B L Saraf
In the high and low of Pandit’s return plan, an encouraging message has come from the top. If only half of it materializes into a reality, message emanating from the Union Home Ministry could be a precious Herath gift to the displaced Pandits. Shorn off the condescending rhetoric, message conveys the following for the Pandits: that their religious sign posts – desecrated and plundered – will be reclaimed and renovated to their spiritual glory, employment component of PM package announced in 2008 will be implemented to the full – with recruitment age to be raised to 50 years, properties disposed off under distress will be restored to the displaced owners and their safe and secured rehabilitation in the Valley will be ensured.
The message came from Home Minister, Amit Shah when some Kashmiri Pandits called on him in New Delhi. He said “rehabilitation of displaced Pandits was the utmost priority of the Union Government. That rehabilitation will be in a phased manner having due regard for the security, and it will be in colonies to be raised in the respective districts.” This announcement came on the face of delegation’s demand of one place settlement for all the displaced persons. According to the media reports, the Ministry is giving final touches to the ‘Naya Kashmir ‘blue print for Kashmiri Pandits ” under which ten special townships will be created in all the ten districts of the Valley for settlement of the community following their mass exodus 30 years ago.”
Remember KPs return to Kashmir has a few inbuilt complexities. Thirty years separation has compounded them. Approaches have hardened: vested interests of various hues have interjected many a stereotype which need to be dismantled if progress is to be achieved on this front. Therefore, when HM says that the return will be in a phased manner he has a point. The message breathes hope which must be taken note of. It will be unwise of us to find holes in it. Sometimes it is prudent not to appear a rage boy and reject the proposal without a dispassionate analysis thereof.
True, the displaced community has varied views on the subject of return. Some among it want an exclusive place for living in Kashmir: some prefer one composite place, while as others want to live at number of places in neighborhood of the majority community. However, there is near unanimity within the community, probably for valid reasons, that the old places from where Pandits were forced to leave have been rendered unfit for their living: for the reasons that most of them have ceased to exist physically, some stand usurped psychologically and others taken over by the State Government on the non-existent public interest.
It is not our brief to canvass for one view regarding the return and reject the other. Those who have put forth their points of view must have reasons for them. Nonetheless, there are certain fundamental premises which ought to be factored in while choosing a place for the displaced persons to start a new life in the Valley. Though it is the primary job of the Government to take physical security and economic aspects into the consideration, yet some related aspects are for the displaced community to consider objectively. Some work, though, is cut out for the Kashmiri Muslims, also. Undoubtedly, a joint effort, in tandem, is called for if the exercise has to bear a fruit: efforts of the Government, KPs and the Muslims in Kashmir must be initiated. Put simply, what Government offers for the rehabilitation and what the displaced community, by and large, prefers must find some convergence and, as far as possible, a significant section of the KMs should be on board. Everyone should have due regard for others constraints, compulsion and concerns. Elements of ‘desirability ‘achievability ‘and ‘practicality should be given due weight. When we talk of desirability of the exercise it has to be for all those who continue to live in the Valley and those who want to restart life there.
Some amount of mutual accommodation and understanding is required. None of the parties should push the other so hard as to wreck the return process. In Pandit’s return there is no place for triumphalism or a feeling of being vanquished. Return must be on the rails now. After living in exile for 30 years it makes no sense to say that time is not ripe for the return.
Pandits return to Kashmir is not the transplantation of what the Kashmir society lacks at the moment but refitting of an essential component which was forcibly cast away, 30 years ago. More than anyone else, a Kashmiri Muslim is to understand it and extend a sincere hand of reconciliation. For a durable and honorable rehabilitation of KPs in Kashmir the best guarantee can come from Kashmri Muslims. It is for the Kashmiri Pandit who wants to reclaim his due place in the society to respond in the same spirit. He has to assume his role as the linchpin which in the past held Kashmir society together and, hopefully, will do so in future also. Rebuilding a bond of interdependence is need of the hour. Those Muslims who shed tears for Kashmiryat ‘must care to listen to PM Narendra Modi when he says Kashmiryat went missing in January 1990.
We trust that the news of preparation of a blue print is not a trial balloon floated to keep displaced Pandits in good humor, as has been a practice in the past. As a token of its good intentions the Union Government may issue an Ordinance for care, management and preservation of the Temples and Shrines, in Kashmir. The matter cannot brook any delay.
(The author is former Principal District & Sessions Judge)
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