LET POLITICAL EMPOWERMENT DRIVE OUR SOCIAL EMPOWERMENT HOME

While appreciating the concerns of our community about the dire state of our places of worship in Kashmir, we must understand that our temples or the monuments of faith cannot be isolated from our political struggle. All the issues which mire our community be it the places of worship, pitiable living conditions, education, health care, employment and other allied issues are directly related to our schemed marginalization in political sphere of Kashmir. I appreciate the efforts of all those who are putting up a brave affront for these issues, and in past 25 years various small and big time organisations took these issues as per their convenience and style.

We are at a juncture where we need to assess why our efforts on various fronts have borne least positive dividends, why are we no better if not worse than what we were 25 years during the times of our exodus, inspite of various positives at individual fronts, why the community is still unable to strike the best blow.

 

I believe, it is not the realisation of the goal but the path which leads to the goal which determines the success or failure. It is the path which must be perfected to attain the desired result. And based upon this universal truth, I say with finite accuracy that our path was never right. We always tried to isolate our political struggle from social issues like living conditions, health care, relief, education, temples et all, least bothering to analyse that these social issues were always connected with our political marginalization. Most of the organisations be it APMCC, AIKS, JKVM, YAIKS, various KPSs, all Ashrams and other small time organisations dealing with social issues treated politics as a taboo and carried non political or apolitical approach all their life.

The result is in front of us, we have miserably failed on all fronts purely because our path / approach was never right. Whatever little we have achieved is purely due to efforts of few individuals. While working upon social issues we allowed our energies to wither away striking against the system which has always been biased against our community. Had we encompassed our social struggle which has multiple contours and where our energies were sure to get withered away considering the magnitude of work and established marginalisation under Political struggle which has only one contour, we would have converged our energies upon one goal of realising our political empowerment which in turn would have empowered us socially as well.

Having said this, I donot deny that efforts were not made by the above organisations in their respective fields, but since these efforts have not produced desired results they have produced counter results and proved detrimental for the general good of the community. A general message has gone to the masses of the community that our community has gone to dogs, and we have miserably failed which I do believe is not true. But the sentiment of failure has caught the nerve centre of masses, and the community is seeing negativity all around.

Unity, is most abused word in Kashmiri Pandit community, and I attribute the hue and cry about unity to the same reason of treating social and political contours of our struggle separately. While talking about hundreds of organisations, we must know we are talking about hundreds of socially radical groups working upon social issues which I have explained above has multiple contours where our energies were sure to get withered away wastefully, considering the magnitude of work / parameters and established marginalisation of our community. So, it will not be improper to say that path which we choose has brought our community to the current levels of desperation.

At this juncture when things are slipping out of our hands and sinister designs are shaping to end the resilience of our community by way of forcible return to ghettos or original habitations, we must reassess our strategy and do some sincere course correction. We must now reaffirm our resolve and faith in the only political idiom of  a Separate Geo-Political dispensation as envisaged in Margdarshan Resolution 1991. Let the community with one voice reject all means and mechanisms of our return which do not encompass respect, dignity and non Refoulement. Let this political idiom drive us into realisation of unity and let the political empowerment drive our social empowerment home.

 

 

WHAT IS PANUN KASHMIR !

What is Panun Kashmir? A member in one Panun Kashmir group on whatsapp retorted back when I was trying to pull the attention of members towards this Geo Political entity. Well, even before this I have encountered many people who have built their own understanding of Panun Kashmir. Some refer to it as a party of KP's, some call it a separate homeland for Pandits in Kashmir, some even, and interestingly even Pandits describe it as a response to azadi tahreek of KM and think it as an equal sedition towards this nation. And very importantly certain page three Pandits very frequently refer to Panun Kashmir as its activists as a lunatic fringe who are selling a fantasy to the community.

With all this, it has been my endeavour in social media and my personal interactions to try and make my brethren understand the real meaning of Panun Kashmir, which though has been explained by many before as well, but as a general habit in humans we cannot seek the highest ideals from our state of existence. And maybe this is one of the reasons why Hindu worship idols. But I believe it is natural for humans to behave in this manner since most of us are bereft with limitations attributed to our respective mental capability. So, it becomes our responsibility to clear the cob webs and connected mis-understandings. In light of this observation, I would like to explain my understanding of Panun Kashmir.

Panun Kashmir can best be described as the Geo-Political entity under the ambit of Constitution of India, which came into existence through MARGDARSHAN RESOLUTION 1991. Incidentally the organisation which undertook to shoulder the responsibility of achieving this ideal also came to be known by the name of Panun Kashmir. Taking nothing away from the members of this organisation and with due regards to their selfless contributions we must however understand that the Ideal - Panun Kashmir is supreme, over and above anything else.

Though most of us know the necessity of this Geo-Political entity however for the section of community and the rest of Indians who are not aware about the back ground which led the KP community to demand separate Homeland, I would like to give a brief back ground.

This geo-political entity generally understood by the certain quarters as simply a separate political enclave for Pandits and nothing else is far from reality and gross dilution of the basic ethos of this ideal. With this understanding a scenario is being built by vested interests that it is sheer selfishness of the community which has led to such a demand. Some even think that it is a treason against the nation. So, before we make our mind about this Geo-Political entity as something exclusive for Pandits we must analyse the Kashmiri Pandits are the aboriginals of Kashmir with a known historical existence of more than 5000 years . Kashmir and its inhabitants are connected with Indian nation like flesh and bones. Pandits have been the baton holders of Sanskrit Hindu civilization, nourishing and safe guarding its strategic interests and the connected civilizational moorings and anchors along Northern frontiers of this mighty civilization. Our contribution and sacrifice to Sanskrit Hindu Civilization is second to none.

Islamic onslaught in Kashmir has changed the dynamics of this equation to a great degree and this religion has done everything to delineate the our sacred land from its original civilizational moorings thereby creating a new dispensation which is grossly contrary not only to our civilizational ethics and practices but defeats most widely held basic ethical and behavioural patterns world over. It unleashed a brute force to spread its tentacles and forcibly occupied the Kashmir valley - our sacred land. Forced conversions, Religious executions, inhuman treatment of the aboriginals and everything which constitutes barbarity was employed by these zealots using religious expansion as the state policy to annihilate the Indian Civilization and its representative - the Kashmiri Pandit.

Now we are at a juncture where the valley has been cleansed from the representatives of Indian Nation. The Islamic onslaught, we must know is not confined to KP community only, it is through this community that a larger and more potent attack is being planned on this nation and its civilization. Pandits being in the front line of this attack are the first collaterals of this civilizational conflict. 

It is in light of this understanding that Pandits have decided to take a lead once again and shoulder the responsibility of being the front runners of this civilizational conflict and re-establish the lost Sanskrit Hindu Civilization along with its moorings and anchors in Kashmir.  Thus, we must know the Geo-Political entity named Panun Kashmir was never and will never constitute the selfish intent of this community. The Ideal of Panun Kashmir will and shall always remain a selfless endeavour of this exiled community to re establish INDIA back in KASHMIR.

Ending with a humble plea to my community and the concerned souls of this mighty nation to draw the correct understanding of PANUN KASHMIR through above lines and shoulder this responsibility with us. India can be re-established in Kashmir only through its aboriginals and their GEO-POLITICAL ENTITY - PANUN KASHMIR.