The Exodus of Kashmiri Hindus, or Pandits, is their early-1990 migration,
Quote: "Since a majority of the landlords were Hindu, the (land) reforms (of 1950) led to a mass exodus of Hindus from the state. ... The unsettled nature of Kashmir's accession to India, coupled with the threat of economic and social decline in the face of the land reforms, led to increasing insecurity among the Hindus in Jammu, and among Kashmiri Pandits, 20 per cent of whom had emigrated from the Valley by 1950." 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.
During the period of substantial migration, the insurgency was being led by a group calling for a secular and independent Kashmir, but there were also growing Islamist factions demanding an Islamic state. The Pandits, who believed that Kashmir's culture was tied to India's, experienced fear and panic set off by targeted killings of some members of their community—including high-profile officials among their ranks—and public calls for independence among the insurgents. The accompanying rumours and uncertainty together with the absence of guarantees for their safety by the state government might have been the latent causes of the exodus.
The reasons for this migration are vigorously contested. In 1989–1990, as calls by Kashmiri Muslims for independence from India gathered pace, many Kashmiri Pandits, who viewed self-determination to be anti-national, felt under pressure. The killings in the 1990s of a number of Pandit officials, may have shaken the community's sense of security, although it is thought some Pandits—by virtue of their evidence given later in Indian courts—may have acted as agents of the Indian state. The Pandits killed in targeted assassinations by the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) included some high-profile ones. Religiously charged slogans in protest processions and from mosque loudspeakers, including some anti-Hindu calls asking the Pandits to leave Kashmir, caused panic among the Hindus. News of threatening letters created fear, though in later interviews the letters were seen to have been sparingly received. There were disparities between the accounts of the two communities, the Pandits and the Muslims. Many Kashmiri Pandits believed they were forced out of the Valley either by Pakistan and the militants it supported or the Kashmiri Muslims as a group. Many Muslims in the Valley believed that the then Governor, Jagmohan had encouraged the Pandits to leave so as to have a free hand in more thoroughly pursuing reprisals against Muslims. "Governor Jagmohan’s role in relation to Pandit migration of the time is significant. Wajahat Habibullah, a Special Commissioner stationed in Anantnag, South Kashmir, describes requesting Jagmohan to ‘telecast an appeal to Pandits that they stay in Kashmir, assuring their safety, but no appeal was made. Jagmohan had commented that Kashmiri Pandits should be evacuated so that it would be easier ‘to deal with the militants’" Many Kashmiri Pandits felt increasingly targeted by the insurgents, and their mass flight split the valley along strict religious lines, ultimately staining a popular political uprising with the stigma of radicalism and crime. "Many Kashmiris were forced to leave the Valley and the mass exodus in the first few years of the insurgency of Kashmiri Pandits, the minority community of Hindus—which felt increasingly targeted by local and external groups—further polarized Kashmiri society, this time along lines of religion. These developments subverted the popular nature of the insurgency, tarnishing the very real political grievances that underlay it with the brush of criminality and Islamic radicalism." Many Kashmiri Muslims did not support violence against religious minorities, but they felt the departure of the Kashmiri Pandits offered an excuse for casting Kashmiri Muslims as Islamic radicals; some Kashmiri Muslims felt betrayed by the Pandits' flight. "While Pandits blame Muslims for the departure, some Kashmiri Muslims with whom I spoke during my research argued that Kashmiri Pandits betrayed them by leaving Kashmir." Several scholarly views attribute the migration to widespread panic among the Pandits, triggered by the violent environment and extremist religious rhetoric among some insurgents, alongside the absence of safety guarantees from the Governor. "“If we look at the period before the flight, when violence had broken out into the open, it is obvious that a range of factors precipitated the migration of the Pandits. While certain events such as the protests or individual acts of violence can be understood as triggers, the emergent climate of fear predisposed Pandits to flight. The Pandits regarded the overall deterioration in law and order, alongside selective assassinations and content of demonstrations, as rendering them unwanted in Kashmir.” "The explanation of their displacement remains caught between two polarities: either they were forced to leave due to their faith affiliations by anyone involved with the movement for azadi (freedom), or they were manipulated to leave Kashmir due to the machinations of the Indian state to discredit Kashmiri nationalism." "A minoritised community, many amongst the Pandit community may have been nervous regarding reports of Islamic and other communal slogans during the protests. As Jamwal points out, while such sloganeering may have been uneven, many Pandits were fearful. … Governor Jagmohan’s role in relation to Pandit migration of the time is significant. Wajahat Habibullah, a Special Commissioner stationed in Anantnag, South Kashmir, describes requesting Jagmohan to ‘telecast an appeal to Pandits that they stay in Kashmir, assuring their safety, but no appeal was made. Jagmohan had commented that Kashmiri Pandits should be evacuated so that it would be easier 'to deal with the militants'."
