Author: Majid Jahangir and Neeraj Santoshi
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: May 3, 2008
Within a couple of days after the Prime Minister
announced Rs 1600 crore package to bring Kashmiri Pandits back to the Valley,
the Pandits who stayed back in the Valley said that they have been "forgotten
by the Union Government and there was nothing for them in the entire package".
"We have been totally forgotten 'by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,"
said Sanjay Tickoo, president of the Kashmiri Pandit Sangharsh Samiti. "Even
as we welcome the announcement made by the PM to facilitate the return of
the Kashmiri Pandit migrants to their ancestral homes, the Valley based Kashmiri
Pandits feel betrayed by successive Central governments who have ignored the
suffering of those who stayed back when everyone was fleeing," he added.
Tickoo said 4,000 Kashmiri Pandits who stayed
back have, in fact, kept a ray of hope alive in the peak of militancy in the
state. "We have been pleading from years regarding 'rehabilitation and
employment packages for Kashniiri Pandits who have stayed back," he said.
Tickoo said they have been pleading for their case at the local, national
and international level for the past 10 years. He warned that Pandits living
in the Valley would take strong steps if the Central Government does not consider
their long pending genuine demands and announce rehabilitation and employment
package for them. , Meanwhile, in Jammu, Kashmiri Pandits claimed that the
PM's offer did not address the core issue of exodus and security measures
for the retention of the community in the Valley. "It is not about economics
but the security that is central to any package for the return of the Kashmiri
Pandits," said one of them.
The representatives of the community stressed
on the fact that any return and rehabilitation package should start with a
framework that, would guarantee a compact and secure rehabilitation with geo-political
compensation. They said they are very eager to return to their native places,
but conditions should be conducive, as they don't want to be uprooted again.
Overall, Kashmiri Pandits reacted cautiously
to the rehabilitation offer announced, by the PM at Akhnoor on
Friday. At a public rally, the PM had announced incentives aimed at helping
50,000 Kashmiri, Pandits return home. The incentives include housing, job,
education opportunities and waiver of interest on loans, would be available
to those displaced due to militancy after1989.
The Panun Kashmir leadership didn't react
on the issue, saying that they would first study the offer and then come out
with a detailed reaction. However, a senior Panun Kashmir leader, on the condition
of anonymity said that the so-called of did not address the core sue of the
exodus. "They might pay each family one crore, but if we don't feel safe
there, what's point?" he said.
Meanwhile, all state Kashmiri Pandit Conference
leaders A N Vaishnavi and H L Chatta came down heavily on the Government saying
it was doing nothing to free Pandits' properties in the Valley from encroachers.
