Ashok Bhan
It is the 29th year of exile for native Kashmiris-persistently longing to return to their homeland. All successive central and State Governments have failed this illustrious Community to create conducive and secured socio-political environment for a dignified return.The exiled Pandits have been waiting for 29 years, hoping that the day of their return with honour,dignity and security to their homeland will come. It has not so far, despite claims of the considerable improvement in the ground situation.
In the meanwhile, the plight of the Pandits has been slowly forgotten. Everybody sheds crocodile tears over their suffering, but there is nothing by way of action. The future of the Pandits, as an important stakeholder to Kashmir imbroglio, is less and less talked about.
It was believed that the present BJP dispensation at the centre with a massive mandate would plan their dignified and secured return home as a matter of priority agenda.Unfortunately, It has worsened Kashmir affairs and perceived to lack the basic political will to reverse the exile of the Kashmiri Pandits and give them justice.
Killing one and scaring a thousand” tactics for execution of the ethnic cleansing of Kashmir Pandits was employed to rid Kashmir of the Hindu population from the soil of Kashmir where their roots are engraved for more than 5000 years.Its civilisational linkages with India are many centuries old.Today the demographic profile is completely changed to suit the terrorists plans.
It was the morning of 14th September 1989 when my colleague,Pandit Tika Lal Taploo, an advocate and senior BJP leader, was assassinated by the militants, at a point blank range outside his residence while he was leaving home for his daily business of vakalat. Several bullets were pumped in his body and he succumbed right in front of his residence. The news of his assassination spread like wild fire throughout the city of Srinagar and in particular in the Habakadal Assembly constituency from where he had been contesting elections as BJP candidate. He was a well-known social activist and a lawyer in his constituency and had developed a personal rapport among all the sections of voters, despite being one of the most consistent and ardent RSS/BJP leader. Hearing the sad news, I along with several KP leaders sat on protest Dharna against the brutal murder at Habba Kadal Chowk. Sensing the likely fall out of such brutal killing of a prominent Kashmiri, we mobilised a huge funeral procession of all the segments of Kashmir political class and the civil society including huge presence of lawyers.
The ostensible reason given by the JKLF the outfit behind the killing, that Pandit Taploo was perceived as a vocal voice against the on-going militancy who had condemned the killing of a national conference local leader namely, Mohd. Yusuf Halwai, who was his neighbor and a voter in Habakadal constituency couple of days before his assassination. Having grasped the political fall out, I immediately went to in the chambers of the then Chief Minister, Dr. Farooq Abdullah and requested him that the assassination of Taploo deserves wide spread condemnation by all the political elements and the majority community so that the militants get a message that the peace loving Kashmiris are against any violence and terrorism.Dr. Farooq Abdullah summoned top leaders of his party and advised them to participate in large numbers in the funeral of late Mr. Taploo and he himself condemned the killing in the most severe and hard hitting language.
Thereafter, we the members of the Kashmiri Pandit community, mobilized our rank and file and sat on a dharna (protest ) in the heart of the city at Habakadal Chowk. People of prominence like , late Mr A.N. Vaishnavi, late Mr Amar Nath Ganjoo, Utpal Koul , HN Jatoo, late BK Handoo and PN Karnail etc. and hundreds of social and community activists joined us in the protest. At the High Court Bar Association office bearers meet we unanimously resolved to condemn the brutal killing of our colleague late Shri Taploo. The lawyers decided to join the funeral procession to pay their last respect and homage to a colleague.
In the afternoon of 14th September,the mortal remains of this illustrious son of the soil, late Taploo, were taken in a huge procession through the lanes and by lanes of Habakadal constituency to the Karan Nagar cremation ground where thousands of people gathered to bid good bye to Pandit Taploo.
During this process, I was accompanied by couple of my friends , as we were near Karan Nagar, one friend whispered in my ear that one of the known JKLF activist and militant was roaming around and caught hold of him to tell him that the next in the killing target is Ashok Bhan who has been on our radar for quite some time and after eliminating him, nobody on earth can stop us (militants) from doing whatever we are doing. He further told him that ours is a struggle for liberation of Kashmir valley from the colonial rule of India and all the sections of people of Kashmir, minus the Kashmiri Pandits are, and will be, part of our liberation struggle. My friend got terribly scared for me.Next day morning, on 15th September, one of my colleagues, who is deceased now, Comrade Bhushan Lal Bhat, advocate, knocked at my door at 5 in the morning. I was surprised to see him that early and that too on the pretext of making a phone call abroad from my phone to his relation abroad.He did not call anybody. Instead he sat with me for two hours discussing the situation at that time, more specifically in the aftermath of Taploo’s killing. At the end of our two hour long conversation, he categorically asked me : Ashok, this is right time that you plan to move out of the Kashmir valley as,militants want to kill you.
The third person, Mr. Ghulam Mohammad, who was friendly to one of the communist leaders of Kashmir, met me during the day and advised me to be conscious in my movements because I was on the radar of militants’ for killing.
These three inputs made me more and more introspective but my prominence as lawyer, as social activist and also as a powerful office bearer of a political party, did not bother me much and I relentlessly went on crusading against the mayhem sought to be created by the militants least realizing that a concerted plan has been formulated and is being executed through JKLF to ethnically cleanse the entire community Kashmiri Pandits and also kill the nationalist Muslim activists. By and by, I approached the administration for my protection and the advice I received was to shift my residence from my down-town location to some secure area, the advice which I never heeded to.
