Jammu & Kashmir: Muslims 'bear brunt' of militancy

Revelation, if factually correct, threatens to unravel the Right-wing narrative that Pandits have faced holocaust in the Valley

Bereaved Kashmiri women : File Picture

Muzaffar Raina   |   TT  |  Srinagar   |  16.12.21 : The number of Muslims killed by militants during the three decades of militancy is nearly 20 times more than that of Kashmiri Pandits, an RTI reply by the Jammu and Kashmir government suggests. 

The revelation, if factually correct, threatens to unravel the Right-wing narrative that Pandits have faced “holocaust”, genocide and “ethnic cleansing” in the Valley.

The administration of Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha has put the number of Kashmiri Pandits killed by militants in the past 30 years at 89, against 1,635 people of “other faiths”. Muslims make up most of these people of “other faiths”, it has been inferred.

The figures furnished by the Union Territory’s administration has enraged Kashmiri Pandits, more so because it has come from a government that is directly run by the BJP-led Centre.

The number of Pandit casualties made public by the office of the deputy superintendent at the police headquarters in Srinagar is not even half the figure stated by the National Conference-Congress government in Jammu and Kashmir in 2010. The then government had put the number of Pandits who had fallen victims to militant attacks at 219. 

The hardline Pandit group Panun Kashmir puts the casualties at well over 1,000 but offers no evidence.

The official figures claim that militancy has left more than 40,000 people dead in Jammu and Kashmir, although human rights groups and separatists put the number between 60,000 and a lakh.

“These are incorrect figures, rubbish. Eighty-nine means nothing. I do not know who is the giver of this information. He should be reported for this, he should be taken to task,” fumed BJP leader Ashwani Chrungoo, a Pandit.

Haryana-based RTI activist P.P. Kapoor, who had filed the application seeking the number of people killed in militancy, including Pandits, said these were government figures and he had no reason to challenge them unless somebody came forward with more credible numbers.

“You know the BJP-RSS always cries that Kashmiri Pandits have been wiped out. We wanted to know the truth. The reply reveals that Hindus (Pandits) killed by militants are a mere 5 per cent of all (civilian) casualties and there is always so much hue and cry over these killings,” Kapoor told The Telegraph.

“Nobody talks about the 1,635 other killings by militants. These victims are mostly Muslims and also include some Sikhs. The reply also reveals that most of the people who migrated (88 per cent) were Pandits while Muslims, who suffered the most, did not migrate,” he said.

Kashmiri Pandit leader Satish Mahaldar said the RTI reply was like adding salt to their injuries.

“The reply has come from a government which claims to be doing a lot for Pandits. Rather than giving justice to Pandits, they are erasing history. This government has failed even in taking Kashmiri Pandits back to their homes,” Mahaldar, who put the number of casualties at 1,100, said.

According to the RTI reply, 1.54 lakh people, including Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs, had left the Valley since militancy reared its head. Of these, 53,958 were Hindus, 11,212 Muslims and 5,013 Sikhs.

Mansha Zeeshan, the DySP (headquarters) whose office replied to the RTI query, said: “We have everything on paper, in black and white. We are a government agency and there is no question of hiding. It is not my office that has the information. We take the information from the field and process it. I have taken the details from field agencies. If somebody thinks the numbers are not right, there is a scope for appeal and to seek clarification and ask for accurate figures. As such we assume that the details given to us are right and we also assume we have given the right information.”