In the middle of the nineteenth century, Maharaja Gulab Singh and his son Maharaja Ranbir Singh did a commendable job by welding the diverse hilly areas on the south east of Palmir Plateau, stretching from river Ravi in the east up to Indus in the West, and bordered in the South by the plains of Punjab, into a single administrative entity under British suzerainty, known as "Jammu Kashmir Wa Tibet Ha". After the British Government created two independent dominions of India and Pakistan and withdrew their suzerainty over the Indian princely states on August 15,1947, Maharaja Hari Singh of Jammu and Kashmir acceded to the Dominion of India on October 26,1947, by signing the Instrument of Accession.

The regions are not to be developed for their own sake. The development of the regions has to be affected for the benefit of the people, residing therein. There are regions where some sections of the population have got better chances of development, living in the same region while others have continued to be deprived from the fruits of development. Therefore, it is hoped in the real spirit of regional autonomy, due attention will be paid towards the development of the ignored sections of the populace.

Due care has also to be exercised in determining the index and perimeters of progress and development, backwardness and under-development of various segments of population, residing in a region. While determining backwardness, usually such factors as education, and professions depending upon academic qualifications were taken into account, and very little consideration was attached to factors like possession, control and monopoly over means of production, such as ownership of land, orchards, modes of transport, industry, trades, etc. There are also segments of population within these regions who are ignored in view of caste, religious and social bias against them. It shall, therefore, be in the fitness of things that such sections of the people living in respective regions, are identified, who instead of forging ahead have suffered retardation due to certain administrative policies.

On account of various reasons, the Maharaja relinquished his office on June 9,1949, in favour of his son, Yuvraj Shri Karan Singh. On October 27,1950, the National Conference by a resolution asked for holding of an election to the State Constituent Assembly. On May 1,1951, the Yuvraj issued a proclamation convoking the Constituent Assembly through adult franchise by direct and secret ballot. Interestingly, this proclamation made no reiteration of the Maharaja's intention of providing special representation to minorities. On the other hand, it was laid out in this proclamation that the government would make rules, instructions and orders, to give affect to the terms of the Proclamation. Thus, it fell upon the government, in the first instance, and, ultimately, on the Constituent Assembly, to evolve and establish instrumentalities, in order to protect the interests of the minorities.

The State Constituent Assembly ignored to take note of the heterogeneous character of the State and the protection of the interests of the minorities and other weaker sections of the population. The ignored sections of the population expressed their grievances from time to time, and even launched agitations, to press for the acceptance of their demands. To pacify the agitationists, the Government at times, appointed Commissions of Inquiry to look into regional and other grievances. The recommendations of these Commissions, particularly those headed by Justice Sikri and Justice Gajandhargadkar involved a restructuring of administration at the district level and providing adequate representation to the deprived people of the various regions in the Council of Ministers, were not implemented. Even after the constitution of the Ladakh Hill Development Council, under proper legislation, its functioning has not been free from conflict. Every attempt has been made to make this institution, non-functional and redundant. The District Development Boards which have been set up under orders of the executive for formulation, execution, implementation and monitoring of the district development plans, have been rendered ineffective by the government through manipulation and indifference. The local self governing institutions have been superseded and their working has got controlled by the officers of the Government. The mismanagement and manipulation of these institutions have been engineered by the vested Muslim majority interests of the valley, whose ascendance and dominance in position of power has been assured through legal and political means.

The last Delimitation Commission has carved out 87 constituencies, on territorial basis, for election of 87 members in 1996, to the Legislative Assembly. The table given below reflects the average population and area, per constituency.
 

Dominance of the Kashmir region over the Jammu region, in the Legislative Assembly, is visible on the twin basis of population and area. Whereas, Kashmir has 4.73 Lakh more population than Jammu, it could on basis of 89,000 average population per constituency in the State claim 5 more seats than Jammu against which it has been allocated 9 seats, viz. 80% in excess that of due. Area-wise also, Jammu has been discriminated against in the matter of allocation of Assembly seats.

