Presented By Shailendra Aima in the House of Commons on June 14,1995
The greatest impediment towards arriving at definitive possibilities in resolving the Kashmir crisis is the idiom of popular discourse in which the issue has been addressed so far. As the new idiom has yet to emerge and guide the discourse, we may have to operate through the existing reference frameworks and do justice to the problem in its entirety.
The Kashmiri Pandits constitute a regional minority in a predominantly Muslim province of the Jammu and Kashmir state. This minority is face to face with a serious drawback in the Constitution of India as well as the political approaches which have developed in India since independence. And that is the recognition of region as the sub-national entity for sharing political power. Strangely, there are no conventional, institutional and constitutional mechanisms for affecting the effective participation of regional minorities in the poltico-administrative dispensation. Such a situation has a very serious disadvantage for the regional minorities in the state of Jammu and Kashmir.
The main regional majority groups in J&K are - Sunni Muslims in Kashmir valley, Buddhists in Ladakh region and Dogras in Jammu region. The main regional minority groups are - in Kashmir region, Kashmiri Pandits, Shias, Sikhs and the Gujjars; in Ladakh region, Argons who are basically Kashmiri Muslim settlers and the Ladakhi Shias who are indigenous, Dard Muslims inhabiting Dras area, Zanskari Buddhists in Kargil who inhabit Zanskar and Mulbek; and the Pagan groups who follow ancient type of Tibetan Bonism and inhabit Gorkan and BaIti region. In Jammu region Gujjars, Kashmiri speaking Muslims in Doda and adjoining Rajouri districts and the non-Gujar Muslims of Jammu province, constitute such regional minorities.
Out of these regional minorities some are in a position to elect their representatives to the legislative bodies of the state and hence to the politico-administrative structure. But gross imbalances exist even in such processes, for example, Shias and Gujjars in spite of being able to send their representatives to the legislature get a far less share in the elections, compared to their numbers. The answer to imbalances can be traced to the Muslim precedence, particularly the Kashmiri Sunni variety, which has been established in J&K State since 1947.
The situation of Kashmiri Pandits takes a more critical turn as it is the only regional minority which is not living in a compact area. Towards the process of consolidating Kashmiri Sunni dominance in the valley, even a few constituencies in Kashmir, where some sizeable number of the Pandits was putting up, were delimited and diluted in such a way that not even a remote chance for the Pandits to elect their representative existed. The aforesaid background needs be visualised in the context of some other significant contours of the crisis, which are:
1. Kashmiri Pandits have been subjected to genocide and religious cleansing. It is an issue which cannot be undermined and has to be studied in its entirety, from genesis to its implications. The genocide is still continuing and there is an imperative necessity t0 fix responsibility for whatever has happened to this community during all these years.
2. Islamic fundamentalism and its militarised variety in the region is not a mere aberration. We have to reckon with all its support structures spread globally.
3. The militarised fundamentalist movement has changed the complexion of the Kashmiri society and polity beyond recognition. A new trigger happy generation has grown in the valley, indoctrinated by the Jamaat-i-Islami schools, which spurns coexistence with contempt.
4. The and historical Kashmiri identity is being not only eroded but systematically destroyed and replaced by a concocted identity which is essentially Islamic.
5. Kashmir is an area of civilizational challenges as well as international intrigue. Kashmiri Pandit is a regional minority, identifying with Indian civilization and ethos, including commitment to a democratic secular polity. Therefore the Pandits are a natural impediment to forces inimical to Indian civilization and its cultural values. So, he shall continue to be a front-line victim and a susceptible minority to the designs of Islamic fundamentalists and the international political vested interests.
6. Treatment meted out to Kashmiri Pandits has completely shattered their faith in the politico-administrative dispensation in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. In a situation like this which has put a total squeeze on the community, phenomenon of a Diaspora has been unleashed playing havoc with its distinct ethno-cultural identity and pushing it into extinction.
7. Since a broader consensus on some form of autonomy already exists in Jammu and Kashmir, which essentially implies restructuring of the state, no body should foreclose the option of a democratic secular political dispensation for those sections of Kashmiri population who are seeking fuller integration with India. Short of Azadi postures hint towards radical transformations in future and a battle for a viable survival for all those who profess faith in the Indian Constitution.
I must say that the structure which was provided to Jammu and Kashmir State should have ensured survival of the democratic secular institutions and values in the state. This structure has completely failed. Kashmiri Pandits are face to face with a situation where chances of co-existence are very bleak. Nor is there any possibility that the leadership of the valley would work out a dispensation under which the politico-economic rights of the Pandit community are ensured. The Kashmiri Pandits have concerns as a regional minority, which is unrepresented, as internally displaced people, as a territoriless community and as an indigenous ethno-religious community in Kashmir. Therefore, a dispensation has to be evolved whereby the interests of Kashmiri Pandits are guaranteed.
In view of their peculiar and precarious position, they have to be resettled in a compact and safe area in the valley with a definite constitutional arrangement and identity; as that alone would put a halt to their genocide and guarantee their survival. Hence, recognizing and ensuring their right to a Homeland in the valley, as described in the Margadarshan Resolution, would end their perpetual homelessness and reverse their genocide.
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