Truth and reconciliation a noble idea but in Kashmir, they won’t go together

During its recent verdict on Article 370, the Supreme Court has suggested setting up a Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Kashmir to investigate human rights violations by both state and non-state actors since the 1980s. One of the judges of the bench, Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, said that it should be done “before memory escapes.” But he also cautioned that the Commission should not turn into a criminal court. He said that it was his hope that Kashmiris [majority Muslims] open their hearts and “facilitate” people (minority Hindus) who were forced to migrate to return with dignity.

It is a noble thought. But on the ground, it is going to yield no result. That is because in Kashmir’s context, truth and reconciliation won’t go together. Reconciliation happens when the perpetrator acknowledges his deeds and, at least, regrets them if not seeking forgiveness for them. In Kashmir, over the past three decades, barring a handful of people, there is a general reluctance to even agree with the Pandits that they were driven out because there were crowds outside baying for their blood. This frenzy resulted in the brutal killing of around 700 of them. If the investigation begins, and if the government is serious about it, the truth will come out. But it will be unpalatable. In most killings, the killers are known to people (among the Muslim majority) and so are those who may have indirectly played a part (like leaking information to killers about a victim’s whereabouts).

In August last year, I was in the tiny hamlet of Sangrampora in central Kashmir where in 1997, seven Hindus were lined up outside their homes and shot by terrorists. Six of them died, while one had a miraculous escape. In my experience, in places like these, there are always people who, in hushed tones, allude to neighbours who were complicit. Someone may have given shelter to the killers in the night; someone may have shown them the way to their target homes. When the proper investigation happens, it will be easy to identify such people. But if the idea is not to implicate such people after putting up proper evidence, then what is the point of such investigation? It would be unfair to expect Pandits to reconcile with those who may have — to use Justice Kaul’s word — facilitated killings of their near and dear ones.

Let us take a moment here to understand the tragedy that befell Pandits in Kashmir in 1990. In the February of that year, the then director of Srinagar Doordarshan, Lassa Kaul, is still holding onto the idea of India in a Kashmir replete with signs of “Indian dogs go back.” The might of the state has collapsed. Under such circumstances, Kaul is keeping the TV station running. One evening, he quietly leaves his secure accommodation to visit his ailing parents on the outskirts of the city. As he comes out, waiting terrorists shoot him dead. Earlier, Kaul had shifted his wife and daughter to a relative’s house in what is then the periphery of Ghaziabad city. They come to know of his death through the media. Two of Kaul’s Hindu colleagues are then dispatched to Ghaziabad to bring the mother-daughter duo to Delhi airport from where they can be taken in a BSF plane to Srinagar for Kaul’s last rites. There is one problem, though. Nobody knows where exactly they live. It is night, and one of Kaul’s friends decides to approach the police superintendent in Ghaziabad. He hears them out. But how does one find two women without a proper address? Finally, the officer sends his men in different directions. Their brief is to keep an ear out for cries of mourning coming from a house. It is in this way that Mrs Kaul is found.

Kaul’s case was handed over to the CBI which must have done an investigation. Till date, we do not know of its findings, especially in the light of allegations at that time that Kaul’s Muslim colleagues may have been involved. Now, if one were to set up a Rwandan equivalent of a gacaca court in Kashmir, what is the possibility of Mrs Kaul getting restorative justice? It is nil. In all likelihood, the alleged perpetrator, as has been the norm in Kashmir, will blame the erstwhile governor Jagmohan for her trauma.
Reconciliation is still possible, but for that the Pandits must first get some semblance of justice. Ironically, it was the Supreme Court that a few years ago rejected a petition seeking reopening of cases of Pandit killings, observing that it would be difficult to obtain evidence after so many years. Now that the honourable Justice Kaul has spoken about truth, perhaps it is time to at least bring known Pandit killers like Bitta Karate to justice.

And can we locate Lassa Kaul’s file in the CBI office?