On Uncertain Ground: A Study of Displaced Kashmiri Pandits in Jammu and Kashmir

250 Pages·2016·6.931 MB·English

by  Ankur Datta

Title Pages
On Uncertain Ground: Displaced Kashmiri
Pandits in Jammu and Kashmir
Ankur Datta
Print publication date: 2016
Print ISBN-13: 9780199466771
Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: December 2016
DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199466771.001.0001
Title Pages
Ankur Datta
(p.i) On Uncertain Ground
(p.iii) On Uncertain Ground
(p.iv)
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Title Pages
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Frontispiece
On Uncertain Ground: Displaced Kashmiri
Pandits in Jammu and Kashmir
Ankur Datta
Print publication date: 2016
Print ISBN-13: 9780199466771
Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: December 2016
DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199466771.001.0001
Frontispiece
Ankur Datta
(p.ii)
Location of Jammu and Kashmir
Source: Map drawn under the supervision
of the author.
Note: Map not to scale and does not
represent authentic international
boundaries.
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Dedication
On Uncertain Ground: Displaced Kashmiri
Pandits in Jammu and Kashmir
Ankur Datta
Print publication date: 2016
Print ISBN-13: 9780199466771
Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: December 2016
DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199466771.001.0001
Dedication
Ankur Datta
(p.v) In memory of my father, Kumares Datta (1943–2003), and for my mother,
Krishna Datta—who encouraged me to make my own way in the world (p.vi)
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Tables, Maps, and Photographs
On Uncertain Ground: Displaced Kashmiri
Pandits in Jammu and Kashmir
Ankur Datta
Print publication date: 2016
Print ISBN-13: 9780199466771
Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: December 2016
DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199466771.001.0001
(p.ix) Tables, Maps, and Photographs
Ankur Datta
Tables
3.1 List of Camps in Jammu Established in 1990 and Disbanded before
2008 78
3.2 List of Camps in Jammu City, 2007 80
7.1 Total Number of Migrants 196
7.2 Total Number of Migrants in the Purkhu Camp 197
Maps
Location of Jammu and Kashmir ii
1.1 Administrative Map of Jammu and Kashmir after 1948 25
3.1 Purkhu Camp 88
Photographs
1. The Entrance to Purkhu Camp from the Akhnur Highway xvii
2. The Camp Road between Phase 1 and Phase 2 xix (p.x)
3. Inner Lane in Phase 2, Purkhu Camp xxi
4. One-room Tenements, Purkhu Camp xxiii
5. The Compound of a Pandit Household, Purkhu Camp xxv
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Abbreviations
On Uncertain Ground: Displaced Kashmiri
Pandits in Jammu and Kashmir
Ankur Datta
Print publication date: 2016
Print ISBN-13: 9780199466771
Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: December 2016
DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199466771.001.0001
(p.xi) Abbreviations
Ankur Datta
AJK
Azad Jammu and Kashmir
APHC
All Parties Hurriyat Conference
ASKPC
All State Kashmiri Pandit Conference
BJP
Bharatiya Janata Party
CPI
Communist Party of India
HRW
Human Rights Watch
IDMC
Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre
IDP
Internally Displaced Person
INC
Indian National Congress
JKLF
Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front
JKSS
Jammu and Kashmir Sahayata Samiti
LoC
Line of Control
MNC
multinational corporation
MUF
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Abbreviations
Muslim United Front
NC
National Conference
NGO
non-governmental organization
ORT
one-room tenement
PDP
People’s Democratic Party
PKM
Panun Kashmir Movement
PUCL
People’s Union for Civil Liberties (p.xii)
TRT
two-room tenement
UNHCR
United Nations High Commission for Refugees
UNMOGIP
United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan
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Acknowledgements
On Uncertain Ground: Displaced Kashmiri
Pandits in Jammu and Kashmir
Ankur Datta
Print publication date: 2016
Print ISBN-13: 9780199466771
Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: December 2016
DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199466771.001.0001
(p.xiii) Acknowledgements
Ankur Datta
This book began in 2004 as a doctoral thesis in London with halts in Jammu,
New Delhi, and Mumbai. In Jammu, fieldwork would not have been possible
without the hospitality of my informants, who allowed a stranger with no
connection to the region to enter and attempt to understand their world. I wish
to thank Indu Kilam and Nirojini Bhan who generously spared their time for me,
sharing their experiences and providing valuable advice on conducting research
on the Kashmiri Pandit community. I owe a great debt to the residents of the
former Purkhu camp. I am especially indebted to the Raina family—Makhan Lal,
Parmeshwari, and particularly their son Rohit, who became a good friend of
mine. The family welcomed me into their lives, treating me as one of their own. I
cannot imagine what fieldwork and life in Jammu would have been like had I not
