Instead of providing security, Jagmohan 'engineered' relocation of Kashmiri Pandits

By Praveen Kabthiyal*
There is a need to do some reading on Kashmiri Pandits (KPs) and why they fled from the valley. Between 1990 and 2007 the number of KPs killed in the valley was 399, out of which around half were killed in the first year.
KSS (Kashmir Sangharsh Samiti) a KP organization, conducted research and published a report with exact names and addresses. One can Google it. These 399 people were not killed by the common Kashmiris but were killed by terrorists. One must keep in mind that, similarly, over 15,000 Kashmiri Muslims were also killed by terrorists in that same period.
Sikhs were also minorities in Kashmir, and they were also targeted in the valley by the militants, same as KPs (google Chattisinghpora massacre), yet the Sikhs did not flee from the valley like KPs. There are still around 70-80,000 Sikhs who reside in the valley, mainly in the areas of Baramula, Handwara, Awantipora and Tral.
The reason why KPs fled from the valley was that Jagmohan (an RSS man) was governor there and the state was under governors rule with BJP supported coalition government in centre. There was an issue of Hindu-Muslim being created in the country by BJP and the Ram Mandir issue was also heating up.
When terrorists killed KPs, instead of providing them more security, the governor called for the KPs to temporarily relocate to Jammu for 3-4 months so that security situation could be brought under control. KPs panicked and moved out enmasse from the valley. This migration of KPs suited the Hindu-Muslim narrative and aided BJP to gain electorally.

Terrorists, not common people, killed 399 Kashmiri Pandits. They similarly also killed 15,000 Kashmiri Muslims

The Kashmiri Muslims did not kill the KPs in some riots or violent ethnic clashes, as is the common perception. In fact, when in 1948 there was riot and killings of over 1,00,000 Kashmiri Muslims in Jammu region, that time as well there were on retaliatory killings of KPs in the valley! One can Google the 1948 killings of Kashmiri Muslims.
There has been no resettlement of the KPs in the last three decades or so because this issue is used for political mileage to fan the Hindu-Muslim divide. BJP champions the KP cause but one must keep in mind that there have been two terms of the BJP government at the centre and one term in the state govt yet they didnt initiate any steps for the KPs. Keeping the KP issue alive benefits the politicians.
Also, one must keep in mind that despite major riots and thousands of people killed in say Nellie in Assam, or 2002 in Gujarat, the Muslims did not run away from the state like KPs were 'engineered' to flee.
One must understand political issues behind the action. I would urge people to pick up any book on the Kashmir issue and read it to understand the problem.
---
Source: Facebook timeline

Comments

Was Netaji forced to alter face, die in obscurity in USSR in 1975? Was he so meek?

By Rajiv Shah This should sound almost hilarious. Not only did Subhas Chandra Bose not die in a plane crash in Taipei, nor was he the mysterious Gumnami Baba who reportedly passed away on 16 September 1985 in Ayodhya, but we are now told that he actually died in 1975—date unknown—“in oblivion” somewhere in the former Soviet Union. Which city? Moscow? No one seems to know.

Love letters in a lifelong war: Babusha Kohli’s resistance in verse

By Ravi Ranjan* “War does not determine who is right—only who is left.” Bertrand Russell’s words echo hauntingly in our times, and few contemporary Hindi poets embody this truth as profoundly as Babusha Kohli. Emerging from Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, Kohli has carved a unique space in literature by weaving together tenderness, protest, and philosophy across poetry, prose, and cinema. Her work is not merely artistic expression—it is resistance, refuge, and a call for peace.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Asbestos contamination in children’s products highlights global oversight gaps

By A Representative A commentary published by the International Ban Asbestos Secretariat (IBAS) has drawn attention to the challenges governments face in responding effectively to global public-health risks. In an article written by Laurie Kazan-Allen and published on March 5, 2026, the author examines how the discovery of asbestos contamination in children’s play products has raised questions about regulatory oversight and international product safety. The article opens by reflecting on lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic, noting that governments in several countries were slow to respond to early warning signs of the crisis. Referring to the experience of the United Kingdom, the author writes that delays in implementing protective measures contributed to “232,112 recorded deaths and over a million people suffering from long Covid.” The commentary uses this example to illustrate what it describes as the dangers of underestimating emerging threats. Attention then turns...

Echoes of Vietnam and Chile: The devastating cost of the I-A Axis in Iran

By Ram Puniyani The recent joint military actions by Israel and the United States against Iran have been devastating. Like all wars, this conflict is brutal to its core, leaving a trail of human suffering in its wake. The stated pretext for this aggression—the brutality of the Ayatollah Khamenei regime and its nuclear ambitions—clashes sharply with the reality of the diplomatic landscape. Iran had expressed a willingness to remain at the negotiating table, signaling a readiness to concede points emerging from dialogue.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Rajiv Shah Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

The kitchen as prison: A feminist elegy for domestic slavery

By Garima Srivastava* Kumar Ambuj stands as one of the most incisive voices in contemporary Hindi poetry. His work, stripped of ornamentation, speaks directly to the lived realities of India’s marginalized—women, the rural poor, and those crushed under invisible forms of violence. His celebrated poem “Women Who Cook” (Khānā Banātī Striyāṃ) is not merely about food preparation; it is a searing indictment of patriarchal domestic structures that reduce women’s existence to endless, unpaid labour.

Authoritarian destruction of the public sphere in Ecuador: Trumpism in action?

By Pilar Troya Fernández The situation in Ecuador under Daniel Noboa's government is one of authoritarianism advancing on several fronts simultaneously to consolidate neoliberalism and total submission to the US international agenda. These are not isolated measures, but rather a coordinated strategy that combines job insecurity, the dismantling of the welfare state, unrestricted access to mining, the continuation of oil exploitation without environmental considerations, the centralization of power through the financial suffocation of local governments, and the systematic criminalization of all forms of opposition and popular organization.

The price of silence: Why Modi won’t follow Shastri, appeal for sacrifice

By Arundhati Dhuru, Sandeep Pandey* In 1965, as India grappled with war and a crippling food crisis, Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri faced a United States that used wheat shipments under the PL-480 agreement as a lever to dictate Indian foreign policy. Shastri’s response remains legendary: he appealed to the nation to skip one meal a day. Millions of middle-class households complied, choosing temporary hunger over the sacrifice of national dignity. Today, India faces a modern equivalent in the energy sector, yet the leadership’s response stands in stark contrast to that era of self-reliance.

Search This Blog