Panun Kashmir (English: Our Kashmir) is a proposed union territory of India in the Kashmir Valley, which is intended to be a homeland for Kashmiri Hindus. The demand arose after the Exodus of Kashmiri Hindus in 1990. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] The vision of the homeland was elucidated in the Margdarshan Resolution of 1991. Panun Kashmir is also the name of an eponymously named organization.
Panun Kashmir is derived from Kashmiri panun kaśīr, which means "our own Kashmir". The Panun Kashmir organization was founded by Kashmiris, including Kashmiri Hindu writer and activist Agnishekhar, in 1990 after the exodus of Kashmiri Hindus from Kashmir, under threat from militants. Approximately 300,000 [6] [7] [8] to 600,000 [9] [10] [11] Kashmiri Hindus fled Kashmir due to rising armed rebellion in Kashmir. However, Panun Kashmir estimates nearly 700,000 refugees. [12]
The organization passed a resolution, known as the Margdarshan Resolution, [13] in Jammu in December 1991 demanding: [14] [15]
(a) the establishment of a Homeland for the Kashmiri Hindus in the Valley of Kashmir comprising the regions of the Valley to the East and North of Jhelum River.
(b) that the Constitution of India is made applicable in letter and spirit in this Homeland to ensure the right to life, liberty, freedom of expression and faith, equality, and the rule of law.
(c) that the Homeland be placed under the Central administration with a Union Territory status; and
(d) that all the seven hundred thousand Kashmiri Hindus, including those who have been driven out of Kashmir in the past and yearn to return to their homeland and those who were forced to leave on account of terrorist violence in Kashmir, be settled in the homeland on an equitable basis with dignity and honor.
Some advocates for Panun Kashmir wish that the majority of the valley of Kashmir and cities such as Srinagar, Anantnag, Sopore, Baramulla, and Awantipora be included in the proposed union territory. However, the organization claims that it does not seek a Hindu homeland. Instead, it seeks a homeland for Kashmiri Hindus who are ready to live peacefully with their Muslim neighbors assuming the conditions are met for resettlement.
The Panun Kashmir organization has consistently pushed for a separate UT. The organization also strongly supported the abrogation of Article 370 and Article 35a. [16]
Ikkjutt Jammu, a political party in Jammu and Kashmir, openly advocates for a separate Panun Kashmir, as well as the separation of Jammu Division from Kashmir. [17] [18] [19]
On 28 November 2019, the consul-general of India in New York suggested adopting an "Israeli model" for Kashmir to aid the return of the Kashmiri Pandits, the minority Hindu community that left the region following the 1989 insurgency. [20] His hour-long video sparked outrage. Kashmiri Muslims activists and some Hindu Kashmiris feared that this would lead to worsening military control, losing their jobs to outsiders, and the loss of their identity by causing Hindus to replace the Muslim majority. This proposition has been compared to a "settler-colonial project", and Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan condemned the proposal as reflecting "the fascist mindset of the Indian government". [21] [22]
After the murder of Rakesh Pandit by unidentified militants in June 2021, several members of the Panun Kashmir group proposed a military campaign to establish a separate Hindu region, where Kashmiri Pandits would be armed against local militants. That meeting and their proposed Union Territory have been opposed by Muslim activists, who compared the proposal to Israeli actions against the Palestinians. [23] [24] [25]
Kashmir is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Range. Today, the term encompasses a larger area that includes the India-administered territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, the Pakistan-administered territories of Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, and the Chinese-administered territories of Aksai Chin and the Trans-Karakoram Tract.
The Kashmiri Pandits are a group of Kashmiri Hindus and a part of the larger Saraswat Brahmin community of India. They belong to the Pancha Gauda Brahmin group from the Kashmir Valley, located within the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Kashmiri Pandits are Hindu Kashmiris native to the Kashmir Valley, and the only remaining Hindu Kashmiris after the large-scale of conversion of the Valley's population to Islam during the medieval times. Prompted by the growth of Islamic militancy in the valley, large numbers left in the exodus of the 1990s. Even so, small numbers remain.
The Kashmir conflict is a territorial conflict over the Kashmir region, primarily between India and Pakistan, and also between China and India in the northeastern portion of the region. The conflict started after the partition of India in 1947 as both India and Pakistan claimed the entirety of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir. It is a dispute over the region that escalated into three wars between India and Pakistan and several other armed skirmishes. India controls approximately 55% of the land area of the region that includes Jammu, the Kashmir Valley, most of Ladakh, the Siachen Glacier, and 70% of its population; Pakistan controls approximately 30% of the land area that includes Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan; and China controls the remaining 15% of the land area that includes the Aksai Chin region, the mostly uninhabited Trans-Karakoram Tract, and part of the Demchok sector.
The following is a timeline of the Kashmir conflict, a territorial conflict between India, Pakistan and, to a lesser degree, China. India and Pakistan have been involved in four wars and several border skirmishes over the issue.
1997 Sangrampora massacre was the killing of seven Kashmiri Pandit villagers in Sangrampora village of Budgam district of Jammu and Kashmir on 21 March 1997, by unknown gunmen. While militants have been thought behind the killings, police closed the case as untraced.
The Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly, also known as the Jammu and Kashmir Vidhan Sabha is the legislature of Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
Secession in India typically refers to state secession, which is the withdrawal of one or more states from the Republic of India. Whereas, some have wanted a separate state, union territory or an autonomous administrative division within India. Many separatist movements exist with thousands of members, however, some have low local support and high voter participation in democratic elections. However, at the same time, demanding separate statehood within under the administration of Indian union from an existing state can lead to criminal charges under secession law in India. India is described as an ‘Union of States’ in Article 1 of the Indian constitution I.e "Indestructible nation of destructible states" by its father of constitution Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar where a state or Union territory of India can't secede from India by any means and the Central Government have more powers then the respective state governments and can forcefully change the name, boundaries of the states without their permission at any time when needed for self interest and for the maintenance of integrity.
Human rights abuses in Jammu and Kashmir range from mass killings, enforced disappearances, torture, rape and sexual abuse to political repression and suppression of freedom of speech. The Indian Army, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), and Border Security Personnel (BSF) have been accused of committing severe human rights abuses against Kashmiri civilians. According to Seema Kazi, militant groups have also been held responsible for similar crimes, but the vast majority of abuses have been perpetrated by the armed forces of the Indian government.
Human rights abuses in Kashmir have been perpetrated by various belligerents in the territories controlled by both India and Pakistan since the two countries' conflict over the region began with their first war in 1947–1948, shortly after the partition of British India. The organized breaches of fundamental human rights in Kashmir are tied to the contested territorial status of the region, over which India and Pakistan have fought multiple wars. More specifically, the issue pertains to abuses committed in Indian-administered Kashmir and in Pakistani-administered Kashmir.
Kashmiri Hindus are ethnic Kashmiris who practice Hinduism and are native to the Kashmir Valley of India. With respect to their contributions to Indian philosophy, Kashmiri Hindus developed the tradition of Kashmiri Shaivism. After their exodus from the Kashmir Valley in the wake of the Kashmir insurgency in the 1990s, most Kashmiri Hindus are now settled in the Jammu division of Jammu and Kashmir and other parts of the country. The largest group of Kashmiri Hindus are the Kashmiri Pandits.
Kuldeep Sumbly, better known by his pen name Agnishekhar, is a Kashmiri Pandit writer and political activist. He is the founder of Panun Kashmir organization, a group that advocates for the cultural rights of Pandits and a homeland. As a poet, he has contributed to the development of a Hindi poetry of exile from a distinctly Kashmiri perspective. He views pre-Islamic culture as a source for contemporary Pandit identity.
The Exodus of Kashmiri Hindus, or Pandits, is their early-1990 migration, or flight, from the Muslim-majority Kashmir valley in Indian-administered Kashmir following rising violence in an insurgency. Of a total Pandit population of 120,000–140,000 some 90,000–100,000 left the valley or felt compelled to leave by the middle of 1990, by which time about 30–80 of them are said to have been killed by militants.
Farooq Ahmed Dar known by his nom de guerre Bitta Karate, is a Kashmiri-separatist militant , who currently serves as the chairman of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (R) in the Kashmir Valley of Jammu and Kashmir, India.
Jammu and Kashmir is a region administered by India as a union territory and consists of the southern portion of the larger Kashmir region, which has been the subject of a dispute between India and Pakistan since 1947 and between India and China since 1959. The Line of Control separates Jammu and Kashmir from the Pakistani-administered territories of Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan in the west and north. It lies to the north of the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh and Punjab and to the west of Ladakh which is administered by India as a union territory.
On 5 August 2019, the Government of India revoked the special status, or autonomy, granted under Article 370 of the Indian Constitution to Jammu and Kashmir—a region administered by India as a state which consists of the larger part of Kashmir which has been the subject of dispute among India, Pakistan, and China since 1947.
Ikkjutt Jammu is a party based in the Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir, India. It advocates for the creation of a separate Jammu state out of the Dogri speaking districts of Jammu Division and for the reorganisation of Kashmir Division into two union territories, one being Panun Kashmir for Kashmiri Hindus who have been displaced from the region. It was founded in November 2020 and is currently led by Ankur Sharma.
The Kashmir Files is a 2022 Indian Hindi-language drama film written and directed by Vivek Agnihotri. The film presents a fictional storyline centred around the 1990 exodus of Kashmiri Hindus from Indian-administered Kashmir. It depicts the exodus and the events leading up to it as a genocide, a framing considered inaccurate by scholars. The film claims that such facts were suppressed by a conspiracy of silence.
Tika Lal Taploo was an advocate and politician from Jammu and Kashmir
Sampat Prakash was a Kashmiri nationalist, trade unionist and activist, known for his efforts in fighting for the rights and welfare of the working class. He played a significant role in shaping trade union activism in the region, advocating for the equitable treatment of government employees, teachers, and workers. Prakash has held several leadership positions, including Chairman of the J&K Trade Union Centre, State President of Hind Mazdoor Sabha, and State President of Retired Gazetted/Non-Gazetted Employees.
The Resistance Front or TRF is a separatist militant organization involved in the ongoing insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir. The organization has positioned itself as a secular organization fighting against the Indian government for Kashmiri freedom, in contrast to past Kashmiri insurgents which have been Islamist. The Indian government has accused the TRF of being an offshoot of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, a claim that TRF has denied. TRF operates primarily in the Kashmir region, with a main base in Srinagar.
at least 600,000 (about half are Kashmiri Pandits from Jammu and Kashmir) (2007)
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