To perpetuate a complete and continuous dominance of Muslims even within the Valley, the Assembly constituencies where Kashmiri Hindus could politically be represented, were restructured. Accordingly, the localities of Rainawari, Habbakadal, and Karan Nagar in Srinagar city, were fragmented in order to reduce them to an insignificant part of the contiguous Muslim dominated constituencies, thereby depriving the Hindus to elect representatives to the Assembly, on their own strength. While three Kashmiri Hindus were returned to Assembly in 1957, 1962 and 1967, the number was subsequently restricted to one member only in 1972, 1977, 1983, 1987 and 1996, as shown in the following table:-
 

It is significant to note here, that Kashmiri Hindus launched an agitation in 1967, against the majoritarianism of the Muslims in the Valley. The numerical reduction of Kashmiri Hindu MLAs to only one, can be defined as a direct consequence of the above agitation. Both on basis of their population and in view of their historical role in the freedom struggle, at the national and state level, there was no justification for their political exclusion to make them politically insignificant especially in a State that professes a secular and democratic set-up.

No sooner the accession of the State with the Union of India was brought about, the power was transferred to the people and the State government was reconstituted. The Muslim majority in the State enforced its precedence in the governance of the state. The ruling elite of the State succeeded in establishing a separate political organisation for the state, outside the constitutional organisation of India, on the basis of the Muslim majoritarian character of the population, thereby foisting a Muslim precedence and domination in the State. The period from 1947-1957, is of great significance and the development that took place during this period needs careful study and analysis, for a better understanding and framing of right perceptions. The state was ruled by decrees and ordinances during this period of ten years and this dispensation did not accept (i) Right to equality, (ii) Right to equality of opportunity (iii) Right to protection against discrimination, on the basis of religion, race, place of birth, sex or caste; (iv) Right to legal remedies against any discrimination on the grounds of religion, race, caste or place of birth, and sex (v) Right to freedom of faith, (vi)Right to own and manage religious endowments, religious places, religious property and religious institutions, (vii) Right to protection against persecution of minorities. The Legislature and Executive of the Government of the State, exercised arbitrary powers of classification of population in effecting the rights of the minorities, in almost all the spheres of life.
 

The Kashmiri Hindus were eager that social and economic condition of Kashmiri Muslim masses of the valley be improved. For this purpose, they launched a relentless effort in the pre-independence era, so that modern education, among Muslims of the valley could spread and take roots. Shri Govind Koul and others founded National School at Baramulla and a similar school at Shopian was founded by Shri Swaroop Nath Raina, a veteran freedom fighter. Earlier, Prof. Srikanth Toshkani had founded a girls school at Srinagar for spreading of female education, under the Women Welfare Trust. Besides all this, there were many Kashmiri Hindus, who in their individual capacity, did their best to spread modern education among Muslim masses. Even the Islamia School at Srinagar, was mostly manned by Kashmiri Hindus. In the field of medical care, it was Dr. Shamboo Nath Peshin and others who founded National Hospital, for providing medical facility to the masses, which generally included Muslims. Pandit Kashyap Bandhu became the pioneer of the idea for establishment of Labour Board, to improve the miserable plight of Kashmiri Muslim labourers, working as porters in Jammu and the plains. Kashmiri Hindus dissuaded the business community in Jammu and other northern Indian cities of the Punjab, from using the despicable nomenclature of  'hato' for Kashmiri Muslim labourers. All this and other similar contributions to ameliorate the lot of their Muslim brethren, on part of the Kashmiri Hindus, were totally ignored and forgotten. Apart from rousing malice and hatred, of the majority Muslim community against Kashmiri Hindus, the rulers of the State in the post-1947 period took special policy decisions to harass and destabilize them in the valley. The implementation of land reforms legislation brought about a change not only in the social relationship but also exercised a deep impact upon the economic condition of the people. The landlords whose lands were appropriated as a result of these reforms, in 1950, suffered a curtailment of their incomes, that they used to derive from land. For Muslim landlords, other avenues of earning their livelihood were made available, but it was not so in the case of the Hindus of the valley, as a community. Soon after assuming power, the rulers ordered pre-mature retirement of the government employees who had attained fifty years of age or had a total service of 25 years. Simultaneously, as a matter of policy, fresh recruitment in Government services, was by and large restricted to their ratio of population. Not only that, a similar policy was adopted in respect of selection and nomination for higher and technical education, outside the state. As a result of retrenchment from Government service and drastic curtailment of fresh recruitment, and no alternate avenue of livelihood being available to them in the forties and early fifties, Kashmiri Hindus, to save themselves from starvation, were left with no option but to leave the State. Earlier, in the wake of raids on the State sponsored by Pakistan, a large number of Kashmiri Hindus of the valley had already left the state. In addition, due to the decision of the state Government, not to allow Hindu refugees, including Sikhs, from Muzaffarabad district and those areas of Baramulla which came to be occupied by Pakistan, to settle in the valley, the population of Hindus in Kashmir got substantially reduced. Significantly, the Muslims from Sinkiang province of China were allowed to live in the valley. This brought about a significant demographic change in the valley, reducing Kashmiri Hindus to the status of an ineffective minuscule minority.

