Rehabilitation of Pandits - A Dangerous Move

Rehabilitation of Pandits - A Dangerous Move
Kamal Hak

Mufti government’s latest proposal to the center seeking funds for acquiring 100 kanals of land each in six districts of Kashmir for the rehabilitation of displaced Kashmiri Pandits is a yet another attempt at hoodwinking the Indian public and skirting the basic issues confronting the Pandits. It also raises some serious questions on the government’s intentions behind the move. The whole process seems to be bereft of any transparency and appears shrouded in mystery. The whole proposal is based upon premises, which have been built upon totally distorted or factually incorrect figures.

The proposal seeks to place the number of displaced Kashmiris now living in and around Jammu at 58000 and implies it is only these people who are actually interested in their resettlement in Kashmir and need state’s facilitation for that. Nothing can be more fallacious and misleading than putting the number of displaced Pandits living in Jammu at a level which defies logic and contradicts the Jammu and Kashmir government’s own statistics that shows number of displaced people registered in Jammu at around fifty thousand families. The displaced Pandits will find their numbers as mentioned in the government’s proposal a yet another attempt at depriving the hapless people of their basic rights and diluting their legitimate claim on their lost homeland.

In its proposal to the central government, the state government claims a vast section of the displaced Pandits had approached it with their expression of interest for returning to Kashmir. The state government also claims to have 1200 applications from the Pandits requesting arrangements for facilitating their return. In fact the various state functionaries have been repeatedly harping on the presence of these 1200 applications for a long time now but have not, till now, revealed the process that was employed to seek those requests. If the availability of these forms is believed to be true, than the whole process would have been accomplished in a clandestine manner, thereby, raising serious doubts on the credibility and the authenticity of those applicants. That the state government has, till now, chosen not to be transparent on the identity of those applicants lends a further element of doubt on its claims and demonstrates its lack of sincerity with regard to the future of the displaced Pandits.

The successive government’s in Jammu and Kashmir have displayed an utter disregard for the wounded sentiments of the displaced Pandits by being very callous and nonchalant on the question of their return to valley. Farooq Abdullah, earlier, made sure that every ear anywhere listened to his theory about the displaced Pandits having achieved an economic status, which would prevent them from even contemplating a return. He consistently utilized this argument to justify his inaction on matters pertaining to the return and rehabilitation of Pandits. He always ignored the fact that no amount of economic prosperity can compensate the loss of ones moorings. Farooq Abdullah also turned a blind eye towards the sufferings of thousands of displaced Pandits eking out a miserable existence in dilapidated camp tenements.

Mufti government has not only continued with the Farooq Abdullah’s policy of inaction towards the legitimate aspirations of the Pandits but is going a step ahead with a diabolical plan of depriving the displaced Pandits of their ancestral rights on their land of birth. The total process of rehabilitating the Pandits is being kept in total secrecy and no community leader is being taken into confidence. Mufti’s methods of addressing the issues pertaining to the displaced Pandits demonstrate a severe contradiction with respect to his stand on the demands of the separatists. While on one hand he has been strongly advocating the process of dialogue with the Kashmiri separatist leaders for achieving a negotiated settlement of the Kashmir problem, on the other hand he has been succumbing to his whims and fancies while taking unilateral decisions on the matters pertaining to Pandits. This raises serious doubts on the credibility of the intentions behind any so-called moves aimed at providing some succor to the hapless community.

The latest proposal of settling the Pandits in the six 100 kanal townships assures the central government of adequate security for the residents. The proposal is totally silent on the mechanism that will be employed to achieve such a situation. It is an absolutely a wish full thinking to assert that threat perception to the Pandits has reduced know. The festering wounds inflicted upon the psyche of Pandits are still not dry and there is nothing that would convey a reassuring feeling of the similar incidents not taking place once again. That the militants can strike at will is evident from the unabated incidents of terror they inflict upon their ideological adversaries and the security forces. The recent lethal attack on Umar Farooq’s uncle and the land mine blast at Qazigund amply expose the hollowness of government’s claims about their capabilities of providing foolproof security to people. One would find it preposterous to get carried over by the empty rhetoric of the government and develop faith in the state machinery with respect to safety and security of life. The government that finds itself under constant pressure while trying to secure the lives of high profile persons can’t be expected to create an impregnable defense around a concentration of a vulnerable mass.

A yet another question that the proposal fails to answer is the present ownership of the to be acquired land. Obviously, such huge chunks of land are not available with the government. It would, naturally, involve depriving certain people of their holdings. The current situation in the valley would make it highly impossible to persuade the local muslim community to let go their land for the Pandits to settle. Even if the executive writ succeeds in doing the same, the implications of such an accomplishment on the relationship between the would be neighbours is any body’s guess. No government would be unaware about the social disorder such a move can create and the disastrous effects it can have on its own survival. That would leave it with only one option; acquire the land left behind by the exiled people. This could serve many purposes; local interests will not be compromised, remaining remnants of the umbilical chord between the Pandits and their homeland get snapped, whatever immovable Pandit properties are now left get grabbed for eventual redistribution among the local populace and finally the present government creates a hallo around it by attempting to establish before the world opinion that, “ we tried but the Pandits did not respond.”

Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayed needs to understand the Pandits can no longer be herded away against their wishes. He may ultimately succeed in show casing a small section of sponsored returnees who will do it for reasons other than their conviction. This will not absolve the government for its failure to address the larger issues concerning the displacement of Pandits. The Pandits have their legitimate grievances against the polity of Kashmir and also have genuine geo-political aspirations for the future. Instead of trying to provide half-baked solutions to the Pandits, which only promote and consolidate their distrust, Mufti will do well by evolving a sincere mechanism for understanding the genuine aspirations of the displaced Pandits now living not only in Jammu but elsewhere as well. The solutions can be deferred till then.