It's 916.
5916.
5930.
It's getting frozen just now, as we are talking here.
So cold.
Sometimes we get lost and we have to find our way.
This is 589.
Yeah! So, this is the house.
- Hello. Hi. - Shoes okay inside?
Yes.
Himanshu, is on his way.
- No problem. - He should be here in five minutes.
- Okay. - Oh, wow! Look at that!
Oh, wow!
I was more attached to my mom.
Like, pretty much anybody.
I always say, God could not be everywhere,
so he created mom.
The last day I remember very well.
I close my eyes, I can see my mom.
I can see my dad.
I was holding my bat and playing.
My dad called out to me and my mom...
The houses in Kashmir had big windows.
So, my mom was standing there wearing a checked feran.
She was wearing a red colored scarf...
And she's giving me a smile.
That would be the last time I saw my mom.
My father was well suited and booted.
He was always very well dressed.
And then we set out for Baramulla.
So, plan was, as per my understanding, as per my remembrance...
The plan was that I would return.
So, Baramulla is where your maternal grandma used to live?
Yes, my maternal grandma used to live.
So, we went there and my dad left on that particular day.
And after that...
What happened is history.
- There was no call after that? - No.
There was no phone.
Nothing like that.
Then I heard that my mom was shot outside the main door.
She was shot dead...
But at the same time...
We don't know whether her body was found or not.
That sounds like another story...
Her body was never found?
That's what I've heard. I don't know much about that.
As I said, that I didn't want to get into that conversation at all with anyone.
But my father was taken up to river Jhelum.
And then he was shot.
It has been said bricks were tied to him and he was dropped in...
- In the river? - In the river.
And his body was found after, like, 2-3 days.
It was stuck under a bridge when they found him.
They found the body.
As you said there were different stories surrounding their deaths.
Have you heard several versions or read about them?
There were two Prana Ganjoos.
One version is that she was killed and mutilated.
And the other one is that she was brutally raped.
and was taken to Pakistan.
This was Himanshu Ganjoo,
a Kashmiri Pandit.
When his parents had suddenly disappeared,
Himanshu was around 4-5 years old.
With their last glimpse in his eyes, Himanshu
kept waiting for them to return.
He repeatedly questioned everyone about their whereabouts...
But got no answers.
His grandmother and his sister had buried this pain somewhere deep within themselves.
It wasn't until Himanshu reached the age of 16/17
that he finally discovered the truth.
And then Himanshu also buried this pain somewhere deep inside himself.
And this is not just the story of one Himanshu.
This is the story of every Kashmiri Pandit
They have endured their pain to the extent,
that they haven't even been able to share it amongst themselves.
What was this pain that never got spoken about?
That nobody heard about?
Suddenly, I started feeling that,
we all are the Himanshus of this story,
Who have no clue about what truth is?
The day we got married, my grandfather passed away in the morning.
He was almost 80 years old,
lived in Kashmir all through his life.
Very rarely he had gone to Delhi or Kolkata to meet his brother and all.
He was there forever.
He had never seen heat?
He had never seen heat.
He would go out for a walk.
He had nobody to talk to.
Nobody would care to stop and ask him,
"Who are you? You are new here?"
'Where did you come from?" Nobody.
So he would come back home and we would see him
sitting there on his bed.
There was nothing for him.
He would tell me, "What will I do after you get married?"
Because I was very close to him.
I was very close to both my grandparents.
"What will I do? I want to go before you."
"I cannot live here."
And he died the day of...
- The day after your wedding? - The day of my wedding.
So, my father first cremated his father,
and then he...
He married off his daughter.
He didn't get killed by a bullet...
But this is a part of the genocide.
Can you imagine the agony of being displaced from your roots
at the age of 80?
Becoming invisible and unheard all of a sudden,
becoming insignificant for all.
Ever thought, how grievous
it must be?
But what exactly was this agonizing pain,
that one could die of and yet, it could not be named?
Was this a desertion, an exodus,
a migration ? Or was this genocide?
Nobody knows.
Just like Neerjaji's grandfather's death,
the deaths of all other Kashmiri Pandits,
who died longing to return home,
went unnoticed by our country.
It bacame nothing more than another number.
Yet another statistic.
As we began our research on the genocide of the Kashmiri Pandit community,
we, like the rest of the world, had the same question.
Whether this truly was a genocide or not?
The rest of the world referred to it as a desertion,
an exodus, or a migration.
So, was the entire Community lying about their genocide?
And if so,
then why were these Kashmiri Pandits out of their motherland Kashmir,
and scattered across the world?
In order to discover the truth of Kashmiri Pandits,
it was crucial to understand the entire backdrop.
In the presence of police, administration, government, army,
media, intellectuals, civil society, and NGOs,
if this genocide had occurred, then we needed to understand how and why?