Many Kashmiri Pandits initially moved to the Jammu Division, the southern half of Jammu and Kashmir, where they lived in refugee camps, whose conditions, according to one study, had lacked "sanitation, hygiene, private space and the regular supply of basic facilities such as water." "Most of the informants in Noida had formerly lived in the city of Srinagar in Kashmir and now lived in apartments in Noida. They were government officials, retired government officials living as dependents with their married children, or educated professionals working in private companies in the NCR. ... By contrast, most of the informants in the Jammu IDP camps had been displaced from the rural areas of Kashmir. ... They referred to themselves as largely belonging to the working class in the camps, but said that they had been middle class in Kashmir. ... For two decades the camps had lacked sanitation, hygiene, private space and the regular supply of basic facilities such as water." At the time of their exodus, very few Pandits expected their exile to last beyond a few months. As the exile lasted longer, many displaced Pandits who were in the urban elite were able to find jobs in other parts of India, but those in the lower-middle-class, especially those from rural areas languished longer in refugee camps, were unable to find jobs and experienced poverty. This generated tensions with host communities—whose social and religious practices, although Hindu, differed from those of the brahmin Pandits—and rendered assimilation more difficult. Many displaced Pandits in the camps succumbed to emotional depression and a sense of helplessness. The cause of the Kashmiri Pandits was quickly taken up by right-wing Hindu groups in India, which also preyed on their insecurities and further alienated them from Kashmiri Muslims. Some displaced Kashmiri Pandits formed an organization called Panun Kashmir ("our own Kashmir"), which has called for a separate homeland for Kashmiri Hindus in the Valley, but has opposed autonomy for Kashmir on the grounds that it would encourage the formation of an Islamic state. The return to the homeland in Kashmir also constitutes one of the main points of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's election platform. Dialogue between Pandits and Muslims has been hindered by each community's emphasis on its own suffering and its reluctance to acknowledge the other's; displaced Pandits have reported feelings of isolation and loss of identity. "This competitive aspect in asserting victimhood and dismissing suffering of other communities seems to undercut discussions. Muslims may deny Pandit assertions and Pandits may deny Muslim aspirations. Once political posturing is suspended, blame is withheld and dominant theories are kept aside, perhaps an understanding can be reached—an understanding that the displacement of the Kashmiri Pandits is marked by a sense of what Nishita Trisal (2020) refers to as an incomprehensible 'sense of loss and erasure.'" Kashmiri Pandits in exile have written autobiographical memoirs, novels, and poetry to record their experiences and to understand them. 19 January is observed by Kashmiri Hindus as Exodus Day.
Background The Kashmir Valley, which is a part of the larger Kashmir region that has been the subject of a dispute between India and Pakistan from 1947, has been administered by India from approximately the same time.(a) (subscription required) Quote: "Kashmir, region of the northwestern Indian subcontinent ... has been the subject of dispute between India and Pakistan since the partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947. The northern and western portions are administered by Pakistan and comprise three areas: Azad Kashmir, Gilgit, and Baltistan, the last two being part of a territory called the Northern Areas. Administered by India are the southern and southeastern portions, which constitute the state of Jammu and Kashmir but are slated to be split into two union territories. China became active in the eastern area of Kashmir in the 1950s and has controlled the northeastern part of Ladakh (the easternmost portion of the region) since 1962.";