A History of Bitterness

How Governor Jagmohan’s inaccurate judgment led to the exodus of Pandits from Kashmir

Numerous sources offered credible evidence to assert that the mass exodus had occurred because Governor Jagmohan, who had been appointed on 19 January 1990 for the second time, thought it prudent to organize the exodus for two reasons: one, that way alone Pandits would feel safe and secure and further sectarian killings would be stopped; second, he would be able to deal with the situation better where stringent laws to curb militancy were already in force and these laws could not be used freely on a mixed population. Many believed this approach was not ethically sound and he had faltered. Some people suspected that he had been sent to Kashmir to teach the Muslims a lesson. In fact, Jagmohan’s dispensation was greatly flawed because of his perception on things, particularly, for the fact that he treated the crisis in Kashmir, broadly as a law and order situation created by members of the majority community. It was the design of the dispensation from the time he was appointed in January 1990 till he was removed in May the same year. He had thought that his strong methods would work and he would be able to restore peace within a short time. Even after his removal, a situation of chaos remained on the ground which got deepened by the day and more lethal laws like the AFSPA (enacted on 6 July 1990) had to be imposed.

These acts, particularly the AFSPA gave a lot of power to the armed forces to open fire, set fire to houses, make arrests and take any action against those who might render assistance to militants.

Sanaullah Bhat, editor of the daily Aftab, narrated the details about this chaos in his book Ahad Nama-e-Kashmir and asserted that laws like AFSPA had deepened the crises in Kashmir. Bhat also accused Jagmohan of having let loose a reign of terror by organizing a siege of Srinagar.

The governor imposed curfew which did not work on the ground and almost the entire population of Srinagar gathered in mosques and raised slogans for independence. Next day, the curfew was violated in the entire valley and forces opened fire at a number of places. A massacre took place at Gawkadal on 21 January 1990, where fifty-two people were killed (the official figure was thirty-five). Bhat held Jagmohan responsible and blamed Mufti Muhammad Sayeed for his appointment. He thought Mufti Muhammad Sayeed did it to take revenge against Dr Abdullah and criticized Mufti Muhammad Sayeed for his shortsightedness. Bhat also thought it was one of the biggest mistakes Mufti Muhammad Sayeed had committed in his life.

Shabnam Qayoom wrote extensively on why and how the Pandit exodus occurred at the behest of Jagmohan. Qayoom had received a number of letters from leaders of the Pandit community, who described the exodus as a very unfortunate experience and held Jagmohan responsible for it. Many such letters appeared in newspapers like Alsafa, Roshni and Srinagar Times. One such letter was written by K.L Kaul from Nagrota camp in Jam