On 15th September, LK Advani, President of the BJP and Kedar Nath Sahni addressed the condolence gathering at Sheetal Nath, Srinagar in the midst of 10,000 strong crowd and condemned the assassination of Taploo and termed it as a murder of democracy. They assured the gathering that the Kashmiris, in general, and Kashmiri Pandits in particular, will be protected by the Indian State, the State Government.BJP was supporting VP singh Government from out side at that time.
As the situation was unfolding, other prominent Kashmiri Pandits were getting brutally killed. A former judge, Pandit Neelkanth Ganjoo was killed in broad day light in Hari Singh High Street while returning from his court work as an advocate. His body lied on the road for some time because a diktat was issued by the JKLF not to move it and people did not move it out of scare and followed the diktat. Some of us from the court rushed to the spot and gathered few more, along with the local police, to remove the dead body. The JKLF had meticulously executed this murder scripted by ISI and their spokesman later officially acknowledged that the killing was done to avenge the judge’s role in the death sentence of JKLF founder Maqbool Butt.
Meanwhile, the killings of prominent Muslim activists and political leaders also started and those nationalist Muslims and political leaders who condemned such brutal terror attacks of innocent citizens were done to death in more gruesome manner. One of the prominent national leader, Mir Mustafa of Lassjan became another victim of such brutality.
I was practising in High Court of Kashmir and on one occasion was sitting in the room of Advocate General, late Mr Altaf Ahmad. From one corner of the High Court a group of militants indiscriminately fired at the CRPF personnel guarding the High Court. There was no casualty and the militants left through the small by lanes conveniently. It was a very scary situation in the High Court. Both the Divisional Commissioner and the DG Police arrived and gave a very hazy explanation to the Chief Justice, the Advocate General and the lawyers present, including me. The civil administration and the local police seemed confused and clueless because by that time the political leadership which could guide the administration had gone into a sullen mode. The Kashmiri pandit community as a whole became forsaken, insecure and vulnerable. The nefarious designs of the terrorists started gaining legitimacy in certain sections of Kashmiris,maybe to start with out of scare but as the time went by, it appeared that it was out of anger against India for the reasons unexplained so far by those sections of Kashmiris.
The nature and pattern of subversion and terrorism got amalgamated and the emotion of the Kashmiri Muslims against India got whipped up. The shadow of terrorists guns started looming large over the valley and the State Government seemingly abandoning its responsibility towards the citizens so much so the Chief Minister started shuttling between Srinagar and Delhi and Delhi-London leaving the State to the mercy of the most incompetent bureaucracy.
After having refused to leave my residence at the asking of state administration, one fine evening in November 1989, a highly placed police officer called me up and said that the threat against my life and that of my family has become very serious and severe. He confided that two of the arrested terrorists have specifically named me as their next target. Having listened to the officer, I went home and discussed the matter with my wife and she got frightened but said that how can we plan to go out of Kashmir just like that? I was trying to gain time but things so happened that I was being shadowed for three days by militants. Finally, they called my home on phone to tell my wife that in case they did not succeed to kill me in another couple of days, they will definitely kidnap my small kids. On this, I spoke to the central Government as ,I was Senior Central Government Counsel in JK High Court through Intelligence Incharge Doulat and asked him that I wish to leave the valley now. He told me how about my belongings—the house and other valuable material? I said it does not matter.I told him that I do not mind losing everything I wish to protect my family and myself from the brutalities of terrorists.I asked him for providing a security cover to accompany us at least up to Banihal. He made the arrangement and leaving behind every thing,I left with my two small kids and wife in a Car and a security cover up to Banihal and reached Jammu.
Around same time H L Jad, and Prem Nath Bhat advocates and other social activists had left for Jammu for security reasons.I conveyed to Doulat, as he was the ear and eyes of Indian State in Kashmir, that if a person of my standing and eminence and other few are being hounded like that, what is the guarantee that other members of my community will be secure. I tried to sensitize the Indian State about the magnitude of the threat perceptions and the conspiracy being hatched by Pakistan and militants in Kashmir to ethnically cleanse Kashmir of the minority Hindu population of the valley and change the demographic profile.
Pakistan, ISI and the militants resorted to “Killing one and scaring a thousand” tactics for execution of the ethnic cleansing of Kashmir Pandits. Today, is the Balidan Divas to commemorate the martyrdoms of of all the innocent KPs including T L Taploo. NK Ganjoo, Sarla, Sarvanand Premi, Prem Nath Bhat, Lassa Kaul, and hundreds of innocent Kashmiri Pandits. This day always makes our resolve stronger that KPs have to retrieve their Homeland and the roots and to strive, struggle and stop not till the mission is accomplished.
“I personally salute all the martyrs who laid their precious life for the soil of Kashmir. With my heart bleeding and tears rolling down, I appeal to all the Kashmiri Pandits and other Kashmiris of the valley to stay united and save Kashmir from further mayhem, death and destruction.”
(The author is Senior Advocate, Supreme Court and Chairman, Kashmir Strategy and Policy Group)
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