JAMMU: Displaced Kashmiri Pandits on Monday observed 36th ‘Balidan Diwas’ here, paying homage to members of the community and security personnel who lost their lives to violence and terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir.
The community reiterated its demand for legal recognition of the violence against and displacement of Kashmiri Pandits as “genocide” and called for the establishment of a separate homeland in the Valley under direct Union protection.
The programme was organised by Panun Kashmir, a representative body of migrant Kashmiri Hindus, with participants wearing black armbands as a mark of remembrance. A “Veer Jyoti”, dedicated to the memory of community members and security personnel who laid down their lives, was lit and later taken to the sacred Bhadrakali Temple at Thalwal, on the outskirts of Jammu, where it was installed as the “Amar Jyoti”.
“We have been observing this day since 1990 to honour the martyrs and reaffirm our commitment to continue the struggle till the achievement of our goal, which is enactment of a genocide bill and separate homeland as enshrined in the Margdarshan Resolution adopted by the community following mass migration from the valley in early 1990,” Panun Kashmir chairman Tito Ganju said.
He said the community was not only paying homage to those who lost their lives to terrorism after 1990, but also remembering those who, it believes, suffered during what it describes as seven waves of persecution in Kashmir over the past 700 years.
“For the past 36 years, there has been a gross violation of our fundamental rights… Our struggle is also about safeguarding the constitutional rights, particularly the rights guaranteed under Articles 14, 19 and 21,” Ganju said.
He reiterated Panun Kashmir’s demand for reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir and a separate homeland for displaced Kashmiri Hindus, saying legislative and executive control in the proposed homeland should remain with “pro-India elements”.
“Without a separate homeland, we believe there is no other way forward,” he said.
He also called for the enactment of the genocide bill, proposed by the organisation in 2020, stating that the absence of statutory recognition has reduced the issue to a matter of narrative interpretation rather than acknowledgement of a crime of the “highest legal order”
The failure to name genocide has resulted in a lack of accountability and guarantees against recurrence, he claimed.
He said the Constitution places the responsibility on the State to ensure that victims are given priority, which has still “not been achieved” to this day.
Ganju also raised concerns over the security of Kashmiri Pandit employees working in the Valley under the prime minister’s employment package.
He said the recent threats against employees demonstrated that security concerns remained despite an overall improvement in the situation.
“Our children who are there are effectively hostages. Imagine the kind of trauma they must be going through,” he said, adding that the government measures aimed at rehabilitation would not succeed unless the security environment changed fundamentally.
“These experiments will not succeed unless there is a separate homeland, and no one can offer a better solution than the victims themselves,” he said.
Calling for continued resistance, he said, “Struggle is the only option we have. If we had not struggled, this chapter would have been closed long back”.
Chairman of the Jammu State People’s Movement, Col (Retd) Ajay Raina linked the Kashmiri Pandits’ demand for a separate homeland with the Jammu region’s demand for statehood.
“We want the two demands to come together the demand of the Kashmiri Pandits (for separate homeland) and our demand for a separate state of Jammu, because neither side can truly move forward without the other,” he said.
He said a strong Jammu would also be important for the security of Kashmiri Pandits returning to the Valley.
Panun Kashmir convenor Agnishekhar said September 14 had a particular significance for the community, linking the observance to the killing of Kashmiri Pandit leader Tika Lal Taploo in the Valley on September 13, 1989.
He said the day was meant not only to remember the martyrs but also to reflect on the circumstances that led to their killings and displacement of the community.
“We remember why they were killed, who killed them, what the purpose was and what the intent behind it was. Our struggle is rooted in confronting that intent,” he said.
He said the community wanted conditions in which Kashmiri Hindus and Sikhs who identify with India and Indian civilisation could return to the Valley and live with security and dignity.
