Kashmiri Pandits hold strike, demand separate homeland

A large number of displaced Kashmiri Pandits, under the banner of Panun Kashmir, on Saturday observed a one-day hunger strike demanding the creation of a separate homeland for their rehabilitation in the Kashmir Valley and formal recognition of what it describes as the “genocide” of the community, enactment of a genocide law.

Staging a sit-in dharna outside Press Club, Jammu, displaced Kashmiri Pandits, with placards in their hands, raised slogans in support of their demands and warned the Government against ignoring their long-pending demands.

Panun Kashmir convener Agnishekhar said the hunger strike by Panun Kashmir activists, including women members, was part of a struggle that had continued since the displacement of the community from the Valley.

“We demand that our return to the Kashmir Valley should be facilitated through a separate homeland with Union Territory status,” he said.

He alleged that the community had experienced “continuous genocide” over centuries and believed that a separate Union Territory was the only lasting solution.

“The proposed homeland would enable Kashmiri Pandits living across the world to return to the Valley and ensure that no force can ever drive us out again,” he said. 

Panun Kashmir Chairman Tito Ganju said the community had been seeking formal recognition of the alleged genocide for the past 37 years. “We suffered a genocide, and we want that genocide to be formally recognised,” he said, claiming that while references to the term had been made in Parliament, there was still no formal recognition by the Government.

He also demanded enactment of a specific genocide law, arguing that India, being a signatory to the Genocide Convention, was obligated to bring such legislation.

Ganju said Panun Kashmir had itself proposed a Bill in 2020 and wanted the Government to constitute a commission to examine the issue and deliberate on legislation.

“After 37 years, the community that is the victim community still has to protest for justice and livelihood,” he said, listing the organisation’s three principal demands as “recognition of the genocide, enactment of a genocide law and a separate homeland”.

He also demanded 15,000 jobs through the Central Government for unemployed Kashmiri Pandit youth and an increase in the monthly ex-gratia relief to displaced families to at least Rs 25,000.