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| Now it's the Sikhs' turn, separatists'shedding crocodile tears | | |
RUSTAM
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, July 31: It is pertinent to mention here that the forced exodus, which started with the migration of Kashmiri Hindus, had affected all communities. In fact, their migration was followed by the migration of non-Kashmiri Hindus, several Sikh families and hundreds of Muslims who opposed "Jehad" against the "infidels" and stood for the country's unity and integrity. By the middle of 1990, the total number of Sikhs and Kashmiri Muslims, who had registered themselves for relief in Jammu, had gone up to 18,000 and 800, respectively. A big chunk of Muslim migrants were activists of "mainstream" parties, relatives of political leaders and employees. They migrated following the kidnapping of Prof Mushir-ul-Haq, Vice-Chancellor of Kashmir University, and spurt in the killing of political personalities (The Times of India, July 16, 1990 & July 5, 1995; the Hindustan Times, Dec. 27, 1993 & Aug. 15, 1995)
Persecution of non-Muslims in Kashmir is not a new phenomenon. It is centuries old. It all started with the end of the indigenous rule in Kashmir in 1339, when the locals were confronted with a choice between religious persecution and conversion and migration. A majority of those relatively weak, gullible and unwilling to relinquish their original habitat and landed property preferred the new religion. But those with a spirit to suffer outside the landlocked Kashmir Valley for all that they regarded very dear took to migration-the process that dotted the Valley's socio-religious and political scene with "seven migrations" (Sehayogi Times, Dec. 10-16 & 24, 1995 and Jan 26 & Feb 18, 1996) till April 1990, when all but a handful of Kashmiri Hindus and Sikhs quit their homes and hearths to become refugees in their own what we call "democratic and secular India." The only period in the Kashmir's history after 1339 when the non-believers/non-Muslims did not suffer persecution was between 1819 and October 1947. This was the period when Kashmir was ruled by the Sikhs of Punjab and the Dogras of Jammu.
When in October 1947 J&K acceded to India, it was widely believed that the non-Muslims in Kashmir will not be persecuted and that they will be allowed to lead a dignified. Unfortunately, it did not happen. Certain elements in the political establishment in the state evolved and pursued such policies that compelled the Kashmiri Hindus, and even Sikhs, to seek shelter and employment outside Kashmir. These policies virtually pushed them out of the Valley by denying access to the state government jobs, professional colleges and technical institutions. And, all this under the garb of "rescuing Kashmiri Muslims from backwardness and illiteracy" (Khazanchi, Romesh, "Plight of Hindus in Kashmir", The Times of India, July 15, 1993).
A cursory look at the sale deeds executed in Kashmir and Jammu after 1947, transfer, appointment and promotion orders, petitions for transfer from Kashmir to Jammu or elsewhere, civil lists and so on reveal that certain elements in the establishment had all through tried to not only to give a particular type of orientation to the Kashmir's polity and economy, but also conducted themselves in a manner which did not leave many non-Muslims/"infidels" with any other option but to quit Kashmir.
The most disturbing aspect of the whole situation was the New Delhi's failure to check the process of religious cleansing in Kashmir. In fact, the rulers in New Delhi watched all that was done systematically by certain elements in the administration and outside to harm the noon-Muslim minorities as a mute spectator and allowed things to climax to the point where it became extremely difficult for the descendents of Abhinavgupta, Kalhana and Lal Ded and "pillars of Indian civilization" to live peacefully and with dignity in Kashmir. They were, in reality, caught between two fires of exclusiveness - the fundamentalists' exclusiveness of "Nizam-e-Mustafa" and New Delhi's exclusiveness of vote-bank. For the fundamentalists in Kashmir they were stumbling blocks; for New Delhi they were too insignificant a minority to be taken any cognizance of and protected against exclusion and persecution.
That the non-Muslims, including Hindus and Sikhs were treated like second class subjects by those who mattered between 1947 and 1990 can be seen from the 1986 report from Kashmir by none other than the formerly editor of The Hindustan Times, HK Dua. The Dua's report read like this: "The minority community of Kashmiri Pandits has suffered discrimination under successive regimes in the Valley but the Anantnag communal riots have left them in a state of shock…While the Centre's Kashmir policy is apparently in the melting pot, the travails of Kashmiri Pandits have emerged as the immediate issue. Kashmiri Pandits numbered nearly three lakh in 1947…their population has dwindled because of the continuing migration to other parts of the country. They leave the Valley because of discrimination in recruitments for jobs, admission in educational institutions and economic deprivation…The recent violence (1986) has shattered their confidence. They are feeling bitter, frustrated and bewildered" (Maheshwari, Anil, "A matter of attitude", The Hindustan Times, Jan. 9, 1994). (To be continued)
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