The atrocities on Pandits were committed 25 years ago when the present Kashmiri Muslim youths were not even born. To blame them is like blaming the present-day Germans for what the Nazis did to the Jews in the 1930s and 1940s
A few days ago I had written an article, An appeal to my Kashmiri brothers and sisters, in which I mentioned that the restrictions in Kashmir for over 60 days after abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution on August 5 have made the lives of Kashmiris in the Valley (and also those living outside trying to contact their relatives in the Valley) miserable. I said that Internet and mobiles are not luxuries but necessities today and being deprived of them for even one day, what to say of 60 days (along with curfews and other restrictions), would make one’s life hell. I therefore appealed to Kashmiris to wear a black wristband as a token of protest against these oppressive restrictions; boycott Governor Satyapal Malik as well as his advisers; refuse to serve tourists till the inhuman and unwarranted restrictions are removed and publish and circulate a leaflet stating that abrogation of Article 370 was only a gimmick to divert attention from the economic crisis by a beleaguered Narendra Modi Government which does not know how to solve it.
In response to the article, I received two emails from Kashmiri Pandits. The first states, “Dear Sir. After reading your latest appeal to Kashmiris, I would like to suggest you take the logical next step in your campaign by forming a government in exile, like Subhas Chandra Bose. I am also certain that Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, who was after all reading from your script at the UN General Assembly in New York, will credit you swiftly as the president of the government of India in exile. Jai Hind.”
The second email states, “Those who greeted Narendra Modi in Houston were all my friends. They are not buffoons. I support them. We may have different beliefs, but we can be kind to each other and civilised.”
These letters reveal the typical mindset of almost all Kashmiri Pandits. I, too, am a Kashmiri Pandit, and I know what horrible atrocities were committed on them in the 1990s leading to their exodus from the Valley out of fear. I wrote a piece on Kashmiri Pandits on my blog Satyam Bruyat several years ago, describing the wrongs done to them. So I have every sympathy for them.
But what I found in almost all members of my community is a blind hatred for Muslims, because of which they ignore the atrocities on Kashmiri Muslims.
After all, two wrongs don’t make a right. What was done to Kashmiri Pandits in the past was something very wrong and condemnable. But does it justify and exonerate the wrongs being done to Kashmiri Muslims today? Moreover, the atrocities on Kashmiri Pandits were done a quarter of a century ago. The present Kashmiri Muslim youths were not even born then, or were toddlers. To blame them would be like blaming the present Germans for what the Nazis did to the Jews in the 1930s and 1940s.
The viciousness of the first email making a personal attack on me shows the mindset of most Kashmiri Pandits, who will not present cool, logical arguments but substitute them by abuse. If this gentleman is deprived of his mobile and Internet for one day, he will raise his voice, cursing those who inflicted such an Inquisition on him. But he is not bothered about people dying in Kashmir because they could not get proper medical attention for some illness since communications are shut down. He is not bothered about the tension in the minds of Kashmiris living outside the Valley since they are unable to communicate with their relatives living inside. If such persons had been Hindus, probably he too would have condemned the restrictions but since they are Muslims he probably thinks they deserve it.
As for Imran Khan benefiting from my appeal, let me tell the gentleman that I will condemn all atrocities on all human beings, whether Hindu, Muslim or of any other faith, and I am least concerned whether Khan or Modi or anyone else benefits from it. If the gentleman lacks human feelings, that is his problem, not mine.
The second email I mentioned was from a Kashmiri Pandit woman. Evidently she is a strong supporter of Modi (like almost all Kashmiri Pandits, both in India and abroad). I may invite this lady’s attention to my article All the perfumes of Arabia, which was published in The Hindu some years ago. In this article I have given strong proof of the massacre of about 2,000 Muslims in Gujarat in 2002 and this is further corroborated by the statement of Lieutenant-General Zameeruddin Shah, who said his unit was kept at Ahmedabad airport for three days and not allowed to enter the city when the massacre was going on. It is also corroborated by the affidavit of Sanjiv Bhat, the brave police officer, given in the Supreme Court (for which he is suffering in jail). I may also invite her attention to the lynchings of Muslims and other atrocities on them since 2014 when Modi came to power. Evidently, since the victims are Muslims, she is not bothered like most Kashmiri Pandits.
The lady seems upset because I was uncomplimentary about the 50,000 Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) present at the Howdy Modi function in Houston. But how else should I describe them when Modi bragged meretriciously in his speech, “Everything is fine in India.” He repeated this in several languages, although everyone knows that this is a brazen lie.
The economy has tanked, with the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) slipping to five per cent; the auto sector is suffering with September figures showing a 24 per cent decline in passenger vehicle sales and a whopping 62.11 per cent fall in the commercial segment; Information Technology, power, real estate and so on, are in the dumps; unemployment is rising to record heights in 45 years (as admitted by the National Sample Survey); every second child is malnourished (as recorded by the Global Hunger Index, UNICEF etc); 50 per cent of our women are anaemic, farmers are committing suicide and there is almost total lack of proper healthcare and good education for our masses. Onion and tomato prices are skyrocketing and atrocities on minorities and Dalits are continuing.
When Modi made this astoundingly mendacious statement, not one of these 50,000 NRIs, whom the lady calls her friends, had the moral courage to stand up and say, “Mr Prime Minister, what you are saying is just not true. Nothing is fine in India.”
And the lady accuses me of being uncivilised for calling a spade a spade! Dear lady, you and your NRI friends may carry on supporting Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (since Muslims were “put in their place” in 2002 in Gujarat, and are being “put in their place” today in Kashmir ) but I regret I cannot join your ranks.
(The writer is a former judge of the Supreme Court of India.)
