Kashmiri Pandits, Sri Lankan Tamils and Indian hypocrisy

 In two recent books on Kashmir (Until My Freedom Has Come: The New Intifada In Kashmir and A Tangled Web: Jammu & Kashmir; a full review will appear on the Books page in a coming issue), one repeatedly comes across an argument that has lingered during the past 20 years, an argument that is bothersome simply because Indian conservatives use it to hold to ransom any meaningful discussion of the main issue in Kashmir, which is the people’s desire for freedom. This issue is of Kashmiri Pandits and their exile from their homeland.

While it is sad that Kashmiri Hindus are internal refugees in India, some living in deplorable conditions in Jammu, Delhi and elsewhere, it is hypocritical to lament their fate while ignoring that of a larger exiled community: the Sri Lankan Tamils. One can’t help but think that the conservative lament over the “ethnic cleansing” of Kashmiri Hindus is nothing but a cynical tactic to derail the longer-lasting and deeper grievances of Kashmiri Muslims. It sadly means that the Kashmiri Hindu plight is exploited; and that implies a lack of sincere empathy.

In articles by conservatives (though few of such writers have visited Mishriwala camp in Jammu or Lajpat Nagar in Delhi), the statistics on Kashmiri Hindus often take on a life of their own. One Chennai reader (of my previous newspaper) once wrote in asking “What about the ethnic cleansing of seven lakh Kashmiri Pandits?” This number suspiciously mirrored the numbers of Indian soldiers that Pakistan inflates and claims we use in the Valley (the Pakistanis conveniently tack on the soldiers deployed in Siachen, along Aksai Chin, and at Udhampur, all technically a part of J&K).

The J&K relief commissioner, however, says there are 38,119 families comprising 1.42 lakh persons registered as migrants. Another 21,684 Pandit families are registered outside the state, most of them in Delhi; that’s another 80,000 persons. The government also says 219 Kashmiri Pandits were killed since 1989; an NGO, the Kashmiri Pandit Sangharsh Samiti puts the figure not much higher at 399. It is no argument to say these numbers do not give the real picture, because by the same token you would then have to accept the claim that the government’s figures on killed or missing Kashmiri Muslims is vastly underestimated. Needless to say, 399 killed does not equate to genocide, another term used loosely by conservatives when describing the Kashmiri Hindu plight.

Though ethnic violence in Sri Lanka began 28 years ago, the numbers of Tamils who died during the war’s final phase (2008-2010, during the Sri Lankan army’s final offensive against the LTTE), according to a United Nations panel set up by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, number as many as 40,000.

And since 1983, three lakh Sri Lankan Tamil refugees have come to India. Many more migrated to the West, two lakh refugees to Canada alone. The Sri Lankan government itself identifies 9.75 lakh stateless people on the emerald isle.

With these numbers, you’d think Indians (and not just conservatives) would be agitated, especially since Tamil Nadu is one of our largest and most affluent states. Yet this was not the case the past few years; empathy was put aside for strategic reasons. India is made anxious by the eagerness with which the Lankans invite the Chinese to their island. Pakistan also finds a warm welcome there. The national interest dictated India’s silence though the “collateral damage” included M Karunanidhi’s massive electoral defeat. (Notably, the political and Constitutional reconciliation of Tamils that Sri Lanka had assured India appears forgotten.)

Ethnic cleansing is when one ethnic or religious group uses violence or terror to drive out another; it is not synonymous with genocide. You could argue this fits in northern Lanka; it does not in Kashmir. Ethnic cleansing was never a policy of Kashmiri Muslims. In fact, the separatist All Parties Hurriyat Conference is officially in favour of the return and rehabilitation of Pandits.

In the Kashmiri exodus, however, all communities have suffered. The Pandit refugees live in ramshackle houses lacking amenities and suffer psychological disorders; with the saturation of paramilitary bunkers and soldiers in the Valley, and the endless curfews, Muslims live in ramshackle conditions and suffer psychological disorders.

Only the Kashmiri Muslim professional class has gained. Take journalism: before 1990, the national papers were represented by Pandits; now they are represented by Muslims. Similarly in local administration and in healthcare; Pandits used to dominate despite their tiny proportion in population. They had it a lot better in their homeland than the Sri Lankan Tamils had in theirs.

It is hypocrisy to ignore the Tamils but harp on the Pandits. The latter are peripheral to the central issue of Kashmir: its political relationship with India. The Pandit refugee issue is more of a secondary one; it ought to be taken up later. At the moment, though, the Pandits’ exile is exploited to prevent the political discussion from happening. In holding the political problem hostage to an emotional yet secondary problem, many Indians undoubtedly do a great disservice to the Pandits in the ultimate analysis.

The writer is the Editor-in-Chief, DNA, based in Mumbai