And who was responsible for it?
It was essential for us to find this out.
And with these questions we began our journey.
I did not know, whether I would be able to get to the bottom of their pain or not.
And I did not know whether
I would be able to discover the truth about their genocide or not.
But I definitely knew, that in order to discover their truth,
it was important to discover the truth of Kashmir.
Kashmir has never been an integral part of India
and this is a historical fact!
In fact, Kashmir's accession to India took place on one condition...
As soon as situation there returned to normal,
a plebiscite would be held, that is people's vote.
Did the plebiscite take place in all these years?
No!
This means we have illegally tethered Kashmir with us.
Under these circumstance how is it wrong then,
if slogans of freedom arise form there?
- Free Kashmir! - Free Kashmir!
There have been parallel ideologies of
deeming Kashmir as separate from India, or wanting to separate Kashmir from India
Where there are talks of accession, of plebiscite
and talks of liberating Kashmir from India.
Even today these ideologies are centered around the incidents
that took place at the time of the partition of India.
And today these ideologies have become very powerful.
The reason being that the truth has remained hidden.
According to them, Maharaja Hari Singh was in a dilemma at the time of the partition
because he had several options.
But is this true?
Where did this ideology of separating Kashmir from India really begin from?
What were Kashmir's circumstances at the time of the partition?
And who played what role in those circumstances?
15th August 1947,
India achieved her independence.
But one of the fruits of freedom
was the partition of the subcontinent
into India and Pakistan.
India's partition was an act that was passed in the British Parliament.
This act was
Government of India (Independence Act 1947)
This act came with some conditions.
Under this act the Kings, Royals, Nawabs and all others were given autonomy
to decide whether they wanted to go with India or with Pakistan.
No third option was available.
This narrative is being changed now and claims are made that
there was yet another option of being independent
No such option was given to them.
You can look and confirm this from the Government of India (Independence Act 1947).
Maharaja Hari Singh was the only one who had complete clarity.
Jinnah got in touch with him thrice.
He sent his British agent to the Maharaja saying that
he wanted to meet him.
The Maharaja declined.
Maharaja Hari Singh wrote that Mountbatten came from India,
and yet advised me to join Pakistan.
Later Mountbatten's own secretary exposed him.
He wrote in his book,
Mountbatten came but he did not bring a message
on behalf of India.
He told the King to join Pakistan.
Jawaharlal Nehru insisted that the power be transferred to Sheikh Abdullah,
following which Sheikh Abdullah will merge with us
This came out of thin air.
When Pakistan came into being on 14th August
Maharaja Hari Singh offered a standstill agreement.
The standstill agreement stated
that administrative status quo will remain as it is.
If a post office is in Pakistan,
it will continue to function as it did pre-independence,
the roads will continue the way they were before...
So, basically the standstill agreement would allow
the administrative machinery to continue as it did before independence,
until a decision was taken.
India said that 'we will enter into a standstill agreement
only with those who accede with us'
When the same offer was made to Pakistan, they signed it instantly.
So the Maharaja had a standstill agreement with Pakistan government.
Now a narration is being built that the Maharaja wanted to be independent,
the Maharaja did not want to join India,
the Maharaja was in a dilemma... None of this is true.
The Maharaja wanted to merge with India.
On one hand there was Pakistan,
other hand there were British...
Another hand, Sheikh Abdullah
and from yet another, Nehru.
This poor man was all alone amidst all of this.
Do you know the jackals and crows, and all other animals want to get together and eat which animal?
This. Our Kashmir.
Everyone wants to bite it to pieces.
What is so special about Kashmir,
that everyone has always been attracted towards it?
Why is it that everyone has always wanted to rule over Kashmir?
Because geo-politically Kashmir is very significant.
It shares the borders with all the countries of West Asia,
Central Asia and East Asia.
And then Kashmir's humongous mountain ranges, extremely tough terrain and weather
make it impossible to cross over and get into Kashmir.
As a result, Kashmir has been consistently safe-guarding India.
To rule over Kashmir,
meant to have influence over the entire Asian Subcontinent,
and to be able to reach central India.
During independence, persistent efforts were made from all quarters
to gain control over Kashmir.
The British also desired to retain their power in Kashmir.
Post-independence, the British left.
However, even after leaving they continued to have influence over Kashmir.
How?
Kashmir's demography at the time consisted of 80% Muslim majority
and the remaining 20% minority consisted of Hindus,
Sikhs, Christians, Gurjars, Buddists and others.
Under what circumstances
did Maharaja Hari Singh actually accede Kashmir with India?
This question still remains unanswered.
And at the time of accession, how did it occur to him to demand a people's vote ie plebiscite?
Or were there other individuals involved in advocating this demand?
