Return: Progression towards Destruction
by Dr. Ajay Chrungoo
April 2011
The Weirdness
There is a perceptible weirdness in the handling of the issue of return of
Kashmiri Hindus by the state government. The Relief Commissioner of the state
government recently came out with the figures of 1069 employees having joined
their jobs in the valley out of the 1800 posts made available from the
employment package of 6000 jobs of the Prime Minister’s return and
rehabilitation programme. Not far back the state government had submitted an
affidavit to the Supreme Court stating that only around 700 candidates had
joined in the Kashmir valley. The government affidavit stated that it had
discovered that, “most of the families were not keen to return to the
valley.” The affidavit of the state government also categorically mentioned
that “till date, no migrant family has returned possibly due to the conditions
that prevailed in the state and also in the valley in 2008 because of the Amar
Nath land row. During the summer of 2010, the migrants who had already applied
to return were yet to take a final decision.” The state government claims that
the displaced Kashmiri Hindus are uninterested in returning to the valley and at
the same time in the same breath proclaims that they are very much interested to
return and have welcomed the new recruitments. The officials in the valley have
been giving figures of even around 2300 selected candidates having joined in
Kashmir valley knowing very well that the same government had issued
notification for only 1800 jobs. The candidates who have chosen to join the jobs
in the valley say that the original documents including certificates and state
subject proofs which are normally required to be produced before the authorities
to verify the credentials and then returned are held back by the authorities as
a guarantee for staying put. The PDP leaders who visited the lodging boarding
facilities provided by the state government in the valley for the new recruits
have confirmed the dismal and poor quality of all these arrangements where the
returnees have been huddled into ghetto like accommodations. There are many
candidates who have chosen not to continue with their new jobs but are afraid to
reveal the reasons and do not want to annoy the authorities. Many of them think
that government will eventually shift the jobs to Jammu and by keeping silent
about their assessments about the ground situation in the valley they may still
have a chance to keep their jobs intact. In the meantime there is a talk doing
the rounds in Jammu that the concerned minister in the cabinet is thinking of
shifting the women folk amongst the new employees back to Jammu.
The day Omar Abdullah formally released the recruitment orders for the
displaced Kashmiri Hindus selected as per the PM’s employment package and took
pains to self-pat himself and his government for the bold step, he chose to
share an anecdote with the audience invited for the occasion which brings out
the weirdness in government’s approach more clearly and conveys that there is
much more in the whole process of return than meets the eye. Interestingly the
same has not been covered by the media. The audience on the occasion consisted
mainly of the government handpicked Kashmiri Hindus constituted into an Apex
Committee to oversee the process of return and rehabilitation as the leaders of
the community. As per eyewitness reports Omar told the so called KP leaders that
his father’s local physician in Kashmir valley was once visited by a group of
terrorists at his home. The armed group told the physician that they had come
with a marriage proposal of one of their colleagues for his daughter. The
physician shocked and terror stricken however did not lose his cool. He humored
the visiting terrorist group by showing a willingness to accept the proposal but
asked for some time to consult the elders in the family and get their consent
for the marriage proposal. The band of terrorists confident of their power
readily agreed and left the house. The physician gathered his family and quietly
left the state and the country. He has been since living in a foreign country.
The CM told his Kashmiri Hindu audience that since then the physician has
visited the valley several times but has never asked for the rehabilitation of
his family back in Kashmir.
Sharing of such an anecdote on such an occasion carries a lot of meaning. Was
the Chief Minister very subtly trying to warn the community leaders of the
uncertainty prevailing in Kashmir valley and dissuading the selected candidates
from joining their new jobs in the valley? Or was the Chief Minister only adding
an escape caveat to the entire process which his own government had employed to
lure or coerce the needy and naïve displaced Hindu aspirants so that in case of
any eventuality he can escape responsibility for the decision which his
government has ruthlessly tried to implement. Public perception is that the
close cabinet colleagues of the CM had for quite some time opposed the entire
employment package of the Prime Minister. However, the reasons put forward by
the CM to convince his colleagues to support the package at least that part of
it for which government of India has agreed to bear the financial burden is not
in public knowledge.
