Synopsis of Seminar on ‘ Refugees in Their Own Homeland: Travails of Kashmiri Pandits’

Synopsis Of Seminar On ‘ Refugees In Their Own Homeland ; Travails of Kashmiri Pandits ‘
at Vivekanand International Foundation , On 20th April ,2013

A seminar was organized jointly by VIF AND Patriots’ Forum at Vivekanand International Foundation, New Delhi, on 20th April 2013,on ‘ Refugees In Their Own Homeland :Travails Of Kashmiri Pandits ‘.
The seminar was presided over by Sh K.P.S.Gill and Dr. Subramanian Swamy was the Chief Guest . Amongst the other prominent persons in attendance were Lt. General J.F.R.Jacob, the hero of Bangladesh war , Prakash Singh ex DGP of UP , A.K.Verma ex Chief of RAW , Senior retired civil service officers from Railways and other services ,Sh.Vishnu Hari Dalmia, Col Tej Tikku , noted author on Kashmiris , Arun Kothari and Damodar Binani both industrialists and many others ,in a packed hall of VIF .
Initiating the discussion ,Director of VIF , Sh Ajit Doval, an ex Director of Intelligence Bureau , tracing the history of the problem, urged that the Kashmiri Pandits are the original residents of Kashmir and must be included in all forums and dialogues on Kashmir . The muslim residents of Valley are not the sole representatives of all Kashmiris .
Sh D.C.Nath , president of the Patriots Forum ,highlighted the activities of the forum and in particular mentioned the petition against Sachar Committee formation , it has filed in the Delhi High Court. The petition has been admitted but the hearing has not started for last four years inspite of the vigorous efforts put in .
A book of the proceedings of the last two seminars on the demography challenge being faced by India, were released by Dr. Subramanian Swamy and Sh.KPS Gill.
A website of the Patriots Forum was launched by Dr. Swamy .
Sh R.K.Upadhyay , on behalf of Patriots Forum , assured the distinguished guests that the site was not just an extra addition to the existing ‘Information Explosion ‘ but would be very useful due to its patriotic and analytical approach .

Dr Subramanian Swamy in his inspiring address , complimented the organizers in highlighting the plight of Kashmiri hindus who have become refugees in their own home land and the nation and the government has not done enough to redress their grievances. Lamenting the wrong twist in negotiations given by Interlocutors , he stated that as per the constitution, not an inch of Indian Territory can be given away by the Government, which has blundered its way from the days of Nehru inspite of having a cast iron case . If Pakistan questions the ‘Instrument of Accession ‘ by Maharaja Hari Singh , its very existence will get questioned.
He clarified that article 370 of the constitution is the only article which can be removed without any constitutional amendment , by just a presidential order.
Central Government can direct the state government to resettle Kashmiri hindus and in case of its non observance, impose Presidential rule under article 356 . For safety of hindus it can resettle ex service men in the state.
Sh. Swamy’s address was welcomed by thundering applause by the audience.
Sh R.K.Ohri , a noted author and a retired IPS officer, in his first paper ‘Kashmir : A Self Inflicted Wound By Nehru’, traced the history of Kashmir from its origin when Rishi Kashyap recovered the land from the lake Satisar . Its beauty was described by poet Kalidas .
Problems of hindus started in 1389 in the reign of Sultan Sikandar and later Martand Sun Temple was destroyed by Afghan invader Abdullah Khan Aquasi in 1752 . He recalled sacrifice of Guru Teg Bahadur who saved Kashmiri Pandits from tyranny of Aurangzeb by sacrificing his life at Gurudwara Sheeshganj in Delhi. Kashmir was sold by British to Dogra King Gulab Singh for Rs.75 lakh after defeating Sikhs in Anglo Saxon war after the demise of Mahraja Ranjit Singh.
Violating the Instrument of Accession , Pandit Nehru made a very grevious mistake by taking the problem to United Nations in 1947 . Indian Army was stopped from winning Domel and Kohala by announcing ceasefire mysteriously and prematurely. UN made another error by ignoring the instrument of accession and creating a new ‘Doctrine of Paramountacy’, Mc Naughton formula.
Much before Osama Bin Laden , Chaudhuri Ghulam Abbas advocated training of twenty thousand Kashmiris for creating chaos in Kashmir which was implemented by General Ayub.Khan .
Kashmiri Terrorism is actually a part of Global Jihaad, supported by 18 islamic countries . It is serious mistake of Nehruvian proportion to tackle it as Indo Pakistan problem.
Supported by General Zia Ul Haq , militants killed 300 prominent kashmiri hindus between Sep’89 and January 90. On 4th January 1990 , through local newspapers and from loudspeakers from mosques , hindus were given forty eight hours to leave Kashmir .
It is the worst Ethnic Cleansing , ignored largely by the government of India . Hindus since then are living in a terrorized state .Hindu women are the worst sufferers .
He insisted that the Government of India should resttle Kashmiri hindus and create atmosphere where they can live in peacefully in their ancient land.
Dr. Ajay Chrungoo , General Secretary of the Panun Kashmir , in his paper,’Caught up between Denial and Destruction’, further elaborated the travails of Kashmiri Hindus.
His most important point was that the Kashmiri problem is not merely of displacement or becoming refugees in their home land it is the problem of unleashing a systematic genocide and ethnic cleansing . All signs of previous hindu civilization are being removed .As per the UN resolutions not only the genocide and ethnic cleansing but the suppression of its information is also punishable.
By denying the real character of the problem Indian Government is really violating the UN resolution .
Dr. Shashi Shekhar Toshakhayani ,in his paper ‘ Kashmiri Pandits Grappling with the question of cultural identity’, He stated that Kashmir was an integral part of ancient hindu culture . Now efforts are being made to deny that history and call it a part of Central Asian Islamic culture.Systematically Kasmhmiri hindus are being forced to give up their ancient culture and erasing all signs of ancient history of Kashmir . It is now being further given impetus by the drive to rename the sites. In recent times since exodus and intellectually dishonest campaign is being carried out to prove its ancient link with Islamic culture . Kashmir government is no more neutral and hindu women are particularly being targeted.
Dr Romesh Raina , General Secretary of the All India Kashmiri Samaj ,in his paper ‘Hindu Dimension of Kashmir’, stated that the local muslim population is in the ‘ War’ mode for a long time with the State of India . The Stone Pelters , Terrorists , Seperatists are all part of the same war mode syndrome . Moreover by denying the hindu aspect of the Kashmir problem we are playing into the hands of these alien forces.
In the end Sh K.P.S.Gill , enlivened the atmosphere by his presidential address and giving some very practical suggestions like having a Union territory in valley for Hindus apart from ruthless suppression of separatists .But it needs Iron Will. He gave how terrorists in Punjab wanted anti sikh riots in rest of India to force Sikhs to migrate to Punjab and drive out hindus from Punjab . He posted a police post wherever more than four hindu families were living with clear instruction that in case any hindu family migrated police personnel will be held responsible .
He finally revealed that his last wish in service was to be DGP of J&K but it was not fulfilled .

Papers presented in the seminar can be seen at Patriots Forum Website.
The seminar ended with a vote of thanks by Sh R.K.Upadhyay and Shanti Mantra.