By Afshain Afzal

In the latest development, India forcing Hindu Pandits to migrate from Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir. There are speculation that either Pandits are being forced to migrate to pave way for Muslims’ genocide or Indian Armed Forces have plans to occupy Hindu Pandits lands and orchards. Interestingly. in September 2021, hundreds of abandoned homes owned by Kashmiri Hindus Pandits, were witnessed being undergoing repairs with the hope that Pandits will finally return to their ancestral homeland. But New Delhi has some other plan, bulk of these house are being allotted secretly to the Indian Armed Forces personnel or the foreign investors. Sensing Indian conspiracy many Hindu Pandits are returning to Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir but in the recent days they are being expelled by Indian security forces.

As per the Indian official record 44617 Hindu Pandits were forced by Indian Army to leave troubled Jammu and Kashmir State after an armed rebellion by the Kashmiris against New Delhi’s rule on disputed State in 1990s. If we recall, in her speech in parliament on 14 March 2019, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman claimed how the abrogation of the region’s autonomy helped bring “real normalcy” and fulfil promises to the Pandit community with jobs and transit accommodations. However, many people employed under the prime minister’s package for the region as well as the Kashmiri Pandits who did not migrate remain critical of the government’s moves after August 2019, which they say have derailed their resettlement. In the recent attempt Kashmiri Pandits’ organisation has moved the Supreme Court seeking a probe by CBI/NIA or any other court-appointed agency into the alleged mass murders and genocide of Kashmiri Pandits in Jammu and Kashmir during 1989-90. Many Kashmiri Pandits are looking towards Indian security forces with suspicion that they were actually behind the massacre of Hindu Pandits in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir in 1989/1990 but name of Kashmiri Mujahideen was propagated to derail the movement.

The Hindu Pandits are friends of Muslims and no one can snatch their rights to be Kashmiri State subjects. If we recall, Bhim Singh, who is well-wisher of Pakistan and even at the time of execution of Pakistani Prime Minister, he tried to plead the case but he was not allowed. Earlier, in a statement he said, “I was not allowed to visit Pakistan to plead Bhutto’s case. But I condemned it in the J&K Assembly. I was an MLA at that time.” As a spokesperson of Kashmir Pandits, many times he raised voice to stop injustices by New Delhi but he was not listened. Interestingly, despite Supreme Court direction to Indian government asking the government to provide ration and relief on the pattern the Kashmiri Hindu Pandits migrants but Indian authorities continue to deprive of their rights. Bhim Singh has a genuine point that even remaining as State Subjects Kashmiris are entitled to purchase land anywhere in India, “The law related to ‘State Subjects’ was enacted by Maharaja Hari Singh in 1927, when Permanent Residents of the State were given special status concerning land ownership. The law for Permanent Residents is unchangeable. The Constituent Assembly of India, in its declaration, had made it clear that the law will not be changed.” No doubt, the Jammu and Kashmir is disputed state as per the pending Resolutions of United Nations Security Council and United Nations General Assembly but if New Delhi is double playing with Kashmiris it should not forget that all the Kashmiris including living across the Line of Control (LoC) are entitled to purchase the land anywhere in India.

Since Kashmiri Pandits are determined to take over their ancestral properties in Jammu and Kashmir, the Indian intelligence agencies have made a concrete plan to massacre some of the Pandits, followed by genocide of Muslim Kashmiris. Intelligence inputs from ACIO Intelligence Bureau, Jammu reveal that in a couple of months targeted killings of Pandits and Sikhs by suspected Kashmiri rebels will commence, who are actually Indian Special Police Officers and were given jobs to create terrorism in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir. Indian media has already been instructed to propagate that it is in reaction to reclaim of Pandit-owned properties by the Kashmiri militants. The media has also been instructed to project the Pandits have sold their properties. The fact cannot be denied that only very few Kashmiri Pandits sold their properties in distress and New Delhi must process the complaints aby Pandits. Interestingly, judgement in Sushil Kumar Dhar vs Union Of India & Anr. on 16 February 2022 reflects that “threat to the lives of the Kashmiri Pandits from the regional militants still persists in the Kashmir Valley even after many years of exodus by the Kashmiri Pandits. It is not advisable for the Kashmiri Pandits to go back to Srinagar to their native place”. The court has extended the time for the reconsideration of return of Pandits for another three years.

The only solution to the problem lies in allowing the people of Kashmir to exercise their unrestricted right to self-determination to decide their destiny. One wonders why India is taking such actions in haste like forcing Hindu Pandits to leave Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir; is some serious threat evident? We should not forget that the fate of Article 370 and 35 A is pending before the Supreme Court of India. New Delhi cannot run away by issuing a new Executive Order and divert the attention from the War Crime and Genocide of the Kashmiris that has taken place in the past and still continuing. The latest massacre plot of Hindu Pandits and as follow up genocide of Kashmiri Muslims must be prevented. It is time that UNO and Human Rights organizations must intervene.