Thaindian News

New Delhi, Jan 19 (IANS) Emotions ran high as Kashmiri Pandits gathered here Tuesday to mark 20 years of their exodus from their ancestral homes in the Valley, and lamented the “neglect” and “emotional apartheid” they faced in this period.
On this day in 1990, messages were blared out in Kashmir for Kashmiri Pandits, who were an ethnic minority in Jammu and Kashmir, to leave the valley or “face the consequences”.

“We have gone through gross neglect and emotional apartheid for the last 20 years. Kashmiri Pandits had to pay the price of not knowing the language of guns and we were not a substantial vote bank for politicians to take up cudgels for us. We were not backward enough to be given reservation,” capital-based journalist Prerna Kaul Mishra said.

She was speaking at a function organised by the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Foundation on “Kashmiri Hindus: Two Decades of Exodus and a Discussion on the Autonomy Report” at the Constitution Club here.

“Why is that I cannot go back to my homeland fearlessly? The least we deserve is to return home,” Mishra added amidst cries of “Bharat Mata ki Jai (Victory to Mother India)”.

The migration of Kashmiri Pandits from the valley took place in 1989-1990 at the peak of militancy in the state.

“Pain of rootlessness is unbearable for us. Let us make it very clear that the state government will do everything not to let us return… We are yearning to go back and nobody shall deny us the right to go back to our motherland,” All India Kashmiri Samaj president Moti Kaul said.

Kaul also dismissed the recent proposal to grant autonomy to the state.

“The proposal of self rule and autonomy for a state which enjoys special status is preposterous,” he said.

Former Jammu and Kashmir governor Jagmohan also questioned the report advocating autonomy for the state.

“What do you want autonomy for? Is your culture, religion safe or not safe under the Indian constitution?” he asked.