The policy of discrimination against Kashmiri Hindus was followed by their exclusion from the economic, social, political and administrative set-up of the state, a policy ruthlessly followed by the rulers from 1947 up to 1989-90, which paved the way for their ethnic cleansing, subsequently. The Big Landed Estates Abolition Act, 1950, did not at all keep an opening for a landlord to work as a tenant, in case he would like to do so. According to this Act, land held by a landlord beyond the fixed ceiling, w as transferred to the tiller without payment of compensation to the landlord. The Agrarian Reforms Act, 1976, however, while providing an opportunity for the landlord to become a self-cultivating tenant, restricted this option to him by imposing the domicile condition that worked against the landlords particularly the Hindus, who had already in consequence of a social and economic bias and discrimination and security/compulsions, been forced to leave the villages to live in the nearby towns, within the valley or leave the state for good. The chance for the Hindus of the valley to work as self-cultivating tenants was closed and they had no option but to accept payments, in lieu of extinguishment of rights on land. The chances for retreat and reform were denied to this community, in various economic fields. No initiative was taken to diversify the Kashmiri Pandit community into other sectors of economy, where their absence was conspicuous.

Government employment avenues for Kashmiri Hindus had already been restricted. They were not encouraged or helped by Government to take to business, tourism, including hotels and houseboats, transport, industry, forest etc. The result was that there was negligible or no presence of Kashmiri Hindus in these lucrative avenues. In respect of Government services, fresh recruitment of Kashmiri Hindus was restricted to the ratio of their population, which was deliberately and willfully understated. Even those who managed their entry into services under extremely and adverse difficult conditions, were continuously suppressed and discriminated against which they had to fight long legal battles in the High Court and even in the Supreme Court, for restoration of t heir rights. Even after obtaining favourable  judgments, the rulers of the state did every thing to delay the implementation of Court decisions.

The rulers of Kashmir in the post-1947 era, systematically and in a planned manner, initiated the process of bias and discrimination resulting in the elimination of Kashmiri Hindus from the social, economic, and administrative set-up and cultural structures of the valley. This action of the rulers was supplemented by the Muslim fundamentalists and secessionists by rousing the sentiments of majority community against the Hindu minority of valley. Disputes regarding lands attached to the shrines, temples and cremation grounds of Hindus, were initiated. With the help of the executive power of the government, these lands were allowed to be grabbed. The Jamat-i-Islami Madrasas preached and instilled open hatred against the Hindus, among the Muslim children attending these Madrasas. Everything possible was done to harass the minorities in the valley and create an atmosphere of insecurity for them.

