From Your Diary: Roshni Koul
The Plight of Kashmiri Pandits
“Chz Bozekh Kaath?” Every night before bed, my father would ask my brother and I if we wanted to hear a story about his life in Kashmir. We would rest our heads against his belly as he told us tales of working on the farm, walking miles to school, and playing by the river. As we grew older, his stories matured, too. We were slowly introduced to the horrors he faced as an adolescent- radical insurgency, terrorism, and death. Kashmir continues to be a disputed territory bubbling with turmoil and has been a site of religious intolerance and persecution.
Kashmiri Pandits, or Kashmiri Hindus, have been cleansed from their homeland since the 1300s. The most recent exodus of 1990 is still fresh. On a freezing and dark January night, my grandmother, father, and his siblings were forced to flee from their ancestral lands on foot as they took refuge from radical violence. They hid in an empty school building overnight before leaving the Valley forever. At the age of 20, my father had to leave his livelihood behind and mourn the massacre of his Hindu family and friends. After living in a refugee camp, he started life anew with hopes of maintaining Kashmiri Pandit culture and returning to his homeland. 2020 marks 30 years since the seventh exodus of Hindus from Kashmir. He has not been able to go home because of the continued violence and threats against religious minorities.
Kashmiri Pandits are now dispersed across the world as they are constantly shut out from the Valley. This separation from community and land takes a horrible toll on cultural identity and mental health. Many Kashmiri Pandits witnessed the murder of their own parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, and cousins. The terrorists threatened to murder them if they did not leave by dawn of the next day, leaving no time to perform any memorials or rituals for the dead. Paired with those memories comes a daunting sense of loss. They left everything behind- photographs, family heirlooms, traditional clothing, religious idols, and the opportunity to pass on physical artifacts of their history and culture.
As Kashmiri Pandits come together and spread awareness of their plight, they are extremely vulnerable. They relive these painful memories through every conversation, discussion, or argument they have regarding the brutal exodus. It is heartbreaking to see so many South Asians turn away from our community or deny our history. As an indigenous population to Kashmir, Kashmiri Pandits deserve to go home. Our numbers are dwindling and the minuscule amount of Kashmiri Pandits who remain in the Valley are constantly in danger. Ajay Pandita, a Hindu, was murdered on June 8th, 2020 in his own village. Wasim Ahmad Bari, a proponent for secularism, attended an event to support persecuted Kashmiri Hindus in the Valley and was murdered by terrorists on July 8th, 2020. Violence against religious minorities in Kashmir is ongoing and the support of the larger South Asian community is vital to their protection.
Speaking about mental health is taboo in the South Asian community, making it more difficult to find resources for Kashmiri Pandits who suffer from PTSD, Depression, and Anxiety. Their trauma is real. As the next generation of Kashmiri Pandits continue to spread awareness of what happened to our families, we hope to support our elders as they detangle the emotions they have kept bottled and bring justice to each and every life lost. I commit to preserving my culture and I will not stay silent.
- Roshni Koul
