A few slides on the sad state of the Kashmiri Hindus (Pandits) - refugees in their own homeland. These slides were part of a presentation on J&K and Article 370 that I delivered at the House of Commons in London in 2011.

1. Article 370
The plight of Kashmiri Hindus
Shantanu Bhagwat
30th March 2011
http://Satyameva-Jayate.org/

2. Not to be distributed without prior consent © Shantanu Bhagwat
The abandoned…
• In the ghettos that house the unflagging
Pandits, called migrants by everybody else, life
is mostly two steps…
• …two steps to empty bowels,
• two steps to food,
• two steps to the gods on the walls,
• two steps to the television and
• two steps to the wife.
Satyameva-Jayate.org Source: Vijay Simha’s report in Tehelka, “In Exile At Home”, Nov 29, 2008 2

3. Not to be distributed without prior consent © Shantanu Bhagwat
…and the forgotten
For most of the day, Anita Pandit sits outside her tenement.. to offer privacy to her sons and
daughters-in-law.
Like her, many elders watch the world go by…
Satyameva-Jayate.org Photographs by Uzma Mohsin, courtesy Tehelka; Copyright Tehelka 3

4. Not to be distributed without prior consent © Shantanu Bhagwat
…and the forgotten
Babita watches as a neighbour cooks rotis.
All activity in the tenements is at arm’s length: cooking, sleeping, watching television, or praying
Satyameva-Jayate.org Photographs by Uzma Mohsin, courtesy Tehelka; Copyright Tehelka 4

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…and the forgotten
Two daughters, Goldy and Ruchi, share the tenement with their parents and their grandparents.
Their sense of space and privacy has been conditioned so since birth
Satyameva-Jayate.org Photographs by Uzma Mohsin, courtesy Tehelka; Copyright Tehelka 5

6. Not to be distributed without prior consent © Shantanu Bhagwat
…and the forgotten
• Last week a team from Amnesty International
visited Srinagar to look into allegations of
human rights violations
• I don’t know how many such teams have ever
visited the camps of Kashmiri refugees - ever
• …and I don’t how many reports have been
written on their plight by these groups
Satyameva-Jayate.org 6

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The Misery
More than 5000 persons have died in camps and elsewhere after their forced exodus from the
valley.
Sunstrokes alone have killed 1000
And then there are heart attacks, accidents mainly attributed to extreme mental & psychological
trauma etc
Satyameva-Jayate.org Source: Kashmir News Network 7

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In the meantime…
• An entire generation in Kashmir has grown up
not knowing what happened
• “There are youngsters who do not know what
Kashmiri Pandits were like, what their habits
were; they have seen empty temples, they don't
know what was recited in the temples, for them
the Pandits are aliens,”
• Dr Farooq Abdullah, ex Chief Minister, J&K
Satyameva-Jayate.org 8

9. Not to be distributed without prior consent © Shantanu Bhagwat
Questions, Comments?
Jai Hind, Jai Bharat!
Shantanu @ Satyameva-Jayate.org
Satyameva-Jayate.org 9