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Q 2: Was the flight of Kashmiri Pandits (popularly called as KPs) from the valley a ‘migration,’ or an ‘exodus’ or a `Genocide’ way back in 1990? A: It was not a genocide for sure. Deliberate and systematic destruction, done in a short period of a racial, political, religious or ethnic group is called genocide. Mr Sanjay Tikku, a leader of KPs living in the valley, and some other political commentators are of the view that there was nothing like genocide. They negate the claim of some KP organisations that over the past 20 years, 3000 to 4000 KPs were killed. They also don’t agree with the government figure of 319 killings. According to them, 650 KPs must have been killed in the valley over the past 20 years or so. I also consider this to be the number of casualties of KPs. But this is also a fact that several times more Muslims were killed by militants over the same period, including Muslim religious leaders such as Mirwais Maulvi Farooq.
Similarly, there are different versions about the number of KPs who have migrated from the valley. Writer PLD Parimu, a KP himself, says that in between 1947 and 1950, many KPs had left the valley in search of employment. He says a total of 2.5 lakh KPs must have migrated so far. Author Alexander Evans says 1.5 lakh to 1.6 lakh KPs migrated from the valley, while writer Sumanta Bose says 1 lakh KPs must have moved out of the valley. According to historian Ashok Kumar Pandey, in the 1981 census, a total of 124078 Hindus were counted in the valley, including non-KP Hindus as well. The percentage of total Hindus in the valley was 3.96 % of the total population. The rate of growth in the 1980s was 6.75 %. By this rate of growth, the total number of KPs in the valley in 1990 should have been 132400. Out of this, 8000 KPs did not migrate. So the total number of KPs who left the valley should be around 124400. It should also be kept in mind that not all these KPs left the valley in January, 1990. The migration had started much earlier. It should also be mentioned here that a large number of Muslims also left the valley because of disruption of life there.
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