Author:
Publication: The Asian Age
Date: May 5, 2003
Interview of Dr Ajay Chrungoo, chairman
panun Kashmir, in Asian Age on KPs return to Kashmir.
Dr Ajay Chrungoo, the Jammu-based
chairman of "Panun Kashmir", a representative body of displaced Kashmiri
Pandits, was in Srinagar to meet New Delhi's interlocutor Mr N.N. Vohra
to put across views on various issues facing the community. Shortly before
the two sides closeted at a guest house on the banks of the Jhelum. Yusuf
Jameel spoke to Dr Chrungoo, Excerpts:
Q: You are meeting Mr N.N. Vohra.
What would you tell him?
A: The first and foremost issue
we are going to raise before him is that the Nadimarg massacre has reinforced
our belief that a separate homeland for the displaced Kashmiri Pandits
ought to be carved out within the Valley where there would a free flow
of the Indian Constitution. Where those who identify themselves with the
Indian Constitution can live as free citizens in peace. It would have a
Union Territory status. This has been the main demand of Panun Kashmir
and other sections of the Pandit community. We will tell him that no other
solution can prove lasting. We'll also put across our view that in the
prevailing circumstances, the displaced Kashmiri Pandits will not return
to the Valley unless it means a passage into the homeland mapped by Panun
Kashmir.
Q: One believes Panun (Our Own)
Kashmir is to be drawn along the northern and eastern sides of Jhelum and
involves a vast area in the districts of Anantnag, Pulwama and Srinagar.
A: Yes, it does.
Q: It seems a dream unlikely to
come true...
A: It will become a reality some
day.
Q: What would Panun Kashmir's contribution
and that of the Pandit community as a whole be towards resolving the Kashmir
issue amicably?
A: Some people try to link the
Kashmir problem with the partition of India and its aftermath. The first
thing we want to convey to the Kashmiris, to our own people and other victims
of terrorism, is, the problem of Kashmir is actually an outcome of the
failure of secular nation-building. The way the issues were dealt with
in free India with Kashmir being accorded exceptionality, a communalisation
process started. For the last 15 years we have only seen its militarisation
in Kashmir. A vicious situation has developed here. To retrieve Kashmir
will be very difficult, even if its entire population wants it, unless
the decommunalisation process starts in more than one way. One has to address
some fundamental issues within the Kashmiri community. No political party
or institution seems to be concerned about Panun Kashmir. We link a solution
of Kashmir basically to reverse the process of communalisation and militarisation
in the state. Unless this happens, peace will not return to Kashmir.
Q: You spoke about a vicious circle.
The growing feeling in Kashmir is that vested interests on all sides are
preventing a peaceful solution to the imbroglio. Do you agree?
A: I do.
Q: Many people also believe that
the Nadimarg massacre was an attempt to stall the process of Hindu expatriates
returning to the Valley. What do you think?
A: This is the state government's
viewpoint. It wants to pronounce that the ground situation had improved
and it had a control over things and, therefore, was all set to bring the
Pandits back. We believe that the violence against the minorities right
from the start of militancy in 1989 is part of a bigger ideological campaign.
It would be a grave mistake on one's part to delink it from that. We will
not be able to tackle it if we see the violence against minorities as a
local aberration. For many years, we have maintained that any attempt or
effort to separate the religious cleansing from the overall ideological
contours of the separatist movement is bound to fail. To raise a religious
moralist has been the major imperative of the separatist campaign in Kashmir.
To a great extent they have succeeded in their design. I believe what has
happened at Nadimarg, and earlier elsewhere, is a strategic butchering.
Like in any religious cleansing process, some people stay back in certain
pockets, as stands true about today's Kashmir. From time to time they shall
fall victim. Mufti Sahib (the chief minister) has sought to draw a link
between the Nadimarg massacre and the so-called return process. But I see
it only as an attempt on his part to underline his claim that he has control
over the ground situation. He does not have any. The terrorist regime has
made it emphatically clear to him that it is their writ that runs. The
recent spurt in violence reflects an upgradation of terrorist violence
following the setting up of a joint jihad council. You must have heard
about and seen a series of terrorist attacks taking place in Poonch and
Rajouri. As many as 37 houses of the minorities were torched at one place
alone. The police was repeatedly targeted. Even Muslims who do not fall
in line with terrorists were attacked. In a broader perspective, Nadimarg
is part of that upgradation and game plan.
Q: If this is the ground situation,
can Kashmiri Pandits really think of returning?
A: The lesson of the past 100 years
is, final solutions don't work now. In the name of final solution, the
English eliminated the indigenous population after descending on American
soil. In Australia also, the indigenous population was got rid of in a
similar fashion. The final solution plan for the Jews failed, the Palestine
problem remains unresolved even after the eviction of millions of indigenous
Palestinians from their land, the indirect solution to tackle the Kurdish
problem also did not work. Until a few years ago, the view held was that
the Kurds are virtually a hostage ethnic group that would perish with the
passage of time. They have resurfaced with a big bang. A community facing
an onslaught and extermination like we Pandits do, builds a logic to ensure
its comprehensive protection which in our case is possible only in our
own homeland.
Q: And that would be within the
Valley? You will not agree to the expatriates' returning to the Valley
and again mingling with the majority community?
A: There have been several migrations
of Kashmiri Pandits in the past. There are instances of the migrants returning
to their hearth and home after many years. We'll never forget Kashmir.
We just can't live without Kashmir. No one can separate the two permanently.
Q: The areas you intend to bring
on Panun Kashmir map have a huge Muslim population. What will happen to
them? Will they be asked to leave? Will that not amount to a replication
of Partition, and hence, defeat the very concept of India?
A: Look, when we talk about homeland
and refer to its political demand, we have three main aspects in mind.
Firstly, we want to bring back all those people who fled from the Valley
and settle them in the homeland across the northern and eastern sides of
Jhelum. Secondly, the relationship of the homeland with the rest of the
country will be of a Union Territory. Thirdly, there will be a free flow
of Indian Constitution without any restrictions or impediments. We basically
talk about a political alternative that would link Kashmir's destiny with
the free flow of the Constitution. Whosoever identifies himself with this
kind of an arrangement can come and live in this homeland. We don't talk
about a religious enclave. We are keen on a genuine secular constituency--an
area where politics will not be done in the name of religious identity.
Where there will be no issue of Muslim majority status or Hindu majority
status. In the true sense of the term it would be a place where religious-identity
politics will be delegitimised as was envisaged by the founding fathers
of this country called India.
Q: And the indigenous population
of these areas can stay back?
A: We don't visualise an expulsion
of people. We visualise people living in a dispensation where there is
a free flow of the Indian Constitution.