The uncertainty
The anecdote shared by the CM while releasing the recruitment orders for the
displaced Kashmiri Hindus is a measure of deep and dangerous uncertainty that
has gripped Kashmir. This uncertainty is quite manifest. And his willingness to
push the Kashmiri Hindus into this uncertainty is a measure of the insensitivity
and hostility for the displaced Hindus in the political class of Kashmir valley.
When brother of Faroq Abdullah rebuffed him for apologizing to Kashmiri Hindus
for what had befallen upon them it was only a declaration of the ruthless zeal
of the order before which all seem to be powerless in Kashmir. The general
uncertainty prevailing in Valley is quite manifest. A Kashmiri Hindu boy Susheel
Raina S/o Sh. Badri Nath Raina living in Chandugam, Ashmuqam in valley along
with his family which stayed put in valley all these years while most of the
Kashmiri Hindus were living in exile in Jammu and rest of India, has been
missing for days at the time of writing of this article. He is suspected of
being kidnapped by the terrorists and his family fears he might have already
been killed. Head of the religious order Ahle-Hadis, Maulvi Shaukat was killed
the other day in the mosque when a remotely controlled IED was exploded by the
terrorists. The deceased had been opposing the stone pelting and hartal campaign
lead by the radical Islamist leader Ali Shah Geelani. The pro-Pak and stridency
was on display amongst the masses on the day when India –Pak cricket semifinal
of the World cup was being played in Mohali on March 30. As per local reports
crackers worth crores had been purchased and kept in reserve to celebrate
Pakistan’s victory in the match. Wazwaans had been arranged in numerous
localities to hold public feasts after Pakistan defeats India. The schools,
colleges and government offices saw very thin attendance and the markets assumed
a deserted look. Security establishment was so scared that they imposed Section
144 to stop people from gathering on roads. Many areas police prevented
shopkeepers to provide TV sets and screens for the telecast of the cricket
match. The posters of prominent Pakistani cricketers were being pasted on cars
and prominent places and many areas police had to intervene to prevent it. In
the evening when it started dawning upon the people that Pakistan was losing the
match terrorist outfits issued instructions for a general black out in the
entire valley. Terrorists entered the house of a local NC leader Ghulam
Mohiuddin Bhat and fired indiscriminately killing him on the spot. Although the
killing was interpreted as the beginning of the anti-election campaign by the
terrorists many believe that Bhat was killed because he had not put off the
lights of his house which had irritated the terrorist commanders of the area.
The uncertainty in valley has only deepened after the happenings in Middle East.
The slogan in the streets is,” Khoon ka badla June mai lengey… we will take
the revenge of the loss of life during stone pelting campaign in June.” So
perceptible is the din of this simmering unrest that even the Prime Minister of
India and the chief Minister have expressed their apprehensions about the
impending trouble in the summer of this year.
Powerlessness of the Victim
 But
in this whole sordid drama powerlessness of Kashmiri Hindus, the victim of
genocide is most glaringly evident. This powerlessness has been primarily
because government of India has chosen to abandon them in search of a deal with
those who perpetrated the genocide on them. During the meetings of concerned
Working Groups created by Prime Minister the existential threat to the Kashmiri
Hindus posed by the communal political order in Kashmir valley with all the
instruments of violence at its disposal were repeatedly brought to the notice of
government of India. Such concerns were meticulously and ruthlessly ignored.
Causes which had led to internal displacement, chances of backlash violence in
case of repatriation, nature and intensity of instability in Kashmir valley,
accountability etc. does not concern those who are at the helms. In fact during
last more than two decades successive governments in the state and the center
have jointly participated in a campaign to hush up and trivialize the
destruction of Kashmiri Hindus. The National Human Rights Commission took the
suo moto notice of the backlash massacre of Kashmiri Hindus at Wandhama in
Ganderbal district of Kashmir valley during the previous stint in the government
of the National Conference and sent an enquiry team to the valley. The findings
of the enquiry were never allowed to come to light. After the Nadimarg massacre
during Mufti Sayed’s tenure as the Chief Minister, the then Union Home
Minister Sh L K Advani publicly displayed his discomfiture to listen to the
victims. The alleged connivance of the police in not acting in time to prevent
the crime and a deliberate insensitivity of the authorities in the state and the
Centre demoralized and frightened the victims that they chose to leave the
village and forget the crime. The victims of the Chattisinghpora massacre who
were willing to come forward as witnesses had a same experience and chose to
remain silent. The government created an Apex committee of the representatives
of displaced Kashmiri Hindus to give an impression that they were being taken
into confidence with regard to their return and rehabilitation. But in fact
everything was decided beforehand and that too in written. Those who objected
were forced to walk out and their places were eventually filled with henchmen.
