Panun Kashmir (English: Our Kashmir) is a proposed union territory of India in the Kashmir Valley, which is intended to be a homeland for Kashmiri Hindus. The demand arose after the Exodus of Kashmiri Hindus in 1990.[1][2][3][4][5] The vision of the homeland was elucidated in the Margdarshan Resolution of 1991. Panun Kashmir is also the name of an eponymously named organization.
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See also: 1986 Kashmir Riots and Exodus of Kashmiri Hindus |
Panun Kashmir is derived from Kashmiri panun kaśīr, which means "our own Kashmir". The Panun Kashmir organization was founded by Kashmiris, including Kashmiri Hindu writer and activist Agnishekhar, in 1990 after the exodus of Kashmiri Hindus from Kashmir, under threat from militants. Approximately 300,000[6][7][8] to 600,000[9][10][11] Kashmiri Hindus fled Kashmir due to rising armed rebellion in Kashmir. However, Panun Kashmir estimates nearly 700,000 refugees.[12]
The organization passed a resolution, known as the Margdarshan Resolution,[13] in Jammu in December 1991 demanding:[14][15]
(a) the establishment of a Homeland for the Kashmiri Hindus in the Valley of Kashmir comprising the regions of the Valley to the East and North of Jhelum River.
(b) that the Constitution of India is made applicable in letter and spirit in this Homeland to ensure the right to life, liberty, freedom of expression and faith, equality, and the rule of law.
(c) that the Homeland be placed under the Central administration with a Union Territory status; and
(d) that all the seven hundred thousand Kashmiri Hindus, including those who have been driven out of Kashmir in the past and yearn to return to their homeland and those who were forced to leave on account of terrorist violence in Kashmir, be settled in the homeland on an equitable basis with dignity and honor.
Some advocates for Panun Kashmir wish that the majority of the valley of Kashmir and cities such as Srinagar, Anantnag, Sopore, Baramulla, and Awantipora be included in the proposed union territory. However, the organization claims that it does not seek a Hindu homeland. Instead, it seeks a homeland for Kashmiri Hindus who are ready to live peacefully with their Muslim neighbors assuming the conditions are met for resettlement.
The Panun Kashmir organization has consistently pushed for a separate UT. The organization also strongly supported the abrogation of Article 370 and Article 35a.[16]
Ikkjutt Jammu, a political party in Jammu and Kashmir, openly advocates for a separate Panun Kashmir, as well as the separation of Jammu Division from Kashmir.[17][18][19]
On 28 November 2019, the consul-general of India in New York suggested adopting an "Israeli model" for Kashmir to aid the return of the Kashmiri Pandits, the minority Hindu community that left the region following the 1989 insurgency.[20] His hour-long video sparked outrage. Kashmiri Muslims activists and some Hindu Kashmiris feared that this would lead to worsening military control, losing their jobs to outsiders, and the loss of their identity by causing Hindus to replace the Muslim majority. This proposition has been compared to a "settler-colonial project", and Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan condemned the proposal as reflecting "the fascist mindset of the Indian government".[21][22]
After the murder of Rakesh Pandit by unidentified militants in June 2021, several members of the Panun Kashmir group proposed a military campaign to establish a separate Hindu region, where Kashmiri Pandits would be armed against local militants. That meeting and their proposed Union Territory have been opposed by Muslim activists, who compared the proposal to Israeli actions against the Palestinians.[23][24][25]
