Good news from the Valley: Minority Hindus finally feel safe in Kashmir

The Government of India has taken several measures to improve the law and order scenario in the region. It is fully aware that the Pandits in Kashmir have suffered throughout in history because of their faith in Hinduism.

On July 27, 2022, Minister of Home Affairs Nityanand Rai informed the Rajya Sabha that "no Kashmiri Pandit has left the Kashmir Valley in the year 2022.". He claimed that at least 6,514 Kashmiri Pandits were residing in the Valley till July 20, 2022.

Minister Rai revealed that a maximum of 2,639 Kashmiri Pandits were residing in Kulgam district, followed by 1,204 in Budgam, 808 in Anantnag, 579 in Pulwama, 455 in Srinagar, 320 in Shopian, 294 in Baramulla, 130 in Ganderbal, 66 in Bandipora and 19 in Kupwara.

Observers say the Minister's statement in the House clearly indicates the minority Hindus are safe in Kashmir today. The Narendra Modi government at the Centre is committed to defend and guarantee the right to life and development of all minorities, including the Kashmiri Pandits, in the country today.

Last year, there were reports that some fresh attacks on the minorities in Kashmir had triggered an exodus of the Kashmiri Pandits. After the Modi government at the Centre abrogated Article 370 of the Indian Constitution and declared Jammu and Kashmir to be a Union Territory of India in August 2019, status quoist, anti-India elements, have been upset. They previously enjoyed special privileges in the region. They have thus been trying to disturb communal harmony in the Valley. But the situation is under control now.

The Government of India has taken several measures to improve the law and order scenario in the region. It is fully aware that the Pandits in Kashmir have suffered throughout in history because of their faith in Hinduism. The government is determined to ensure there is no discrimination against the minority Hindus in the Valley in our modern, secular Republic.

It is well documented that in the late 1990s, radical Islamists perpetrated a reign of terror on them. According to an estimate, this led 300,000-800,000 Kashmiri Hindus to empty out of the Kashmir Valley overnight. Earlier also, the Kashmiri Hindus suffered at the hands of the radical Islamists. Between 1389 and 1413, during the rule of Shah Mir in Kashmir, the official order was to persecute and massacre Kashmiri Pandits unless they embraced Islam. Between 1506 and 1585, the Chaks of the Shia sect adopted the policy of coercion, plunder, and butchering against the Kashmiri Pandits. Between 1585 and 1753, Mughal rulers imposed Jizya on Kashmiri Hindus. In 1753, Kashmir's de facto ruler Fazal Kanth got killed and plundered several Kashmiri Pandits. The KPs fled to Poonch and Kabul. In 1931, radical Islamists attacked Hindu traders of Maharajganj in Srinagar and raided Hindu shops from Bohri Kadal to Ali Kadal. In 1986, the then Chief Minister Gul Shah of Jammu and Kashmir encouraged his Lushkar (Brigade) against Kashmiri Pandits.

(Jagdish N. Singh is a senior journalist based in New Delhi. He is also Senior Distinguished Fellow at the Gatestone Institute, New York)

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