The recently released movie ‘The Kashmir Files’ has opened Pandora’s box of claims and counterclaims about the number of Pandits killed by Pakistan-sponsored ultras in the Valley. Many organisations have now blamed the successive governments for failing to compile precise data of the same.
Over 1,200 killed
Over 1,200 were killed between September 1989 and January 1990 in the Valley and many more after that. Several cases were not registered. Kuldeep Raina, general secretary, panun kashmirCan be above 1,600
The number of victims can be above 1,600. There have been many cases wherein no death certificate was issued to kin of those killed by terrorists. Satish Mahaldar, chairman, jk peace forum44K registered
The report of Relief Office set up in 1990 by the J&K government states that 44,167 families were registered, who had to leave the Valley after 1990.
The figures state 3,800 Pandits returned to the Valley for jobs under the PM package.
The movie is mired in controversy since its release on March 11 as many claimed that the facts had been exaggerated but organisations for the displaced community members have maintained that the official figures of those killed were far less than the actual number.
In March 2010, the then Revenue Minister Raman Bhalla, while replying to a question of a PDP MLA in the Assembly, had stated that 219 Kashmiri Pandits were killed during the insurgency period. Official figures by the Union Ministry of Home released in 2013 also stated the number of victims was 219.
Kuldeep Raina, General Secretary, Panun Kashmir, said, “Over 1,200 were killed between September 1989 and January 1990 in the entire Valley and many more after that. The police were so afraid that they did not register FIRs, thus not registering the exact number of casualties.”
Panun Kashmir is fighting for a separate homeland for the community in the Valley since its mass exodus. “What came after the exodus was more painful as over 8,000 people died due to different health issues at camps in Jammu,” claimed Raina.
As per an RTI query filed by a Haryana resident, PP Kapoor, which has gone viral on social media recently, the DSP at Police Headquarters, Srinagar, had stated that 89 Kashmiri Pandits were killed since the inception of armed insurgency in 1990. However, many Pandits were killed even before 1990.
Now, activists in Jammu have also claimed that there were many Hindus in the hilly areas who were persecuted but never recognised on par with Kashmiri Pandits.
A probe was needed to know the exact number of displaced Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley and Hindus and Sikhs from the Jammu division during the terrorism, he added.
