RAKESH BHAT, 43
Now living in Navi Mumbai; original resident of Fateh Kadal, Srinagar Fled the Valley in March 1990
Awindow in Rakesh Bhat’s house in Fateh Kadal, Srinagar, overlooked a BSF post. It offered a spectacular view of the Jhelum, but also of terrorists opening fire and throwing grenades at the BSF post.
“I grew up in the shadow of terror,” Bhat, now 43 and living in Navi Mumbai, recalls. In Srinagar, Bhat lived with his father Hridaynath, mother Sarla and younger brother Rohit. The situation, he says, grew worse towards the end of 1989 when loudspeakers from nearby mosques started blaring slogans like ‘Kashmir banega Pakistan. Batav Rostuy, Batenien Saan (Kashmir will become Pakistan. Without Pandit men but with Pandit women)’.
In March 1990, they left. “All we had was Rs 2,300 that my father was carrying,” says Bhat. Initially, they stayed in a tent in Jammu and later rented a cattle shedturned-home for Rs 500 a month. “We were forced to become poor,” Bhat says, breaking down.
In 1997, he came to Jalgaon in Maharashtra to study mechanical engineering as the then BJP-Shiv Sena government had reserved two seats for Kashmiri Pandits in every engineering college. “I could settle and live comfortably in Maharashtra because of the degree,” says Bhat.
These days, he is engaged in highlighting the Pandits’ plight. His efforts include producing a short film titled Exodus & Exile: The Need, which has won 10 international awards. He has also written six plays on the subject. “The government should provide us separate lands for resettlement where we will be in majority,” he says.
Bhat backs the idea of ‘Panun Kashmir’, a separate Union territory for Kashmiri Hindus spread across the Valley. “Mine is the last generation that wants to return. My teenage son may never want to leave Maharashtra.”