HVK Archives: Will Kashmiri Pandits go back?
Will Kashmiri Pandits go back? - The Free Press Journal
A N Dar
()
28 February 1997
Title : Will Kashmiri Pandits go back?
Author : A N Dar
Publication : The Free Press Journal
Date : February 28, 1997
One of the most important questions facing Jammu and Kashmir today
is when and how will the migrant Kashmiri Pandits go back. If they
go back, will they be able to go to their ancestral houses? They
must be assured not only jobs but also perfect safety. If they do
not go back, Kashmir's return to normal life will not be complete.
But the primary question is how soon and in what way will the trek
back start.
The governments in New Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir know of the
pleasures and pain of the undertaking. They have the difficult task
of getting the Kashmiri Pandits back to restore Secularism in full
measure as well as not to be harsh and forceful on a people who
have already suffered much. How to go about this task is a major
challenge. An untoward incident will put the clock back.
Dr. Farooq Abdullah, on becoming the Chief Minister, said that he
would not ask the Pandits to go back immediately. He said
realistically that he did not want them to live in serais, local
inns. Of late, his attitude has clarified and hardened. He told a
press conference at Chandigarh recently that "if they do not go
back, we will stop all financial support and even rations to them.
They must go back to their homes."
With news coming daily of killings in the Valley, many Kashmiri
Pandits say that it will be difficult for them to live and work in
a place where even the government is not able to control the
situation. Otherwise, how come there are daily killings? The fear
of the gun and reprisals continues.
Dr. Farooq Abdullah also said that "if they (the Kashmiri Pandits)
are happy settled elsewhere, we do not want to disturb them. We
will not try to force them to go back." He was obviously referring
to those Kashmiri Pandits who have obtained jobs in the rest of the
country and abroad. In the last seven years this section of the
Pandits and Muslims have found settlement outside Kashmir. When you
speak to them, tragic memories come back.
In the first flush of the militancy, the ISI wanted to give the
situation a communal colour. Islamic fundamentalism was the base of
the movement. The militants resorted to ethnic cleansing and tried
to send out Kashmiri Pandits by creating communal terror. The
terror travelled to pro-India Muslims after the Pandits had been
done away with.
At first the militants asked the Pandits to join the anti-India
processions being feverishly taken out. The Pandits refused. There
were selective killings of designed to set off a wave of individual
terror. The militants resorted to torture, burning of houses,
kidnapping and violence against women. This is when the Kashmiri
Pandits and many Muslims fled. Most of those who remember this and
have found somewhere to live and a place to work in would not like
to go back unless total safety prevails.
The other section of the migrants is made up of those who have been
living on paltry government aid in tents on dried up river beds.
Mostly they are from villages. Their life has been tortuously hard.
Most of them have no jobs. They would want to go back if their
lands are restored and are assured safety.
Dr Farooq Abdullah is right when he says that "Kashmir will never
be the same without Kashmiri Pandits". The Pandits are an
intrinsic part of the life and culture of Kashmir. Without them,
you can't think of a secular Kashmir. The authorities must
therefore try to create conditions for them to go back. They must
be able to go not only in safety but as confident citizens, who can
move about freely, carry on their work and live in honour.
Koshur Samachar, the publication of Kashmiri Samiti, wrote in a
recent editorial: "We need nobody's invitation, permission or
goading for our return home. We yearn to be back after an exile of
seven years of misery to light our deserted homes, if any left
intact; to be back in our offices and places of work; to run our
shops and establishments; to till our abandoned lands; to pray in
our temples and shrines; to resume our social life and to live
harmoniously with our Muslim brethren, who have also suffered the
agony. But all this depends on the avowed will of our government.
Militancy has to be curbed with an iron hand. Its recurrence after
our return home will be disastrous for the whole nation."
The fear is that militancy has not been curbed. Killings go on.
The latest reports suggest that even some Muslims have again left
the Valley for Jammu. This is one side of the argument. The other
is that the Pandits cannot go on waiting endlessly, till there is
complete peace.
Many questions must be answered to bring about the right situation.
In the past Kashmiri Pandits have been living in remote areas in
small numbers, like one or two Pandit families in a village or a
city mohalla with a hundred or two hundred Muslim families around
them. Life went on in perfect harmony. The Muslims of Kashmir,
despite the militancy that overtook some of them, are among the
most cultured and friendly citizens of this country. It is when
they are misled by fundamentalist elements, as can also be the case
with the other communities, that some of them lose their best
qualities.
The authorities have to consider whether one or two Hindu families
can find themselves confident in living in largely Muslim areas.
Can a Pandit go back to his old locality and live there in
confidence? He can do so if he is confident that no harm will come
to him. In a number of cases his house has been burnt down and
looted. Will he be able to reconstruct his house and furnish it
once again? Dr. Farooq Abdullah said that the government would give
loans. It is not only the physical help that is needed. The
environs must be safe. The old confidence must be restored. This
cannot be done by the security forces because that would create
suspicions. Panun Kashmir had been asking for a separate homeland
in the Valley. The question to be answered is whether this will
divide or unify the communities.
What about the Pandits getting back their jobs? All the vacant
posts have been filled up in the time the Pandits have been away.
Can the government provide new jobs? Dr. Abdullah has said that
the, government will provide thousands of new jobs. But it must
not court financial disaster by creating jobs which are not needed.
Is it possible to throw out the person who has been given the job
the Pandit had? The same about houses. Some of the Pandit houses
have been occupied by others. Can the occupiers be asked to go
away? If yes, will this not create new social disturbances and sow
the seeds of discord? Yet, the wages of loot cannot be allowed to
remain.
Dr. Farooq Abdullah told a press conference that if other Kashmiris
could stay back and face the situation, those who migrated too
should have stayed on and joined their brethren and made
sacrifices. This is asking too much of individuals when the entire
administration had collapsed. Least of all by Dr. Farooq Abdullah,
who also was a near-migrant. Even his party, the National
Conference, was not able to function. Its cadres left for Jammu
and Delhi. When he was asked why, Dr. Farooq Abdullah said that he
did nor want his cadres to be liquidated. About a dozen members of
the old assembly were killed. The Pandits say that it is not right
to have expected them to stay back.
Dr. Abdullah has said that those who do not return will be thrown
out of the services. When schools reopen in March or April and the
teachers do not return, they would be dismissed from service. The
same about doctors.
The migrants love Kashmir. Given safety and a living, they would
return. But this cannot be dome by force. The Government must go
about this delicate task with wisdom, perseverance and justice. It
must see to it that the migrants are not displaced emotionally and
materially once again. Perhaps the return can be gradual and at
first only to safe areas - to be continued as confidence grows.
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