If so, who were these individuals
who demanded this plebiscite?
When independent Pakistan and India came into existence,
Jawaharlal Nehru appointed Mountbatten as the Governor General.
The Chief of the Indian army was a British!
When Jinnah was told to appoint Mountbatten as Governor General,
he said, "Why? I will be the Governor General."
Jinnah refused to appoint Mountbatten as the Governor General.
At the time of partition, ten million people had to flee.
Hundreds of thousands of people died.
The Government got busy with its duties and the Maharaja was overlooked.
And because India was busy, Pakistan army decided to seize Kashmir.
The siege on Kashmir was led by Akbar Khan,
Pakistan army's Major General.
He trained the warlike tribes of Sudan, Afridi, Pashtoons
to attack on Kashmir.
The Defense Committee's meeting took place on the evening of the 25th,
which included Sardar Patel, Jawaharlal Nehru,
Field Marshal Manekshaw, who was a Colonel at the time. He was present.
Roy Bucher, Chief of Staff and Nehru were also present.
The Governor General said, "How can you send troops right now?"
"The merger hasn't taken place."
Sardar Patel said, "Then go ahead with the merger."
"They are willing to merge."
Jawaharlal Nehru started lecturing,
"What will the Afro Asian countries think?"
"What will this one think? What will that one think?"
Finally, Sardar Patel asked "Jawahar, do you want Kashmir or not?"
Jawaharlal Nehru said, "Yes, of course."
Manekshaw was representing the army headquarters,
so Sardar Patel told Manekshaw, "You got your orders. Go."
The Maharaja had signed the same instrument of accession that other kings had signed.
But Mountbatten... He writes to the Maharaja,
"Yes, we have accepted the instrument of accession
but we assure you that we will conduct plebiscite in Kashmir."
"We will fulfill the Kashmiri people's wish."
This was not Maharaja's condition in the instrument of accession.
You claim to believe in Secularism,
and you sing praises of Secularism in the entire country.
But here you have actually agreed
that plebiscite will take place on the basis of religion.
You are accepting that. And based on religion,
the non-majority community will have no role in it.
So, actually you are tilting the balance against the Indian state.
By and large Maharaja Hari Singh remained titular
and the power went into the hands of Sheikh Abdullah.
The first thing that Sheikh Abdullah did was to tell Nehru,
"If you do not expel the King, I shall file a lawsuit against him
for loss of lives of Muslims in the valley
and Poonch and other areas."
Sheikh Abdullah forced...
That the Maharaja should be exiled.
Not only just removed, but exiled out of the kingdom
and Maharaja had to move out.
His son Yuvraj was given a title.
But he was just a young man.
This was the beginning of a new destiny for Kashmir.
The people who were in power now, what vision did they have for the people of Kashmir?
Kashmiri Pandits, who were a minority, were easily brushed aside.
But if they truly wanted the best for the majority
and they were fighting for the majority,
then today, 75 years later, their truth would have been different.
Also, this was a time when those decisions were taken
whose results can never be erased from Kashmir and India's destiny.
On one hand,
our army was fighting the Pakistani tribals out there to protect Kashmir
and on the other hand,
our Government took the Kashmir issue to the United Nations.
What was the intention behind taking Kashmir to the UN?
What was the truth behind it?
After the instrument of accession had been signed.
The Indian Army landed in Kashmir with the help of the Air Force,
and started pushing the enemy back.
I think all of Kashmir valley, all the way up to Uri, was freed
by October 25th.
The Indian Army camped in Uri for 2 months
but they didn't get orders to go further.
Else what we know as POK today, Gilgit Baltistan...
Skardu, Muzaffarabad, Poonch, Kotli
and Mirpur would be a part of India today.
Then the Pakistan army itself got into this in 1948,
which made it a war between India and Pakistan.
How did the ceasefire take place in November of 48?
Mountbatten goes to Pakistan in November 1948.
He advises Jinnah
to stop the war.
'Lets approach United Nations instead'.
Jinnah said no.
Jinnah said, "I don't want to go to United Nations."
It was Nehru who went to United Nations.
Nehru was manipulated.
You are a man of peace.
You talk about peace.
You are a senior leader in the Afro Asian nation.
How can you wage war? It is wrong.
You should approach the United Nations if you have an issue.
Jawaharlal Nehru
approached United Nations without consulting any
military Field Commander.
He didn't even consult Sardar Patel.
Big mistake.
Captured arms and ammunition
bore distinct markings of the Pakistan army
and revealed clearly that they came directly
from the Pakistani army store.
At first Pakistan refuted the charges
but later she admitted aiding the raiders
and the employment of her own troops in Kashmir.
There was yet another problem here.
The charter under which Nehru took the case to the United Nations
was charter 5-6, which is called resolution of conflict.
