Terrorism and Exodus (1985-1995)
In late 1989 and early 1990, when the Kashmiri Muslims raised the banner of rebellion against Indian Government, the Kashmiri Pandit minority was targeted by Islamic fundamentalists and socially persecuted by a significant proportion of the Kashmiri Muslim population. This forced almost all of the remaining Kashmiri Pandit families to suddenly leave the Valley. These families intended to return to the Valley after restoration of normalcy. However, the socio-political situation in Kashmir continues to be volatile, with the displaced Kashmiri Pandits beginning to lose their cultural identity. The US Department of State reports that, according to the Indian National Human Rights Commission, the Kashmiri Pandit population in Jammu and Kashmir dropped from 15 percent in 1941 to 1 percent as of 2001.[10][11]. Kashmiri Pandit refugees living in camps near the North Indian cities of Jammu and Delhi have come up with the demand for a Panun Kashmir, a territory where they can reside without fear of persecution or human rights violations. A MORI survey found that within the Kashmir Valley, 92% respondents opposed the state of Kashmir being divided on the basis of religion or ethnicity.[12] Due to the violent Islamic insurgency, 209 [13] Kashmiri Pandits have been murdered, 400,000 displaced. fundamentalists.[14] This was condemned and labeled as ethnic cleansing in a 2006 resolution passed by the United States Congress.[15] In 2009 Oregon Legislative Assembly passed a resolution to recognize 14 September 2007, as Martyrs Day to acknowledge ethnic cleansing and campaigns of terror inflicted on non-Muslim minorities of Jammu and Kashmir by terrorists seeking to establish an Islamic state.[16] According to the CIA about 300,000 Kashmir Hindus (Pandits) from the Indian Administered Kashmir Valley are residing in the Jammu region of the state of Jammu and Kashmir (particularly in the refugee camps at Udhampur and Jammu), and another 100,000in Delhi, in refugee camps established by the Indian Government and the UN.[17] The ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Pandits continues, with anti-Hindu threats made to them by terrorists as recently as 2009[18]
Currently, the National Capital Region of Delhi, including Delhi, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, NOIDA, and Gurgaon, is the settlement with the largest population of Kashmiri Pandits in the world.
Kashmiri Pandit - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
