Jammu, May 14 (PTI) Panun Kashmir on Thursday submitted a memorandum to the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, seeking recognition and separate enumeration of displaced Kashmiri Pandits as “internally displaced genocide victims and survivors” in Census 2027.
A delegation of Panun Kashmir submitted the memorandum to the RGCCI through Director, Census Operations and Citizen Registration for Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh Amit Sharma, a spokesman of the organisation, said.
The delegation, led by Dr Agnishekhar, included senior leaders Sanjay Raina, M K Dhar, Bhushan Lal Bhat, Bitooji Bhat, Bebooji Zutshi and Hari Krishen Kaul.
In the memorandum, the organisation asserted that Census 2027 could not be treated as a routine statistical exercise with regard to the displaced Kashmiri Pandit community, stating that the manner in which the community is classified and recorded would shape future constitutional recognition, restitution, rehabilitation and policy measures, he said.
Panun Kashmir objected to any attempt to classify displaced Kashmiri Pandits merely as “migrants”, arguing that migration implies voluntary movement, whereas the community’s displacement resulted from genocide-affected conditions marked by targeted killings, intimidation, collapse of institutional protection, widespread fear and “failure” of the State to safeguard life, liberty, dignity and property.
The memorandum demanded that displaced Kashmiri Pandits be distinctly identified and enumerated as “internally displaced genocide victims and survivors” rather than being merged into generic migratory categories.
The other key demands raised by the organisation were recording of the original place of residence of each displaced family in the Kashmir valley, preservation of territorial and demographic linkage with their homeland and separate demographic enumeration of the displaced community, the spokesman said.
The organisation also sought recording of the duration, continuity, inter-generational nature and causes of displacement arising from what it termed “genocide-affected conditions” and the State’s “failure”, besides demanding census mechanisms sensitive to prolonged displacement, demographic rupture and inter-generational exile.
Panun Kashmir further urged authorities to ensure that Census data is used for future constitutional, restitutive, reparative, rehabilitative and restorative measures concerning “internally displaced genocide victims and survivors”.
The memorandum also referred to India being a signatory to the 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, stating that Article 5 of the Convention obligates State parties to establish legislative and institutional mechanisms concerning genocide-affected communities and internally displaced genocide victims and survivors, the spokesman said. PTI AB AB MNK MNK
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