When in fact he should have taken the case under charter 7,
that is vacation of aggression.
He should have approached them on vacation of aggression,
instead, he approached them with resolution of conflict.
The matter ended there.
They said there is no aggressor. You yourself are saying so.
There is a conflict and you resolve the conflict now.
There they started playing their games.
Who had control over there? The allies had control.
The allies were the dominating force after winning the 2nd world war.
They protected their own interests.
With reference to Kashmir we have seen UNMOGIP,
United Nations Military Observer Group of India and Pakistan,
which has one of its Headquarters in Srinagar while the other is in Pakistan.
It keeps an eagle's eye on Jammu and Kashmir.
These days we notice a propaganda or narrative on Pakistan's part,
they have only one slogan...
That the Kashmir issue is being arbitrated
by the United Nations and it will get resolved by the United Nations only.
The United Nations Resolutions on Kashmir
that plebiscite or referendum will take place
when the Pakistan disbands its army from Pakistan Occupied Kashmir,
which Pakistan is unwilling to do,
so, the referendum plebiscite will never take place.
Internationalizing Kashmir issue, was a big mistake in our history.
Was approaching the UNO the mistake
owing which Kashmir is referred to as
IOK, Indian Occupied Kashmir, on numerous international platforms?
It is said that India has occupied Kashmir illegally?
Could it be because of this mistake
that on World Forums Kashmir's map is not shown as a whole.
so much so that now the word "Kashmir" is replaced with IOK.
Was approaching the UN the mistake
owing to which Kashmir is still called a disputed territory?
Could this be the reason
Kashmir still remains a conflicted zone?
Although India's partition took place in 1947,
was this the reason
that even after 75 years the partition is not over in Kashmir?
Could it be that because of this mistake
thousands of ways are found to liberate Kashmir from India
even today?
India has illegally occupied Kashmir...
Hearing this would make me angry,
but now it is painful to realize that we ourselves have brought Kashmir to this point.
And it did not end here.
We made other mistakes too.
Do you know what was the area of Kashmir
when Maharaja Hari Singh merged Jammu and Kashmir with India?
The area of Jammu and Kashmir at the time
when Maharaja Hari Singh merged Kashmir with India
was 2,63,750 square kilometers.
The first ceasefire that took place in the Indo-Pakistan war,
on January 1st 1949, at that time the ceasefire line,
which later came to be called the line of control,
it has remained undisturbed by and large.
In this, 86,000 kilometers of our land went to Pakistan Occupied Kashmir.
Gilgit Baltistan's total area was almost 93,000 kilometers
Out of which Pakistan seized 77,000 kilometers
Although, Pakistan called this a Centrally Administered Province
While they named Muzaffarabad and Kotli districts Free/Azad Kashmir, which is POK.
So, we lost this area first.
Then Aksai Chin.
When China attacked Tibet on 10th October 1949,
they captured Tibet although our consulate was in Kashgar until 1950.
And when Maharaja had merged Kashmir with India, he had also merged Tibet with India.
If you read the treaty in the National Archives,
it reads Jammu, Kashmir and Tibet.
But we made mistakes.
We ignored China's activities.
We thought China is an Asian country.
We gave up control over this area which had actually merged with India.
So, we lost this area as well.
One area of Gilgit Baltistan that Pakistan had control over
is called Shaksgam.
Pakistan gave control of Shaksgam to China in 1963.
This is approximately 5,332 kilometers.
They leased it to China for 99 years.
In exchange of it, Pakistan received Nuclear Technology from them.
So, even that area was taken away from you.
Take a good look
at what we call as our Kashmir.
In today's Jammu and Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan in not there
which once belonged to us
Pakistan Occupied Kashmir is not there
which once belonged to us
Aksai Chin is not
which once belonged to us
And the Shaksgam area is also not there
which belonged to us once.
We can see in current Jammu and Kashmir, how much of area is left with Bharat
and how much of it is illegally occupied by Pakistan and China.
And all this is the outcome of our own mistakes.
It is so surprising that the people who shout slogans
that 'India has illegally occupied Kashmir',
why don't they shout slogans
that 'actually, Pakistan and China have illegally occupied Kashmir'?
Doesn't this expose the lies of Pakistan and China
and the hypocrisy of those who build a narrative against Kashmir?
Kashmir is born out of the Indian civilisation!
And this fact shall never change.
From times immemorial, Kashmir has belonged and will always belong to India.
But does the story end here?
Perhaps not.
In fact, the story begins from here.
Was the formation of POK only a territorial defeat?
Or did it have a connection with the genocide of Kashmiri Pandits?
What were the factors that led to the emergence of terrorism in Kashmir,
that ultimately resulted in the genocide of 1990?
What was the truth here?