What happened in the valley after the murder of 35-year-old Rahul Bhatt, It has had a deep impact on the psyche of the pundits living there. Thirty-three years ago he was forced to leave his homeland, But now they themselves want to leave their motherland. They have a strong demand,’Get us out of the valley, This is happening for the first time.… Real change in Kashmir is possible only then, When the politics of lies and politics on tragedy and hatred stop and face the ground truth with determination!
There is anger in the valley. People are sad and worried. Roughly speaking, a lot has happened. This anger is not among Muslims, as we often hear and read, but among Kashmiri Hindus and Pandits, who are still living in the Kashmir Valley, who, despite the fear of threat to life and existence, and the uncertainties of the future. Loved going back there. Those Hindus, Kashmiri Pandits are now angry, full of anger. And it is natural. What has happened in the Valley after the murder of 35-year-old Rahul Bhatt has had a deep impact on the psyche of the Pandits living there. Thirty-three years ago he was forced to leave his homeland, but now he himself wants to leave his homeland. Their vehement demand is, ‘Get us out of the valley’.
This is happening for the first time. The Valley is once again in trouble due to terrorism and targeted killings of Hindus. There are targeted killings of Hindus, so fear is spread and there is anger at the failure and helplessness of the government-administration. The question is what is wrong in this situation? Why is there a movement for the exit of Pandits from ‘New Kashmir’?
First of all, keep one fact in mind. Not all Pandits and Hindus left the Valley in the 1990s. Most had left the house, but a handful decided to stay put and fight the menace hanging at the door. But unfortunately, those Hindus and Pandits were not discussed in the Narrative. He was not worried. He was kept aloof from the conversation of circumstances and efforts. His life, his problems, his worries, his uncertainties were overlooked time and again. Little was known about him outside, nor much has been told, written or reported about him in the past 33 years.
There has been talk of resettling the Pandits back in the Valley, lucrative promises have been made to them, but not once did the governments – Central or State – nor the local administration pay attention to the Hindus and Pandits already living in the Valley. His daily life has been continuously affected by tension and violence. Notably, after the Amarnath movement in 2008, the Kashmir unrest in 2010, the floods in 2014, the killing of terrorist Burhan Wani in 2016, and then the abrogation of Article 370, they were under a lot of tensions. Despite this, they persevered.
Whenever the politicians talked about bringing back the Pandits, giving back their vacant-lost houses and land, the Pandits living there used to be silently happy, but rarely did they raise their problems and troubles themselves. Made it focus on you. In the small temporary houses of the valley, every Hindu and pandit who lived in extreme conditions once owned grand houses. His life was wonderful. Now their homes are in ruins, in bad times they are in misery and plight. The paint covering the old walls is coming off, the gardens are not well maintained, the window panes are broken and hanging. The old zero watt bulb on the door flickers in a dim light.
The decision of this anonymous, dark and unexplained life of Hindus in the Valley because they are their own, they have been living in their own condition. There is no support and strength or trust from anywhere. They are unknown in their own land. Similarly, if a thousand Pandits who decided to come back under the PM Rehabilitation Program were taken to fortified settlements of small houses, they too are living in oblivion. An eerie calmness of uneasiness and pain prevails in homes. Forced to live in small box-like flats, these people are packed one after the other. They were assured that they would feel at home. But without basic amenities and in the midst of instability, economic and social difficulties all around.
Hindus (and Sikhs) remained in the Valley, despite the odds, while some among the Pandits, chose to return for a job opportunity. Everyone relied on the government’s strength and promises, which had certainly increased a lot after the Modi government was formed. In 2019, when Article 370 was abrogated, there was a renewed hope and enthusiasm with the disbelief of this happening, especially among the Hindus and Pandits of the Valley. They began to feel more secure in the power of Prime Minister Modi. He was sure that the power of Modi and Shah would bring back normalcy in the Valley. The old normal life will return and with the change will come prosperity. What they didn’t even dream about was the realization that after three years they would once again be trapped in the old bloody days of the 90s. Their lives will come to an end and this time they will be trapped from two sides. He will not be heard anywhere in the double crisis.
