Dilip Simeon's blog

Kashmiri Pandit Sangharsh Samiti  PRESS RELEASE March 6; 2015 His Lordship Honb’le Justice Muzaffar Hussain Attar, Judge, High Court of J&K on 04.03.2015, in a landmark order passed in Contempt Petition filed by the petitioners Sanjay Tickoo & ors to implement the Judgment passed by His Lordship on 09.10.2013 have allowed the petitioners, to file record about the encroachments, sales / purchases of temple endowment properties, embezzlements done at different levels by the un-scrupulous elements and get the same inquired by the concerned officers / officials for the restoration of the same. The protection, preservation and re-construction of Temples and other religious and social places of Kashmiri Pandits is the primary priority of KPSS after the survival of the left outs in Kashmir Valley. Since last more than a decade the group have knocked all the doors for fulfilment of this fundamental right and till date the bureaucratic and executive set-up have failed...

On February 16, a temple in Srinagar became the subject of national news in India. Several  media outlets  reported that the Sheetal Nath temple in Kralkhud locality had reopened after a period of 31 years, with special prayers held on the occasion of Basant Panchami. The  reports  claimed the temple dedicated to Shiva had remained shut since 1989 when an armed militancy against Indian rule had erupted in Jammu and Kashmir.... Less than two kilometers from the temple, Sanjay Tickoo laughed off Handoo’s claims. “It’s all lies,” he said. “This temple was reopened by us in 2010 and we held a havan at the temple in July 2011.” Tickoo, in his fifties, heads Kashmiri Pandit Sangharsh Samiti, a group that advocates on behalf of Kashmiri Pandits who stayed back in the valley during the 1990s. He lives in an old family home in Srinagar’s Barbar Shah locality, and until the Covid-19 pandemic struck, worked in an electronics company. “If you Google about the temple, you will fi...

Around 9 pm on January 19, 1990, Sanjay Tickoo sank into his favourite chair in front of the television in his house in Srinagar’s Habba Kadal area. It was a cold evening and most people in the neighbourhood had retired to their homes early. He had barely switched on the television to the Doordarshan Metro channel when the loudspeaker in the mosque near his house began to blare. Over the next few hours, the announcements grew shriller, and the Tickoo family more scared. “There were slogans asking Pandits to leave the Valley and for Azadi (freedom). They also asked Muslims to come out on the streets. By 11pm, it had reach fever pitch. And, there was very little communication in those days,” said Tickoo, one of the few remaining Pandits in the Valley. Around two kilometres away in Downtown, a 46-year-old man was frantically dialling his contacts in the state government as the din rose outside the lattice-patterned window of his two-storey house – but to no avail. “We were told Ra...

Ajaz Ashraf interviews Sanjay Tickoo; president of the Kashmiri Pandit Sangharsh Samiti. The KPSS was established by him in 1995 to fight, non-violently, for the rights of his community members residing in the Kashmir Valley. When the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits began in 1990 because of the rise of militancy in the Valley, Tickoo, then around 23 years old, chose to stay behind.  Tickoo is widely respected among Kashmiris, Hindus and Muslims alike, for his formidable ability to conduct conversations with those he ideologically opposes. He is fearless in his criticism of the government for some of its flawed policies and the targeted killings undertaken by state and non-state actors in Kashmir. In this interview, Tickoo analyses the impact last week’s killing of religious minorities in Kashmir has had on religious minorities residing there. Do you agree with those who say the situation for Kashmiri Pandits is worse than in 1990, the year they be...

The story of the forced exodus of Kashmiri Pandits (KP)from the Kashmir valley in 1990 is well known. But what few people know is that even today, 808 KP families are still living in 242 locations spread across the Valley. At least 150 of these are Below Poverty Line (BPL) households where people struggle for food and medical care. Apart from economic challenges, over 500 KP youth who are eligible for government’s employment schemes are yet to be given these benefits. Security cover provided to the community was also withdrawn in 2018, leaving them to fend for themselves.  The Kashmiri Pandit Sangharsh Samiti (KPSS), a partner organisation of Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP), has made multiple representations to different central, state and now Union Territory (UT) authorities. They have met three Prime Ministers; HD Deve Gowda, Manmohan Singh and current PM Narendra Modi and showcased how various government schemes related to alleviating the plight of Kashmiri Pandit...

