November - Panun Kashmir

Kashmir Sentinel November 2002migrated during this period, being the citizens of a free country and being more liberal in their approachdid not prefer to live in a particular area together like the previous migrants, but instead got scatteredthrough out the length and breadth of the country and even some of them got settled in foreign countrieswhere they found the future prospects for them much better at that point of time. In this process theirunified strength became the greatest casualty as they were not able to build up any exclusive centre anywhere for them to project their unified strength representing their big number for any meaningful politicalbargain. This lack of cohesion among the community members gradually started the process ofdisintegration in the community and its marginalisation every where. Because in a democratic setup it isthe number which ultimately counts. If you don't have the required numbers with you then your voiceobviously becomes meaningless, howsoever sensible it may be. The liberal western views adopted bysome of them not only deviated them from their centuries old values and traditions for which they wereknown once but also accelerated the phenomenon of intercaste marriages in the community which havenow become a very common affair as every second boy or girl is marrying outside the community and isfeeling a great thrill in doing that. I am unable to understand as to where all this will lead us to say afteranother fifty years. Will we be able then to maintain our distinct identity or will be lost into oblivionforever. We are reaping now what we have sown all these years.The fourth mass exodus of the Kashmiri Pandits due to terrorism took place on 19/20 January 1990 fromthe Kashmir valley. These unfortunate migrants numbering more than 3 lakhs are living under subhumanconditions in tattered tents mostly in Jammu and Delhi for the last 13 years and nobody has the time tolisten to their grievances. They have been left high and dry by almost everybody. According to the reportspublished in the Statesman of Delhi a few months back some of these migrants in utter frustrationembraced Islam just to take them out from the existing rotten and hellish conditions. What does thisdevelopment indicate? Are we moving in the right direction for our progress and prosperity or are wecutting our own roots. A rudderless ship ultimately sinks in the deep ocean. The wise men always take thecorrective steps at the right time to survive the onslaught. It is true that nobody can predict the futurecorrectly. But the coming events cast their shadows before. It is always, better to learn from theexperiences of others rathers than taking a plunge without fully knowing about the consequences. Thetime has come now when we should realise the fact that without the adequate numbers on our side, wewill not succeed in achieving any thing. So there is no fun in playing the ping-pong game just to keepevery body in good humour. Now the sincere efforts should be made to strengthen the community bondsat every level to make it a force to reckon with having a single unified voice rather than projectingdivergent views even on most vital issues concerning the community and its future prospects as wasobserved recently in connection with the elections in Jammu and Kashmir state where the leaders ofdifferent groups of our community were found singing different tunes thus creating utter confusion. Thisalso reflects our political immaturity to some extent. It is clear that if we go on following the Bamamapolicy then it is certain that it will lead us no where. We have to formulate clear cut policies andprogrammes as to what we have to do and therefore the approach of beating about the bush makes nosense here. One should at least have enough courage to take bold decisions in the wider interest of thecommunity."Hum bewafa hargiz na thePar hum wafa kar na sake"Panun Kashmir Publication 2-9PDF created with FinePrint pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com