The removal of Article 370 is the beginning of the new challenges India will face.

Having this Article for the last 70 years, a type of structure has been there, whether it is in the form of Islamism, separatists or mainstream politics, but it has been there and it will take time to bring that system in order.

However, for the first time, we can feel what freedom is.

Hindus from Kashmir had always wanted Article 370 should be removed. We don’t want to work with the leaders of Kashmir. All of us don’t want to live with such neighbours who turned their backs when we were being killed. If Kashmir is with India today, then the role of Kashmiri Hindus can’t be overlooked. Today, we want to go back to the Valley.

All of us are living in exile.

Banished from Paradise: The Pandits of Kashmir have lived decades in exile. (Photo: Reuters)

All governments, whether it was from Narasimha Rao to Atal Bihari Vajpayee to the first Narendra Modi government, many feel all have compromised somewhere when it came to Kashmir.

And Kashmiri Hindus being dragged out from Kashmir, this did not happen for the first time in 1990. You will be surprised reading this perhaps but in the last 700 years, seven times, we have been asked to leave the Valley. This all happened under Islamic rule — unfortunately, the seventh time round, this exodus took place under independent India.

Today, if there is a Kashmiri Hindu boy who is working in Delhi and if we ask him to leave everything and go settle in Kashmir, his answer would be no. Youngsters will go to the Valley once they feel secure there — like in any other part of the country. Living in Delhi and Kashmir would be the same only on the day that Hindu Kashmiris come back. We want the economic, political, social and cultural empowerment, religious and intellectual freedom of being an Indian in Kashmir.

For us to return to the Valley, the government needs to acknowledge that genocide happened in Kashmir against its Hindus and a proper investigation should be launched.

Hindus in Kashmir were targeted because all of us were walking tricolours.

You cannot simply take out Mehbooba Mufti and Farooq Abdullah from Kashmir now — you will have to change the mindset of the people living in the Valley.

Being in custody isn't enough: A lot needs to be done to change the poisoned mindset in J&K. (Photo: Getty Images/IANS)

There is no Kashmiriyat in the Valley. Had it been there, then Hindus would not have been killed or raped in Kashmir. For the last 30 years, we would not have lived in exile away from our home.

Today, those people who are standing in favour of Article 370, they do not even realise what they are supporting. People don’t realise what this Article was all about. A Kashmiri woman, if she married a non-Kashmiri, would cease to be a full-fledged citizen of J&K. These laws were totally misogynistic. The Valmiki community living in Jammu who were asked to come to the Valley were promised that they would be given full citizen rights of the state. But a boy from that community who obtains a PhD degree is not entitled to get a job beyond a sweeper's in the state.

Is this what we are supposed to protect?

The certificate which was issued for Dalits was that their caste and profession was mandatorily to be defined. There were Hindus and Sikhs who came from Pakistan after Partition — 70 years down the line, they have built their houses there but they can’t call it their home. They were not entitled to have their own home. Now, there are no Dalits in the Valley but yes, Jammu did have them. And whenever I have got a platform, I have spoken about their rights.

You do politics from the mosque — this is what you get.

Kashmiri Muslims don't identify themselves with Hindus in India and even those in the state. We have to define who these Muslims are who need to be brought in line with the mainstream. There are people in the Valley who say that we don’t want the Abdullahs and the Muftis in the state — we are happy with the Governor. The task will be to bring the poor families in Kashmir back.

These poor Muslim families should be the target of communication.

A place of prayer. Not politics. (Photo: Reuters)

Kashmiri Muslims have been blackmailed in the name of Islam. India needs to isolate the extremists. I am actually sure the common people will understand. This is the beginning of the process — it will take time.

In my view, the abolition of Article 370 will not lead to an increase in militancy in the state. Pakistan will never cease to make things difficult. I don’t see them doing anything on the border though, they may create skirmishes here and there because they have to justify their existence to their own people. Pakistan’s thought was that they are the custodians of the Islamic world and Kashmir will be part of their territory.

But their best friend, Saudi Arabia, has turned their back on them — and no Muslim country is supporting their views against India on Kashmir.

I do see them creating trouble through their operatives in Kashmir. We need to be extremely vigilant.

It is absolutely right to keep these politicians behind bars meanwhile. What do you do to a politician who says, ‘Kashmir will burn, you won’t find anyone to hold the tricolour in the Valley’. These voices didn’t come from the Hurriyat but from the Abdullah and Mufti camps. They are inciting poor people in the name of Islam.

These people only want to do politics over the dead.

(As told to Rohit E David)

Also read: Identity Crisis in Kashmir: If nationalism isn't fetishized, Kashmiris may see advantages to the idea of being India