The recent controversial statement made by the Israeli filmmaker Nadav Lapid on Vivek Agnihotri’s directorial film, The Kashmir Files, at the closing ceremony of the 53rd International Film Festival of India in Goa has once again brought the issue of Kashmiri Pandits into the limelight. The film was one of the highest grossers this year and was based on the persecution of the minority Hindu Kashmiri Pandits by the radical Islamists in the Kashmir valley. Whether the film is a ‘propaganda’ or not, the main talking point should be about the plight of the Pandits, who were forced to leave their homeland and in fact refugees in their own country.
To be very fair, let’s not beat around the bush by denying the bitter fact that Kashmiri Pandits were targeted and continue to be targeted by the Islamic terrorist groups because of their Hindu identity. The main agenda of these groups, backed by Pakistan, has always been to make the Valley completely Islamic. It is only the Leftists and Liberals who have chosen to ignore this basic issue, often viewing it through the lens of it being one of Indian government versus the terrorists and even sought to portray the persecution of Kashmir Pandits as mostly “a migration issue”.
Unfortunately, even in the mainstream media, the Pandits persecution in the Valley as belonging to the Hindu majority India was largely ignored. This may be a probable reason that a low budget film like The Kashmir Files,hit the box office as it dramatizes the persecution of the Hindu Kashmiri Pandits in a Muslim-majority region. More so, as the film also aids the Hindutva agenda of the BJP and portraying the minority community as villains. It did come as a surprise that the film found a mention by none other than Prime Minister Modi and his team.
That the government of India and Jammu and Kashmir administration failed to stop the persecution and exodus of the Pandits from the Valley is a bitter truth. When the Kashmiri Pandits started fleeing the valley, the then Prime Minister was VP Singh heading the National Front government, surviving on outside support of both the BJP and Left Front. While talking about the exodus of Pandits, the Left-Liberals do rightly point out that at that time Singh’s government was supported by BJP, but they remain silent on the fact that the same government was also supported by the Left Front.
However, the situation in the Valley started to turn worse much before 1989. In 1986 communal riots, not so common before then, the minority Hindus and their temples were targeted in the valley, particularly in the southern areas such as Anantnag. The Congress was in power at the Centre then with Rajiv Gandhi as Prime Minister. So,passing on the blame to VP Singh’s government alone for the exodus would not be completely right.
Coming to the present regime, the Narendra Modi-led NDA government at the Centre revoked Article 370 three years ago in August 2019, thus removing the special status that Jammu and Kashmir enjoyed. Not only did the BJP eventually act on its poll manifesto of removing the contentious article, but Home Minister Amit Shah justified it saying the move would drastically improve the situation in the Valley and peace would finally return after three decades of insurgency.
True, there have been some positive changes, such as stone pelting incidents on the Indian armed forces have become incidents of the past. With Governor’s rule, guess the stone pelters haven’t got the political support they did earlier. Or rather that with senior leaders of parties in the Valley having been put under house arrest for months, has led to a chilling effect in the populace.
Terrorist incidents have gone down. Still, the bitter reality is that the minority Kashmiri Pandits who chose to stay back in the Valley continue to live under nagging fear. Recently, a blog linked to The Resistance Front (TRF), an offshoot of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) published a list of 56 Kashmiri Pandit employees working under the PM’s rehabilitation package, to unsettle them. Indeed, terrorists are again targeting the Hindus in the Valley — minority Kashmiri Pandits and the migrant workers — in a very well-planned manner to puncture the Centre’s claim that “peace has returned to the valley”.
According to data provided by Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai to Parliament 14 persons belonging to minority communities, including three Kashmiri Pandits, have been killed in J&K this year so far. In all, 180 terrorists, 31 security personnel and 31 civilians were also killed in 123 terrorist incidents this year so far. He said various steps such as group security in form of static guards, day and night area domination, round the clock nakas at strategic points among others, have been taken to protect lives of minorities. Plus, under PM’s Development Package, 2015, “3,000 government jobs for Kashmiri migrants have been created of which, 2,639 have been appointed in the last five years.”
And though the abrogation of Article 370 has completed the integration of J&K into India, this hasn’t gone well with neighbour Pakistan. Out of frustration, Pakistan-backed Islamic terrorists have now chosen to target the Hindus again in the Valley to scuttle the Centre’s plan to usher in normalcy. More so, as the Centre has been making plans for the return of the Pandits and their rehabilitation. The numbers are small, and the security plan does not evoke confidence, even three years after scrapping of Article 370. In fact, even those recruited by the government have been protesting to relocate them to Jammu instead.
The Centre’s promises to provide a secure environ doesn’t have too many takers. The recent leaked list of Kashmiri Pandits working in the Valley also suggests there are sympathisers within the system, aiding the terrorists. It was the case then and little has changed. Besides, there were claims of holding business summit in Kashmir and wooing business houses to set up industries. The ground reality suggests otherwise, barring that this summer tourists did go back to Kashmir.
The Narendra Modigovernment is in power at the Centre for past eight years. Instead of using persecution of Kashmiri Pandits by radical Islamists for winning elections, it would be better for the BJP to usher in real change in the Valley. The party should move beyond the film and make genuine endeavour to deliver its promises of the return of Pandits to the Valley. When in Opposition it demanded their safety and promised to do so if voted to power. It must deliver now. The Pandits await justice. Don’t exploit their pain. Keep them out of vote bank politics.—INFA
