To: Dr. Farooq Abdullah 

Chief Minister, 

Jammu and Kashmir 

You are already well aware of the plight of Kashmiri Pandits who are in the eleventh year of one of the worst recent cases of exodus and ethnic cleansing of an indigenous minority. Our continuous efforts of appeals, requests, and discussions with the Jammu and Kashmir and Indian Government representatives have been continuously overlooked and ignored. As you know, nearly 300,000 Kashmiri Pandit (Hindu) refugees have been forced out of their homeland by Pakistan-supported Islamic terrorists since 1989 in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. Most of the houses and property left behind by them have long since been either destroyed by the terrorists and their local Islamic supporters, or illegally and forcibly occupied by the latter. 

The overseas community of Kashmiri Pandits are shocked and saddened that most of the displaced Pandit population continues to live in squalid refugee camps far from their ancestral homeland in undignified and unsanitary conditions. Little is offered to the refugees in terms of a sense of belonging to Kashmir, sense of security, and sense of existence as a community. The future of their children is permanently frozen within the refugee camps. This is yet another sad chapter in the continuing misery that has engulfed Kashmiri Pandits since 1989 when they became refugees in their own country. Our community has been paying a very high price for its loyalty to India, and yet there appears to be very little appreciation and understanding by the local government of the many complex issues facing our community today, ranging from immediate safety and security concerns to long term survival in an increasingly Islamic fundamentalist culture. 

The Kashmiri Pandits are a peace-loving minority population that for decades played by the rules set by the Muslim majority of the state. For no fault of their own, other than their religion, the population was targeted for barbarous acts and driven out of the valley. This is ethnic cleansing whether or not one chooses to use that term. There is no question that the feeling of insecurity within our community has deepened sharply since massacres and targeting of Hindus continue. Since 1996, when you became Chief Minister, the situation of refugees has not improved but has worsened. The community consistently has tried to start a dialog with the government but no attempt has been made to bring these issues to the table and try to find a solution. At this juncture words are not enough and the need of the hour is an action plan from the State Government that will be implemented to overcome pain and sufferings of this unfortunate hapless community. 

Once again on behalf of the overseas Kashmiri Pandits, we urge the Government of Jammu and Kashmir to take the following actions:

Provide immediate assistance to the refugees in order to improve their living conditions in the camps, such as sanitation, clean water supply, and bathrooms. The current facilities provided to the refugees do not even match basic human living standards. 

Establish special health care facilities for children, elderly people and women in the refugee camps. Due to the low level of living conditions, many of the vulnerable refugees have undergone severe degradation of their health status. 

Provide means to meet all educational needs of the children - for example teachers, classrooms, and academic supplies. A special quota in educational institutions should be reserved for these children because of the unfavorable conditions under which they are studying.The children's future can not be sacrificed while the refugees stay in limbo for years and decades. 

Implement a plan to ensure that property left behind by the refugees is preserved and not taken over by illegal occupants. If the refugees lose their houses and property to illegal occupants, their ethnic cleansing will become permanent. 

There is sufficient evidence to believe that most of our religious places of worship have been burnt, vandalized, or damaged. We urge strongly that protection be provided to our religious temples and cultural institutions in the valley.

Assure the community of security and safety for long term survival. Develop a short and long-term plan for resettlement of the displaced community. No such plans are visible today - the community feels that it has long since been abandoned by the governmnent. 

There has been a complete lack of prosecution of terrorists and militants, including those who have openly admitted to wanton killing of Pandits in the past. Such terrorists should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. We want to emphasis that the need of our community's survival is exceptionally urgent, otherwise it will be extinct in the near future. We know Kashmir will never be the same without the Kashmiri Pandit community. To make sure the Kashmiri Pandit community survives these unfortunate times, we believe that the Government of State of Jammu and Kashmir should take immediate initiatives to overcome the issues of security, social and economic welfare, children's education, and the well being of the community. We thank you for giving us this opportunity to address our concerns and issues and we hope to see an action plan in this regard. 

Lalit Wanchoo 

President 

Kashmiri Overseas Association