The migrant Pandits observed what they call `exodus day’ across the globe Sunday. The migrants claim that they were forced to migrate on this day (January 19, 1990) by Kashmiri Muslims. However, data furnished by the police and sane elements in the community belie these claims.
Sanjay Tickoo, who heads the Kashmiri Pandit Sangrash Samithi (KPSS) has been repeatedly terming these claims as malicious propaganda to malign the Kashmir Muslims, who, according to him, saved many a Pandit in “those fateful days of 1990.”
Tickoo was in Mumbai on February 23, 1990 and wanted to celebrate Shivratri with his family in Srinagar. He reached Jammu on February 25 or 26 where he came to know about registration of migrants at Geeta Bhawan. Tickoo went there to get himself registered as a migrant. “I was registered there under serial No 36,” he told media persons after forming the KPSS.
“This means only 35 persons (read pundits) had migrated till February 26. Therefore, the claims about January 19 are baseless and malicious,” he said.
He further said that most of the pundits migrated in April and May 1990 and not on January 19.
Pertinent to mention Tickoo has worked extensively on Pandits and their temples. “His data, therefore, cannot be ignored,” people close to him believe although it (the data) does not go down well with the community.
The data about Pandit Killings furnished by the police also negates these claims. Police records say around 206 Pandits got killed at the hands of the militants. The list furnished by the police has some Hindus and unidentified persons as well. “This also negates the claim about ethnic cleansing as well,” a human rights defender said.
Knowledgeable people also question the quantum of migration. A census conducted prior to the exodus pegs their number around two lakhs only. “The Pandits, by and large, opted for family planning. So, the claim that round half a million Pandits migrated in 1990 is not substantiated even by official data,” they opine.
It is in place to mention here that the commoner in Kashmir has always described the Pandits as an inseparable part of Kashmir. Various for a including the Hurriyat Conference have been inviting them to return to their native places.