At  last there has sprung up  someone in the person of  Sh. Razdan of the Union Defence Ministry connection who is supposed to have revealed the ‘untold reality’ of the Kashmiri Pandit exodus. The conclusions that he has drawn are of a piece with those of a celebrity who recently blurted out that he had suggested construction of barracks at suitable sites in the Valley to resettle the Pandits without realizing what he was saying. The people like the aforesaid celebrity have been at the helm of affairs and one such is even projected these days as the Prime Ministerial candidate by the Congress President, the fate of the nation generally and of Kashmiri Pandits particularly, could not be other than what it is. Nor can the latter expect the truth to be ever told abut them for obvious reasons.

The suggestion of the worthy of putting up KPs in barracks in the Valley is to say the least ludicrous and betrays ignorance of the situation or most probably sought to subserve a particular design and pattern in official dealings with the terrorists. Perhaps the idea may have been in all likelihood to pander to terrorist demands in the hope  of some settlement, the ‘animal farms’ thus set up with Pandit inmates representing ransom for a wished for settlement with the terrorist outfits, unmindful on knowingly in all likelihood of the certain annihilation of the inmates either way by conversion or physical decimation.

Such being the general ideological perception of the problem, no wonder, a person with Defence Ministry connections could not but come willy nilly to conclusions other than those arrived at by Shri Omkar Razdan in his book ‘The trauma of Kashmir’ as reported in the Daily Excelsior of May 5, 1999, which need to be examined in particular, the circumstances compelling Pandits to flee their house and hearths.

Shri Razdan perhaps has not been a live witness to the carnage of 1989/90-91 in the Valley and  the conclusions drawn on the basis of post holocaust visit perhaps in the years of some abatement of violence particularly against the minority community which had already been out in the wilderness with a posse of commandos to protect him are devoid of factual basis and as well contradictory.

He has asserted that the exodus of  Pandits from the Valley in 90-91 was the result of a meticulous plan carefully drawn up by outside agencies, though he has not named any such agency. While that is so, he contradicts the same contention when he is quoted to say that the wisdom of Kashmiri Pandits should have made them flee together to local military garrison grounds in the Valley and could have also taken refuge in the vacant civil sect. So the situation was such that called for refuge. This in other words is indirect admission of the seriousness of the situation. The exodus was in trickles, individually, everybody for himself. It could not be otherwise. The situation did not warrant enmass flight. It was not at all premeditated.

Had it been so, it might not have been possible to escape  large scale massacres enroute by  the villians.

Whether the Pandits could from far and near collect for such action betrays the ignorance of the state of affairs. Pandits were sought after for the killings and there collectively seeking shelter anywhere in the Valley would have meant, offering thousands voluntarily for the annihiliation at the hands of hordes of militants. The awesome atmosphere prevailing had to be seen to be believed. It was reminesent  of the Jacobar terror in France.

Besides where was the government or any civil authority’ All civil authority had abdicated its duty. All this and more need to be told when the Chief Minister of the state has at last after all gone on record to say that the Kashmiri Pandits, were forced to flee and that local Muslim in the Valley in the initial stages were not merely supportive of terrorism but a part of it reference Daily Excelsior Dt: 2/5/99. The very same CM ie Dr Farooq Abdullah himself fled to Europe, while Pandits only sought refuge in their owncountry.

The author Shri Razdan obviously has visited the Valley at his leisure perhaps after his retirement and perhaps too to try to dispose of his immovable property when much of the intensity of the turmoil has abated and therefore come to conclusions at variance with the reality or may be by design. Is he aware that the Pandits were repeatedly put on notice to leave the Valley or be part of the ‘movement’ to end the Indian connection of the state’ what was the option for Pandits’ obviously not to be part of the ‘Movement’ to end the Indian connection, of the state’ What was the option for the Pandits’ Obviously not to be part of the ‘Movement’ and offer Hindu youth for the purpose who were even otherwise on the hit list of terrorist outfits. Is he aware how many Hindus were killed, man, woman and children without any compunction without let or hindrance and the police by chance even present on site looking the other way. As many as around 300 Hindus were done to death upto Sep 90 in the most brutal and barbaric ways even putting to shame the methods resorted to in the medieval times like:-

(i) By treaking limbs (2)  Drowning alive (3) slaughtering (4) Dragging to death (5) Dismemberment of parts of body (6) slicing (7) Burning alive (8) Lynching (9) Branding with red hot irons (10) Drawing blood from live victims (11) Strangulation (12) Hanging (13)  (14) gauging eyes before killing. The worst was raping Hindu women! There have been mass murders, which continue off and on even now.   If this is not ‘genocide’, what is’

In face of the situation explained here before his suggestion to Pandits to seek protection in garrisons is quixotic. The author is perhaps also not aware of the hostile propaganda let loose by the Indian Congress Pakistan and the State administration. Ironically the then Congress president and Miss Bhutoo, the then PM of Pakistan were on the same wave length in the demand for removal of the new appointed Governor before he had taken over when the terrorist onslaughts had become routine and rampant with focus on killing of Pandits. There was thus no option for Kashmiri Hindus but to leave their homes and hearths individualy in the darkness of nights to seek refuge outside the Valley in whatever mode of transport available. Since it was the command of the terrorists to Hindus to leave the Valley, the local common Muslims had no difficulty or inhibition even in lending helping hand to speed up the exodus..

The author is also unmindful of the fact that there always is a residual which gets stuck up for one or the other reason notwithstanding the prospect of doom awaiting them in situations like these. Even during the partition of India all Hindus and Sikhs could not leave Pakistan for one or the other reason though majority did. Such compulsions face many and can not be held to disprove the reality. The author’s view of  the complaint voiced by those held up compatriots is not a deliberate attempt to discriminate them. How can displaced parents think of finding their daughter’s wedlock in Valley from where they had to flee. Prudence will not advise such a course of action and our compatriots in Valley need not hold this as a grouse for all that they know of the reality of the situation. May be the complaint self its just imagined. Indeed such wedlocks have been consummated where the boys are settled outside though his parents may be in the Valley. And by the way their presence or absence does not make a dent in the ethos that has been sought to be achieved by the forces of religious reaction.

The Ist of the assumptions and deductions of Mr Razdan are  not worth comment. He has admitted that Kashmiri Pandits for being Hindus have not suffered for the first time. There have been repeated and periodical onslaughts against them for the last so many centuries and if Sh Razdan still harps on his theology it does not bother Kashmiri Pandits very much. He must know that Kashmiri Hindus have left behind billions worth of real estate and other property for failure of the state to protect their life and property and if they are given some paltry cash relief it is by right. It is a strong psychological affliction to feel that some Kashmiri Hindus would not be happy at the idea of losing what they have acquired for all these past years of displacement in the event of a situation leading to return.