The apex Committee, like the Jewish councils created in concentration camps in
Europe before the World War 2, has become only an instrument of the government
to promote its policy. Everything which comes in the way is being ignored or
suppressed. Government has now transformed itself from a bystander into a
collaborator. Powerlessness of the victim gives confidence to the perpetrator
and the collaborator to continue with their acts. Professor Henry Theriault, a
descendent of the survivors of the Armenian Genocide in 1914 captures this
viciousness by explaining, “Deniers operate as the agents of the original
perpetrators (of the genocide), pursuing and hounding them through time. Through
these agents the perpetrators reach once again into the lives of the victim long
after their escape from the perpetrators physical grasp.” Recruitment drive of
Kashmiri Hindus in valley has nothing to do with rehabilitation because it does
not address the issue of rehabilitation at all. Recruitment drive is a cosmetic
intervention to disguise the compromises which the governments in the state and
the Centre have jointly embarked upon. It is a device to insulate rabidly
communal order from criticism and accountability. The willingness to hostage
displaced Kashmiri Hindus to a Muslim communal order has widened the reach of
the grasp of the perpetrator who subjected them to genocide.
The Takers
 But
why are there takers amongst the displaced Kashmiri Hindus for the Prime
Minister’s employment package? At least a thousand have agreed to avail of the
employment opportunities provided by the package and return to the dangerous
uncertainty as is prevailing in the valley. Holocaust expert Joel E Dimsdale
says, “In destruction process the perpetrators do not play the only role, the
process is shaped by the victim too. It is the interaction of perpetrators and
victims that is fate.” To understand the issue one has to understand what
happens to the victims when they are abandoned by their own governments in whom
they despite all reasons to the contrary continue to repose their trust.
Psychological studies on victims of extreme persecution and genocidal
destabilization have revealed peculiar behavior which is difficult to comprehend
under normal circumstances. Saporta and Van der Kolk make a profound observation
in this regard in their seminal work Psychological Consequences of Severe
trauma, “In a government sanctioned torture, the betrayal of the victim by its
government can be viewed as the loss of an important attachment bond, both real
and symbolic. Regardless of one’s conscious attitude about one’s government,
there tends to be a hope, or aspiration that will embody parental qualities such
as the provision of protection and security. The betrayal of these expectations
and thus loss of this form of attachment compounds the impact of torture…. in
their attempt to maintain attachment bonds victims turn to the nearest source of
hope to regain a state of psychological and physiologic calm. Under situations
of sensory and emotional deprivation they may develop strong emotional ties with
the tormentors.” This has been called as ‘traumatic bonding’. Traumatic
bonding of victims usually is preceded by a state of denial amongst the victims
themselves. Ervin Staub refers to a this denial as a defense mechanism. “
Denial is one of the primitive defense mechanisms. It means screening out part
of reality or making it unreal in our minds… interpreting events in a way that
suits our needs.” This type of denial and traumatic bonding with the
perpetrator is manifestly evident when we talk to the returnees.
Three main factors: Destitution, naivety and a suicidal wishfulness, seem to
have influenced the Kashmiri Hindus who have decided to join in valley after
being selected for the employment package.. There are families who have lived on
the meager relief for more than two decades. To withstand the pressures of
destitution for more time has almost become unbearable. There are over aged
unemployed and unmarried ladies whose parents hope that getting a job will help
them finding a partner. There are divorced ladies whose parents want to overcome
the fear of what might happen to them in case they are no more. There are
village folk who think that a job in Kashmir may help them to reclaim and
develop their lands and property. Enforced destitution of the displaced
population has been a conscious policy of both the perpetrators and the
collaborators within the government and outside it. Systematically different
types of coercive influences have been unleashed during their exile to produce
anxiety and stress for a protracted period and the destitute displaced Hindus
from Kashmir are responding by trying to adapt or conform.