We Fear For the 400 Kashmiri Pandit Families in South Kashmir: Sanjay Tikoo On the evening of the first day of the All Party Delegation to Kashmir a forty minute conversation with  Sanjay Tikoo of the Kashmiri Pandit Sangharsh Samiti  has been sobering. Living in Srinagar, a vocal and sane voice for the minority pandits whose number has shrunk to less than 4,000 in the valley, here is what Sanjay Tikoo had to say. “Nothing. I expect nothing to come out of this visit or this delegation. For two long months, the anger in the youth has been allowed to simmer. Somewhere it all began on July 8 when Burhan’s body and funeral were so badly mishandled. The agencies knew, the media knew, and the government knew what the social media depicted--that he had become a poster boy an icon for the youth; they had his photo and videos on their moboile phones! Now if you know he is a poster boy at the age of 20 – how can the establishment, agencies and the think tanks not know this? How do ...

NB : Forwarded to me by Sanjay Tickoo, President of  Kashmiri Pandit Sangarsh Samiti ( KPSS ), Srinagar. Sanjay has fought bravely for justice for many years, but refused to entertain fear or bitterness. More of us need to listen to him. DS To a Kashmiri Pandit (KP) who refused to migrate out of the Valley atthe onset of the bloody insurgency in the 1990s, the paradox is apparent whenever union ministers reiterate their commitment to safe and honourable return of KPs to the Valley. Non-Migrant KP has seen it all; his lot remains ignored. Adversity has taught him to sift sincerity from the political bluster. When Pravesh Sahib Singh Verma exhorts Delhi to vote for BJP to avoid the fate that befell KPs in Kashmir, non-migrant KP doesn't miss exploitation of his tribe in the electoral rhetoric. Having gone through the rough and tumble of hate and appeasement, the Valley-based KP finds himself to be the butt of pathetic neglect and ridicule by his own.    Post-migratio...

NB : Thanks to Sanjay Tickoo for circulating this news item.  DS Qazigund, June 23 (KNO) : In a display of communal brotherhood which has existed in Kashmir for centuries, the locals of Levdoors area in Qazigund of south Kashmir on Sunday afternoon rescued a Kashmiri pandit from the wrath of Security forces in the area. Sources told KNO that a Pandit, Krishan Ji Raina, who has been living in the locality since childhood was rounded up by a patrolling party of the CRPF in the Levdoora area without any provocation. “Security forces initially questioned him for living in Kashmir despite being a Hindu?” after which they started erecting bamboo sticks on him,” they said. Krishan Jee son of Gopi Nath Raina of Levdoora has sustained multiple injuries during the assault by CRPF men, the front window of his car has also been smashed as well Speaking about the incident with KNO he said that he was on way to Qazigund market to get medicines for his ill wife, when the CRPF men intercepted...

NB: Here are two reviews of The Kashmir Files, with different interpretations. Readers are welcome to their own conclusions. Since this is a matter I have spoken and written about for many years, I attach below a selection of my posts beneath the reviews, without further comment. DS The Kashmir Files: Cinema As Testimony. Siddhartha Gigoo K-Files impact: Kashmiri Pandit interests take a back seat. Bharat Bhushan (The second article may be inaccessible, so I attach the text beneath the list of posts -  DS ) ********************************************* Posts from my blog What is to be Undone : (This post is about the February 2016 student meeting on Kashmir in JNU that led to a major controversy and police cases) Kashmir - 16 yrs on, Wandhama victims ... Superflous people - review of 'Our Moon has blood clots' Kashmiri Pandit Sangharsh Samiti Press Release ... The Other Kashmiri Dissenters ​ Kashmir Oral History Kashmiri Pandits Stage Protest March in Srinagar P...