir and pandits leaving Kashmir, and imposition of nizam e Mustafa that is Islamic rule in Kashmir were being voiced on the streets by JKLF.
4-Benazir Bhutto then prime minister of Pakistan also added fuel to the fire and made speeches promoting jihad in Kashmir and extolling young Kashmiris to fight against India and hundreds of young Islamic militants were recruited from madrasas to do ISI's dirty works.
5-Prominent faces or say the public figures in the community of Kashmiri pandits were killed by the militants like-
a-Pandit Tika Lal Taploo was killed on 14th September,1989, an advocate and a prominent local leader of BJP in Srinagar.
b-Pandit Nilkanth Ganjoo was shot dead on 2nd October 1989 who was a retired judge and was the judge who sentenced the founder of JKLF Maqbool Bhat to death in 1984.
c-Prem Nath Bhat was shot dead on 27 December,1989 in Anantnag who was a journalist-lawyer.
6- Another event that gave them more confidence was the kidnapping of Rubaiyya Sayeed daughter of then home minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed with a demand of releasing 5 terrorists to secure Sayeed's daughter. The government accepted their demand after which militants were emboldened multifold and they started roaming freely with weapons on the streets of Kashmir.
7-On January 04,1990 a local Urdu newspaper of Kashmir valley published a press release issued by Hizb-ul mujahideen asking all the pandits to leave the valley immediately otherwise their children will be the first ones to be targeted.
8-Military-type marches were openly carried out by the masked men carrying AK-47s threatening the pandits to leave the valley. Even hit lists of pandits were in circulation and as many prominent faces were already killed a wave of panic had hit the community.
9-Bomb explosions and sporadic firing by the militants became a daily occurrence.
10-Explosive and inflammatory speeches were being broadcasted from the public address systems of the mosques like “pandits leave the valley”.
11-After the suggestion of Mufti Muhammad Sayeed, the then prime minister VP Singh appointed Jagmohan as the governor of Kashmir again and he was appointed as the governor again on 19 January,1990 and he left for Srinagar as he got to know that there is an atmosphere of fear among the pandits but he didn't reach Srinagar due to inclement weather.
12-As Jagmohan was the one who in 1984 removed Farooq Abdullah and was not liked by Farooq Abdullah and in protest against his appointment CM Farooq Abdullah resigned the same day.
13-The government was present in Jammu at that time because J&K's capital changed in winter and the government comes to Jammu from Srinagar because of this fear among the valley pandits even increased more as the government was not machinery present and even the CM resigned. So, all in all the CM resigned, the governor has reached the state the same day, governor rule has been imposed but the governor haven't got all the powers that is government and administration yet, the government machinery was somewhat paralysed and there wasn't any control of the government which terrorised the pandits even more.
The night of terror-19th January 1990
On the evening of the 19th of January 1990 matters came to head. In a very coordinated way or say a planned manner highly provocative, communal, threatening slogans were raised all across the valley. Speeches were made extolling Pakistan, about the supremacy of Islam, against Hinduism like “Pakistan zindabad”, “anyone who comes on the way of Islamic rule will be killed” and “Kashmiri pandits leave the valley”.
Entire night of 19th January went like this and thousands of pandits on 20th January,1990 the first stream began to leave the valley with hastily packed belongings and many were even stopped from taking their belongings and were said whatever they earned here will stay here only, so they left with two pair of clothes and in whatever transport they could find at that time from Srinagar to Jammu.
This exodus of pandits started on 20th January,1990 and continued till April,1990 after more pandits were killed. On 13th February,1990 another prominent face Lassa Kaul station director of Srinagar door darshan was shot dead because he used to release only pro India news and not anti-India news.
The atrocities continued and according to the pandits who fled the valley, many women were kidnapped, raped, murdered at the time of the exodus. Many killings took place even after 1990 during 1991- 2004 and as per government reports 219 Kashmiri pandits were killed in the valley but other sources state that at least 700-800 pandits in the 1997 and 2001 massacres were killed and around 1-3 lakh pandits left the valley.
According to Kashmiri Pandits Sangharsh (KPSS) there were 75,343 families who lived in the valley in 1990 out of which 70000 families fled between 1990-2002.
After leaving the valley the pandits went to Jammu, their homes in the valley were either occupied by the locals also called as squatters or sold at throwaway prices. Some pandits went to Delhi and other cities while others lived in Jammu in filthy camps or say refugee camps called Jagati in a hope that the situation will get better in a year or so and they'll get back to their homes back in the valley but this never happened even today after 30 years.
In 2008 a scheme was run by the central government and the Kashmiri government that Kashmiri pandits will be bought back to the valley, will be given jobs, accommodations but very less pandits accepted the offer because what is the guarantee of what happened in 1990 will not happen again.
Currently, only 800 families remained in the valley through these three decades.(6)
Plea to probe mass murder of Kashmiri Pandits in the supreme court-
The Supreme Court refused to entertain a plea seeking a probe and prosecution of various persons, including separatist leader Yasin Malik, for offences including the murder of over 700 Kashmiri Pandits during the height of militancy in the Valley in 1989-90.
A bench of Chief Justice J S Khehra and Justice D Y Chandrachud said that almost 27 years have passed and it will be very difficult to gather evidence in cases of murder, arson and looting which had led to a mass exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley.
"You (petitioner) sat over it for the last 27 years. Now tell us from where the evidence will come," the bench said.(7)
Conclusion-
Losing our home and getting thrown out of our own houses and living like a refugee in one’s own country, getting killed just because of your identity, being threatened, living in fear everything clearly violates one’s right to their life and personal liberty. The case of Kashmiri pandits is a perfect example of justice delayed is justice denied as justice was not carried out right away timely and because of the delay of almost 27 years, justice was denied to the pandits due to lack of evidence even after 215 FIRs been lodged relating to the murder of over 700 Kashmiri Pandits and none of the cases have reached a logical conclusion because of the delay.
"Justice too long delayed is justice denied."
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
REFERENCE :
- Section1(a) Hindu marriage act
- https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/full-transcript-your-call-with-farooq-abdullah-472093
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yasin_Malik
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syed_Ali_Shah_Geelani
- https://kashmirlife.net/mohammad-ismail-bhat-issue-no-01-vol-08-100057/
- https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/exodus-of-kashmiri-pandits-from-valley-6232410/
- https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/sc-refuses-plea-to-probe-mass-murder-of-kashmiri-pandits/articleshow/59734675.cms?from=mdr
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