Naivety, lack of understanding and ignorance about the major political
happenings which have a bearing on the very survival of victims drives the
victim to suicidal actions. Dimsdale writes about the behavior of Jews as they
were being pushed towards a holocaust, “the Jews did not always have to be
deceived, they were capable of deceiving themselves.” Some of the selected
candidates of the employment package and their close kins who were approached by
well-wishers to reconsider their decision stubbornly refused any counseling. A
somewhat comical anecdote which happened sometime back will reflect the nature
of this naivety more than anything else. A married young Kashmiri Hindu who is
working as an officer in a central government department accompanied his wife to
Kashmir valley. His wife had been selected for a teacher’s post and had
decided to join the post. Young man’s father had been killed by Islamist
terrorists in valley during 90’s. Young man had told his wife not to remove
her Bindi mark on the forehead and flaunt her ‘Dejhaur ‘, the ornament which
is a sign of a married woman amongst Kashmiri Pandits and hangs from the ear
lobe to the front of the bust. He told her that by doing so he will be able to
gauge the reaction of the Muslim officer receiving the joining report and thus
will be able to decide whether she would continue with the job or not. The
selected lady reached Kashmir valley and went to the school to submit her
joining report along with her husband. On reaching the school they found only
the peon in the school who told them to sit and wait for the education officer.
Another Kashmiri Hindu lady was already sitting in the reception room along with
her husband. She had also come to join for a teachers post. The young man asked
his wife to sit in the reception room and he himself went out to smoke a
cigarette. When he returned to the reception room he found her wife had already
removed the bindi mark from her forehead and hidden her ‘Dejhaur’ in the
locks of her hair. He asked her why she had done so and his wife told her that
the other Kashmiri Hindu lady sitting there had advised her to do so. While he
was narrating this episode to his friends in Jammu, one of his friends
interjected and said, “Tell me if your wife would not have removed her bindi
and continued to flaunt her ‘Dejhaur’ and the education officer and other
employees of the school had received her warmly and with respect, would you
conclude that everything is hunky dory and keep your young and beautiful wife
there to serve as a teacher in a village.”
A scholar who is doing research on the Hindu survivors of the Tribal Raid in
Kashmir Valley in 1947-48 reminded me of the viciousness of the naivety of
people in situations of emergency and extreme distress and cautioned me not to
get surprised by it. He reminded me that Kashmiri Pandits living in Srinagar
continued to remain engrossed in performing the marriages in the marriage
season, played tumbakhnari and music, while the invaders had almost reached the
outskirts of the city in 1947. A survivor of the tribal raid from Baramullah
revealed that he was a school student when the raiders entered Baramullah. The
Hindu residents of his locality assembled in a village to discuss the issue.
Blissfully naïve they came to a conclusion that the best response to the
impending raid was to remain a kilometer away from the main roads. They held the
view that raiders had mainly 3 not 3 rifles with them and such a rifle had a
firing range of not more than a kilometer so if they remained out of the range
they will be safe. Cultivating naivety is also a sort of an escape response.
There is deliberate inclination of the victims of genocide and protracted
persecution to black out inputs, shun out unpleasant inferences and remain in a
make believe world to maintain a feel good perception. When confronted by
serious life threatening situations, “the victims can react in five ways: by
resistance, by an attempt to alleviate or nullify the threat (the undoing
reaction), by evasion, by paralysis, or by compliance.”
The suicidal wishfulness or a very perverted cleverness seems to have
effected many of the selected candidates who have decided to join. The persons
in this category are fully aware of the dangers of returning to the uncertainty
of the valley. They are aware of the grim situation there and the sway and
dominance of the radical communal forces there. None of them has faith in the
government’s capability to protect them. They accept that sooner or later some
mishap may happen there. And ironically all of them have a hope that if a mishap
happens then they will run back to Jammu and stake their claim as a migrant
employees and the government will have no choice but to adjust them in Jammu.
And all these clever persons individually think that the impending mishap on
which they are laying their hopes to escape and get a redemption will not happen
with them.
Looking at the attitude of Government of India, the state government, the
political establishment in Jammu and Kashmir as well as New Delhi towards the
problem of internal displacement of Kashmiri Hindus, one cannot but be haunted
by the lines of holocaust expert Ervin Staub, “ there was a progression of
steps along a continuum of destruction.”
*(The writer is chairman Panun Kashmir)
Source: Kashmir
Sentinel
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