J&K Government must make Pandits the major stakeholders in decision making process for their return to the Valley, comments Rahul Raina
|| RAHUL RAINA
It was the frightening night of June 18, 1990 when, in the wee morning hours, my parents packed whatever they could lay their hands on and straightaway set for Jammu in a truck, carrying me and my elder sibling. It was the armed militancy which had broke out in Kashmir forcing us to take the extreme step and leave the place where our forefathers had lived from centuries in peaceful co-existence with majority community. Most of the neighbors in our village of Drussu in Pulwama had already left for Jammu. We were still staying put hoping that the situation would improve. But the tragic news of killing of a lady and her daughter-in-law, who lived nearby, in cold blood, proved to be the last nail in the coffin. On reaching Udhampur, which is part of Jammu region, and has an almost tropical climate, I exclaimed to my father “papa naagich treish chemha” (Father, I want to have a sip of spring water). Can you imagine a three year old asking his father something like that. Sensing my thirst, my father quickly got me a juice packet (Mango Frooti) which, I guess, was a good replacement for spring water.
It’s almost been 26 years since then and now I am back in my homeland, which has been our home and hearth for thousands of years. For the past six years, I have been living in Srinagar when I got selected for a government job under the Prime Minister’s Rehabilitation Package. In the same package, hundreds of other Kashmiri migrant candidates including Pandits, Kashmiri Muslims and Sikhs have been selected and have been accommodated at transit camps like Sheikhpora (Budgam), Vessu (Anantnag), Haal (Pulwama) etc. It is certainly not possible that all of them must be satisfied with living in Kashmir as most of the candidates have their families living in Jammu However, personally, the past six years have been quite interesting as I made some very good friends. I found the locals interesting and helpful with most of them having a good sense of humor and a sense of Kashmiriyat considering the fact that the present and the past generations inherited the prized ethos of culture and tradition from their forefathers. From the past couple of months, the debate over the return and rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits has been going on in State as well as national media.
However, the past six years have been quite interesting as I made some very good friends. I found the locals interesting and helpful with most of them having a good sense of humor and a sense of Kashmiriyat considering the fact that the present and the past generations inherited the prized ethos of culture and tradition from their forefathers.
Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti led PDP-BJP coalition, backed by the Narendra Modi Government at the centre has been aggressively pitching for the so called “dignified” return and rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits to Kashmir by promising to provide Government jobs and accommodation in the proposed townships. According to some sources, the Government has identified land for the said purpose, measuring a total of 723 kanals in various districts of Kashmir including Srinagar, Mattan, Kupwara and other places. Mehbooba Mufti invited a lot of ire from separatist groups in Kashmir when, on record, she went on to say that “we can’t put them (Pandits) like pigeons among the cats”.
Meanwhile the separatists, including S A S Geelani, Yasin Malik and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq recently joined hands under a single umbrella to protest the proposed setting up of Sainik colonies and townships for Pandits. The argument which they put forward is that setting up of these townships is being done on the behest of rightwing RSS and extremist Hindu groups to change the demography of the valley, the same way Israel did in Palestine. The militant commander of Hizbul Mujahidden, Burhan Wani in a video message, which went viral online, openly threatened attacks on the proposed colonies. There are many questions which need answers before any move on the proposal to get back Pandits to the Valley. Will separatists or Mehbooba Mufti led Government bother to ask Pandit families, who suffered and eventually became migrants in their own country, about their own choice on returning to Kashmir.
Whether they want to live in townships or they would like to live at their native places where they lived before the turmoil? It is also true that the Kashmiri Muslims also suffered at the hands of both militants and the armed forces but the displacement of a family from its inherent place especially a place so scared where religious tolerance was a reality, is the greatest misfortune anybody can have. Same way, the Pandits suffered in the militancy era after being labeled as “informers and traitors” and after the exodus were called as ‘Kashmiri Lollas’ (a Dogri term which I never bothered to find out what it means). I call this as “the side effects of being a minority”. As rightly said by some wise man that “Where we Love is home – home that our feet may leave but not our hearts”. Leaving one’s home, when the heart does not want to, is worse than 3rd degree torture.
An example is my late grandfather who, in his last phase of life had become mentally unstable due to “Pandit exodus”. The Government should reach out to the community to know about their stand just as the local people in Kashmir want the Indian Government to hold plebiscite to decide the fate of Kashmir. But one thing the Government must do is to make Kashmiri Pandits the major stakeholders in decision making process on return of the community to the Valley, if it is really honest about its intentions. On the contrary it will almost be an impossible task for the Government to ensure return of Pandits to the Valley if the present conditions continue in Kashmir.
The Government should reach out to the community to know about their stand just as the local people in Kashmir want the Indian Government to hold plebiscite to decide the fate of Kashmir.
