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Constituencies-in-exile
Kashmiri
Pundits at the Cross roads
Romeet
Kaul Watt
Kashmiri
Pundits (KP’s), fundamental constituent of glorious heritage and
legacy of Kashmir find themselves at cross-roads in their 12th
year of exile; more than 8000 families still languish in refugee
camps without appropriate facilities for sanitation, medical-care
and education – a state that can be aptly described as
‘pitiable.’ In the past one-decade, more than 1000 KP’s have
perished due to snakebites, and sunstrokes. The toll due to
unnatural deaths has been put at 6000; psychological trauma and
morbidity has resulted in incalculable damage to the ‘collective
mind’ of the community. The period has also seen unprecedented
outbreak of epidemics in these refugee camps. National human rights
commission (NHRC) has put the death toll of the KP’s killed in the
terrorist-related violence in Jammu and Kashmir at 1,200.
The
political leadership of this ethnic minority has time and again
accused the Indian establishment of using KP’s as ‘scape
goats’: “Our pathetic existence in the camps is being exploited
by New Delhi to substantiate its claim over Kashmir in the eyes of
the international community,” says Moti Kaul of Panun Kashmir. He
further says that the community will vehemently oppose manipulations
by the governments and vested interests of the state to play fraud
on the constitution and to draw mileage from human sufferings.
“They need us, as long as it can exhibit us before the
international community for its own political interests,” says
another prominent community leader.
For
a community that has made immense contribution to the growth and
development of the country, and has given the country two prime
ministers, their present state of political seclusion has done more
harm than good for the democratic process in the state of J&K.
One of the rare distinctions that this ethnic minority shares with
their estranged Muslim-majority brethren of the Valley has been the
boycott of the parliamentary and the assembly elections that took
place in 1996. However community leaders are quick to dispel the
fears that the poll boycott in the past has helped the separatists
and secessionist elements, insisting that every Indian has the right
to protest and the poll boycott was the civilized way of
communicating their concerns to the Nation.
Right
wing Kashmiri pundit parties insist that to ensue the participation
of the KP’s in the forthcoming assemble election in September
2002, the State should ensure that the perpetrators of
‘genocide’ be brought to justice and punished; and create a
dispensation for the victims of the ethno-religious cleansing in
J&K which reverses exodus and ensures rehabilitation.
Political
analysts believe that the right-wing parties have gone into an
“idealistic-overdrive” which has resulted in their sidelining
within the community. The moderates, who form an overwhelming
majority, insist that the Kashmiri Pundits would like to participate
in the forthcoming elections, provided a mechanism was evolved which
would ensure due representation of the community in proportion to
its population, something which has not been forthcoming in the
past. According to the report, “Charge sheet on Autonomy,”
prepared by Committee to build response on autonomy (CBRA), the
assemble segments where Kashmiri Pundits could be politically
represented, were restructured ……………”fragmented” to
reduce them to an insignificant part of the contiguous assemblies
thereby depriving the Pundits to elect their representatives to the
state assemble on their own strength. While three KP’s were
returned to the state assemble in 1957, 1962 and 1967, the numbers
was subsequently restricted to one in the 1972, 1977, 1983, 1987 and
1996.
A
senior Panun Kashmir leader says that there is an urgent need to
discuss our response towards the electoral process otherwise we
would be dragged into the process without once again being into
confidence. “We feel that a sense of genuine participation can
arouse only if they were given due share in the state legislature
and the parliament,” he further remarks.
The
most important aspect that the exiled community needs to put across
to the Election Commission and New Delhi is that they are not
migrants but Internally Displaced People (people forced to flee
their abode but remaining in their own country are designated by the
United Nations). This will give a new dimension to their status in
exile, contrary to the “ordinary status” professed by the
Election Commission in the past. The designation will also put in
proper outline their participation or otherwise in the elections.
Postal
ballot system which has been used in the past has proved to be bogus
and fraudulent: no checks and counter checks, hence the vote can be
misused by the political bosses. Two prerequisite conditions for the
postal ballot: the liberty of the voter to return anytime to his
native place of residence and no desertion of his intention to
return wherever it may suit his pleasure or convenience so to do,
are not fulfilled in the present dispensation. These refugees have
not given up their intent to return to their motherland nor are they
at the liberty of returning to it as long as terror and violence
continue to haunt the valley. Therefore, the Election commission
will have to devise ways and means of protecting their fundamental
right to vote outside the realm of the present provision.
By
agreeing to participate through postal ballot, they will once again
become tools in the hands of the Indian establishment which not only
failed to come to their rescue while they were the main targets of
fundamentalist forces in the Valley.
Normally
the electoral process can get the stamp of authenticity only when
the exiled KP’s go back to their original constituencies in a free
and fearless atmosphere, settle back in their homes and then cast
their votes without fear of restraints to elect their legitimate
legislature. This is far beyond the instant realm of reality.
The
question is whether the Kashmiri Pundits should find an optimum to
respond rather than yield their right to vote and remaining
un-represented in the legislature and Parliament.
Prof.
Shyam Kaul, an eminent writer says that KP’s are demanding no
reservations but constituencies in exile and what they are asking is
also recognition by the International law. He further says, “no
communal representation but class representation is demanded and
they will fight elections as Internally Displaced Persons.”
Prof.
T N Shalla, legal expert has also expressed his fears that the
KP’s may again remain un-represented in the legislature under the
present dispensation and said that KP’s feel left out of the
election process at present.
Political
and constitutional experts say that one way out of this standoff is
to demand constituencies-in-exile, which will mean the
Internally Displaced People getting a number of constituencies
proportionate to their numbers registered as migrants, which has
been put officially at over 3 lakhs, so that they will be able to
not only to seek candidature but also to elect their genuine
representatives. This will provide them an electoral identity, a
first step towards a political identity which will in due course
enable them to negotiate for their respectable and honorable return
to the Valley with full constitutional, economic, religious and
other guarantees laid down in the Indian constitution.
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