Due to the domination of Islamic fundamentalist and secessionist elements in the State administration of the valley, particularly in the sensitive positions, the administrative structures collapsed with ease in no time, without offering any resistance, as soon as green signal of going ahead was received. This not only facilitated the rise of terrorism against Hindus of Kashmir, but also helped to strengthen insurgency against the Indian Union through all possible means available to the subversives in the valley. Even the press in the valley acted as a mouthpiece of terrorists and insurgents and eulogized and even glorified terrorist and insurgent operations. A submissive and emasculated press encouraged passive submission of political workers of various hues, by publishing their paid advertisements, disowning their association with such political parties which had vouched for secularism, democracy and the integrity of India. Such political parties and set-ups were even condemned. The role of the so-cal led mainstream political parties which had been the beneficiaries of power and influence, from 1947, onwards in the state, was not only dubious but proved helpful in encouraging violence by their observing steadied silence. Their top leadership left the v alley for Delhi and elsewhere, soon after January, 1990, leaving the field open for the terrorists and their secessionist political leaderships, in the valley. No resistance, whatsoever, was offered by these mainstream parties to the anarchy and mayhem that prevailed.

Along with the selective killings of prominent Kashmiri Hindus, the terrorists resorted to intimidation of Hindus, loot of their property and the rape of their women. These insurgents pasted names of Kashmiri Hindus, listed on their hit lists, on lamp-posts in Hindu localities, to terrorize the community. Notices, fixing the dates for Hindus to quit the valley, were issued through local papers. Above all, anti-Hindu and pro-secession and Islamic fundamentalist slogans were blared for nights together, over loud-speakers from mosques, throughout the valley. No one in the valley spoke against what was happening. Everyone was overwhelmed and drifted along with the current of terrorism. Lakhs of people demanding secession chanting slogans of "Nizami Mustafa " and led by armed terrorists, paraded in streets of Srinagar. Hell was let loose on the Hindu minority. They had no place to hide themselves, except to obey the terrorist dictate to quit the valley, leaving behind their valuable immovable as well as movable properties, worth several thousand crores. They were compelled to give up their jobs, business, income yielding assets, etc; in full knowledge of the fact that they would face hostile weather and starvation outside the valley, which is their ancestral habitat and with which they have both material and spiritual attachment. This concluded the process of liquidation of K.P. community from Kashmir.

The Committee on Regional Autonomy is broadly expected to work out plans for creating instrumentalities for the equal regional development and for the upliftment and development of the population living in various regions of the State. It is quite understandable as well as possible, that Kashmiri Pandit Community will be bracketed with the majority of Muslims living in the valley. Paradoxically, they have been denied coexistence by the majority community in the valley. The agenda of exclusion of Kashmiri Pandits on part of the Muslims, has virtually been completed after the ethnic cleansing. Any plan or mechanism for the development of the valley and its people will never mean anything for this displaced community. The first and vital problem for the Kashmiri Pandit community is its rehabilitation in the valley as per a plan which has to take into consideration, security of life, property and honour, continuity of community culture and faith, besides the economic rehabilitation of Pandits. It has also t o be ensured that the community does not face another ethnic cleansing in the future, a cleansing that came as sequel to their marginalization and exclusion from the total life of the valley. It will not be out of place to mention here, that most of the Kashmiri Pandits who had gone to Baramulla, to live in their homes in 1992 and 1996 did not find any place in the established theocratic set-up in the valley, and most of them are again living as displaced people outside the valley. Till date, government has not come out with any genuine or feasible plan of their rehabilitation, for reasons not too far to seek, after going through this memorandum. Kashmiri Pandits have formulated the plan of rehabilitation, vis-a-vis the Homeland resolution of 1991 and January 1997 (copies enclosed) in which the K.P. community has resolutely demanded:-

• The establishment of homeland for Kashmiri Hindus in the Kashmir valley, comprising the regions of the valley to the East and North of river Jhelum (Vitasta);
• that the Constitution of India be made applicable in letter and spirit in this homeland in order to ensure the right to life, liberty, freedom of expression, faith, equality and rule of law;
• that their homeland be placed under Central Administration with a Union Territory status so that it evolves its own economic and political infrastructure;
• that all the seven lakh Kashmiri Hindus, which includes 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 the terrorist violence in Kashmir, be settled in the homeland on equitable basis with dignity and honour.