Well, Come back!

Well, Come Back!
Come to Kashmir, and see for yourself that we are a people in a permanent state of siege

Every inch, this land is a witness to a savage control. Who will not like people to come here and know what Kashmiris have been through at the hands of India. So come one, come all. And come soon. We wish to inform the world that we are a people in a permanent state of siege. “We wish to inform the world that tomorrow we will be killed with our families.” We will be happy no end if Kashmiri Pandits come back and know what has happened to Kashmiri Muslims all these years. We will be happy no end, if Indians come to Kashmir, Yatris or tourists, provided we are allowed to tell them what their country, India, has done to Kashmir. But our problem is that whosoever comes, comes through the agency of a state, and knowingly or otherwise becomes a part of the politics of dispossession. If you come as people, and meet us as people, it will expose the horrors of the politics that mediates between you and us. Kashmir is about the people who live here. And it is these people who are always pushed outside the frame.

In the kind of political context that all this is happening, the return of the Kashmiri Pandits appears like pitting one community against another. The plan of a Separate Homeland, signifies a permanent and hostile separation. Nothing can be more disastrous. Israel, as a grand project of modern politics, started by UK and carried forward by US, has proved a global calamity. Those who advise India to follow the example are its worst enemies. And if RSS feels it can clear Kashmir off Muslim population and reclaim the Hindu past, they should take some time off and carefully look at Mid East. The votaries of Promised Land have brought devastation to the entire region and before long the powers that back Israel will heed the words of Johan Galtung. For Galtung, Israel must realise that peace doesn't lie in security, security lies in peace. And the path to this peace runs through the peoples of Mid East.
The future of Pandits in Kashmir is inescapably associated with the Kashmiri Muslims. India, as a state, and Hidutva, as an ideology, can only temporarily excite them. The demands of separate homeland can create a thrill, but will that secure their future! The societal leadership of this community is faced with a test of wisdom. Would they allow themselves to be a part of an offensive mounted by the Right Wing Hindu Nationalists against Kashmiri Muslims, or would they desist to be any part of a diabolic scheme. I'm no council to them, but on my part, as a Kashmiri Muslims, I would wish a non-violent communication developed between two of us – Kashmir Pandits and Kashmiri Muslims.

If India really is a well wisher of Kashmiri Pandits, they should only facilitate communication between the two communities. Leave aside facilitating it, if it only passively contributes by not coming in the way of a communication between the two, that will be enough. But the way politics is rolled out, using Kashmiri Pandits as an excuse, things are decidedly pointing towards a disaster. Pampering some Kashmir Pandit individuals, and organisations, the scene is set for a large scale human tragedy. And Indian TV channels shamelessly contribute to this disaster.

On this, I'm reminded of Hasan Negezi. A small time hustler, a bus-fare collector, who sold newspapers and drinks outside a gas station in Rwanda, turned into a humorous man-on-the-street correspondent for a newspaper. This man was propped up by the Habyarimana government to produce a newspaper, named Kangura. This newspaper was used to the hilt to pit Hutus against Tutsis. Myths and conspiracies were invoked to justify the murderous assaults. When the vicious propaganda was unleashed against Tutsis through media outlets like Kangura, and also by way of demagogy, it turned the two ethnic communities, Hutus and Tutsis, into active enemies. And we all know what happened in that unfortunate country. When the cry was raised: “Return the Tutsis to Ethiopia by way of River Nyabarongo”, the world witnessed that only sometime later the river was turned crimson by the blood of humans.

This is a crucial moment and both Kashmiri Muslims and Kashmiri Pandits should refuse to play into any vicious politics. We should build connections and raise joint defenses against all attempts to divide us against each other. All the extreme ideas and extremist ideologies should stay out of the process. If the two communities have to really bridge the gap, truth and justice are the only, and eternal devices. We are in need of developing a vocabulary of feelings, and shun this misleading language of violent-politics.

It is heartening to see that there is no voice in Kashmir that is against the return of Kashmiri Pandits. Geelani welcomes them, so does Yasin Malik. Mirwaiz and Salahuddin have similar views. Then why project Kashmir Muslims as hounds out there to tear apart Kashmiri Pandits. This vicious propaganda unleashed by the India media, of which some Pandits have become a willing part, is extremely unhelpful for solving the problem.
In a nutshell, if you come to meet us, we throw our arms open. If you come to squeeze us, you are the worst enemies of yourself. Indian state has enough numbers in terms of arms and armed. Why allow a whole community to become another battalion to be posted in Kashmir. Why fall to such ruinous levels.