met them. I must also acknowledge the hospitality and friendship of the Pandita
family, especially Madan Lal Pandita, his wife, Asha, and their son Satish, who
also welcomed me into their household. I must also thank Ratan Lal Raina, who
was always willing to share a unique and refreshing point of view on Kashmir,
and Krishen Lal and his son Vinod.
At the University of Jammu, I want to thank Pervaiz Ahmed, S.M. Zubeir,
Dipankar Sengupta, and Narvadeshwar Mishra. I am especially indebted to Toru
Takahashi, who helped me to critically appreciate the history, politics, and
culture of Kashmir. During fieldwork I had (p.xiv) spent a short period of time
in New Delhi as a visiting research student at the Delhi School of Economics,
Delhi University. I wish to thank Roma Chatterji, T.N. Madan, who had
commented on an earlier draft of a chapter, Satendra Kumar, and Subhadeepta
Roy.
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Acknowledgements
In London, I first wish to thank Jonathan Parry and Christopher Fuller, who have
guided me in my doctoral studies. Johnny Parry and Chris Fuller are known for
demanding high standards of their students. I hope I have been able to meet
their standards to the best of my abilities. The Department of Anthropology at
the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) takes pride as an
‘old school’ department. Yet the Department provided a vital space for
enthusiastic and engaged students and faculty with different interests, which I
am yet to see anywhere else. Doctoral students learned their craft at thesis-
writing seminars, the departmental ‘Friday Seminar’, classrooms, and at the
pub. I am grateful to fellow travellers Indira Arumugam, Irene Calis, George St.
Clair, Marcello Sorrentino, Andrew Sanchez, Hans Steinmuller, Judith
Bovensiepen, Haripriya Narasimhan, Marina Sapritsky, Carrie Heitmeyer, Vicky
Boydell, Hakem Al-Rustom, Katie Dow, Zhang Hui, Maxim Bolt, Elizabeth Frantz,
Alanna Cant, and Ana Paola Gutierrez-Garza. I must also acknowledge Yan
Hinrichsen, Deborah James, Rita Astuti, and Henrike Donner. Outside the LSE, I
thank Carmen Miranda Mayblin and Amitabh and Mamta Bose for their support.
The reworking of the thesis into a book began with feedback from my examiners,
Jonathan Spencer and Atreyee Sen. I must also thank the Centre for the Study of
Developing Societies (CSDS), New Delhi, which granted a postdoctoral
fellowship to think further with my material. I am grateful to Shail Mayaram,
Sarada Balagopalan, Hilal Ahmed, and Madhu Kishwar, who have commented on
different parts of my work. My time at CSDS was especially enriched immensely
by Divya Vaid, Venugopal Maddipati, Hemachandran Karah, Devika Bordia, and
Ananya Vajpeyi. At the Department of Sociology at the South Asian University,
New Delhi, I want to thank Ravi Kumar, Sasanka Perera, Chudamani Basnet,
Anuj Bhuwania, Mallika Shakya, Dev Pathak, Sebnem Ackapar, and especially
Diya Mehra. I am also grateful to Surinder S. Jodhka for his support. I must also
acknowledge, Haley Duschinski, who has commented on earlier versions of one
of the chapters. (p.xv)
Outside the academy in New Delhi, I must acknowledge the support given to me
by Tushar Dhara, and my in-laws Yogesh, Alka, and Ambar Vaid and the late Vijai
Amar Mohan, whose childhood recollections helped me gain a better sense of
life in late colonial Kashmir.
My family has been a tremendous source of support. While it may not seem
apparent, I owe much of interests, ambitions, and curiosity to my brother,
Anirban Datta, who helped me finish my doctoral studies. My wife, Divya Vaid,
generously tolerated my musings on anthropology. There had come a point when
I felt that I had hit a hard, cold wall. Divya helped me climb that wall. My
mother, Krishna Datta, has seen this book in all its forms, having read the early
drafts over the last few years. Without her support, encouragement,
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Acknowledgements
engagement, and inspiration, this project would not have been possible. All I can
say to her is, ‘Thank You’.
I also wish to thank the editorial team at Oxford University Press, New Delhi,
and the reviewers of the first draft of this book whose comments helped
immensely in improving the text.
The research for this book was helped by LSE Research Studentships and grants
from the Central Research Fund of the University of London, Charles Wallace
India Trust, Newby Trust, Leche Trust, and the ASA/Radcliffe-Brown Trust of the
Royal Anthropological Institute, London.
This book incorporates material published in two articles that I have authored in
2016: ‘Dealing with Dislocation, Migration, Place, and Home among Displaced
Kashmiri Pandits in Jammu and Kashmir’, Contributions to Indian Sociology
50(1), and ‘Rethinking Spaces of Exception: Notes from a Forced Migrant Camp
in Jammu and Kashmir’, International Journal of Migration and Border Studies
2(2). I thank the journal editors for granting me permission to use the previously
published material here. (p.xvi)
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