Rahul Bhatt, Supinder Kaur, Deepak Chand, Makhan Lal Bindru, a Bihari migrant, son of the owner of Krishna Dhaba, were killed in their shop and office. Those who were targeted by the terrorists were killed at their place of work. In government offices, government schools, shops, streets and restaurants. Means no place is safe for the minorities of the valley. These deaths have shattered the trust of Hindus and Pandits in their powerful government.
Not only this, the biggest shocking incident is that no one is worrying about them. While the security machinery of security has failed, the Hindus have not even got the assurance from the government that we are. The government which was expected to provide security, compassion, hearing, concern experienced police excesses. The stick went It felt like being surrounded by them. The terror of targeted killings in the so-called secure ‘new Kashmir’ on the one hand and the administration-government insensitive on the other. Delay even on the suggestion of trust from transfers at the district level instead of a small place!
Because the administration below is there, which has been going on in the past. It is a common complaint of every Kashmiri man or woman, Hindu or Muslim in Srinagar that “only files get buried here.” The problem is local administration and local government. There is a gulf between those on the ground and those in power. There is a shortage of sympathy and compassion. Be it incompetence or ignorance, the fact is that even today’s Kashmir, the so-called ‘New Kashmir’, from the tehsil-district to the head of state and the home ministry, is not properly conveyed to the top the grim realities. Right feedback, suggestions for grassroots solutions never reach the top.
In such a situation, there is no meaning in the narrative created through the film ‘Kashmir Files’ that ‘what we did not know, we now know’. How to become aware of what is present in the Kashmir Valley, the fear in which a few Hindus and Pandits have to live there? In the continuation of the targeted killings, how did Hindus build confidence that they would be safe if they stayed there? Why should their demand that we not live in the valley be considered wrong?
The country was exposed to a dark past through ‘Kashmir Files’, but why is everyone careless about the present, reminding them of the past? The government, ardent devotees, film producers and campaigners, media, civil society all went to Kashmir through ‘Kashmir Files’. But hasn’t everyone forgotten about the Hindus and Pandits who live there?
In the aftermath of the assassination of Rahul Bhatt, Omar Abdullah had tweeted saying ‘Kashmir is far from normal today’. But was Kashmir ever normal? Fear has always been an integral part of Kashmir, the Valley. Today there is uncertainty around every corner. No one can really feel safe in the valley. Everyone experiences some degree of fear – Hindu, Sikh, Muslim, police, government servant, a teacher, a Bihari migrant, a shop owner, etc. There is fear of terrorists, there is fear of government, there is fear of local leaders, there is fear of isolation, there is fear of being forgotten.
‘Nothing is in Kashmir’ is a jumla actually spoken by Hindus and Muslims collectively. In fact, Kashmir – whether Manmohan Singh’s new or Narendra Modi’s new – has nothing in it. There is no infrastructure, no economic prospects, no social conditions. Every Muslim who can afford has sent his children out of Kashmir. Every Hindu family that has decided to stay in Kashmir has also sent its children out. Kashmir was never happy, never had normalcy, it doesn’t even know normalcy.
The question is, what is the solution to the plight of Kashmiri Hindus and Pandits demanding their expulsion from the Valley?
Indeed it is impossible for the government to provide security to every Hindu and Pandit living in the valley, so perhaps they should fulfill their demand. Because one must accept the fact that the barrage of false hopes and promises is never going to stop. And this will continue to be done not only in Kashmir but with Pandits across the country. Narratives will continue to be built on top of the narrative and show that all is well in ‘Naya Kashmir’, while in reality nothing is and will not be. But you know and as much as I know, there is hope to fade away with time. People are leaving the Kashmir Valley, many will leave, yet some will remain. We cannot understand how they will live in the surroundings and landscapes of fear. But it is only from them that the flame of Hindu identity will be left in the valley, a culture breathing in the midst of plight, fear and anger!
Real change in Kashmir is possible only when the politics of lies and politics on tragedy and hatred stop and face the ground truth with determination!
