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| Kashmiryat in exile: Unfulfilled dream of returning home | | |  Asif Iqbal Naik
Early Times Report
Jammu, Mar 21: Twenty-five years have passed since they were forcibly driven out of their homes but they haven't reconciled to these alien and inhospitable surroundings. The initial years were tough. Coming from a colder region, they found it difficult to adapt to the new environment. The torment and exile for the Kashmir Pandits is not over yet. After being driven out, Kashmiri Pandits have been left out in the wilderness for long now, unable to return to their ancestral land. But the new Mufti dispensation in Jammu and Kashmir and Modi in Delhi has given fresh hope to them living in exile in their own country. Their safe return to Valley is depends on various things like--- how do they now view the prospect of a safe and honorable return. And how are locals in the Kashmir, separatists and the Mufti government looking at the prospect of this homecoming of the Pandits.
The Jagti migrant township - 20 kilometers away from the bustling temple city of Jammu - is easily country's biggest concrete ghetto. Since the past three years, this ill-conceived township has been home to nearly 4200 families of the exiled Kashmiri Pandits. The blistering heat and massive electric cuts in these tenements have made their lives miserable.
"We are facing almost 16 hour power cut daily--- we receive 8 hour power in installments and it comes and goes on its own. The department is harassing the people by sending inflated power bills" said Ravinder Raina, Inmate, Jagti camp.
He said that the people living in this township are living a pathetic life. "How can they arrange the huge amounts to pay electricity and other bills?" Raina asked.
It is in the peak summers that the Pandits turn nostalgic as it as time they were forced to leave the soothing plains of the Valley when militancy was at peak. They have been hoping to return to this side of the Pir Panjal--- the long wait has not ended even after 25 years have passed.
For 80 year old Moti Lal Raina and his wife Pyari ji, the pain has been relentless all through. In early 1990, fear of militant strikes had forced the couple and their four daughters, aged 2, 4, 6 and 8 to flee to Jammu in the dead of the night. Like hundreds of Pandits who fled en masse, they had to leave everything behind. Raina's fears came true years later. Militants struck in his native Nadimarg village killing 24 Hindus including his sister-in-law in 2003. The incident continues to instill fear till this day.
"We want to go to Kashmir, but don't want to go to our ancestral village, we don't trust anyone there---the village also lacks road" said Moti Lal Raina.
"Journey which we started from our village towards Jammu in 90,s was full of pain, the pain with which many Kashmiri Pandits like ,me are still living," he added.
But then mention of Kashmir turns Raina and his friends nostalgic. This replica of Kheerbhawani temple present within the house is both a memorabilia and worship place for Pandits. In the Jagti settlement - where many migrant families live off on government's monthly paltry stipend and ration - many are now keen to return. The Pandit leaders have proposals ready.
"My organization has proposed we want three places - old districts of Srinagar, Anantnag and Baramulla. Government should identify land, distribute it among returnees and give cash. Government construction should be discouraged. We are not going for picnic--- We have to shape our houses based on need." Said Roshan Lal Raina, chairman, Voice of Kashmir, added that Pandits need exclusive zones which are protected and which we will ourself protect.
Others like Dr Agnishekhar, a social scientist and leader of Panun Kashmir - biggest KP political body - are demanding secure exclusive zones to be carved out from the Kashmir. These zones, according to Panun Kashmir resolution of 1991, should directly be governed by Centre with no interference from Kashmir government.
"We don't approve of movement of Aazadi, merger with Pakistan, autonomy. Our position is clear. Our return should be on condition that the whole exodus is not repeated. We want a separate location to be earmarked under central administered set-up. We want a Union Territory status with full Indian constitutional guarantees. The area should be to the North and East of river Jehlum'' said Dr Agnishekhar.
The Panun formula has evoked strong resentment from Kashmiri religious and separatists' leaders and beleaguered successive governments had chosen to maintain a stoic silence over the issue.
''We welcome the return of the Kashmiri Pandits. We will be happy if they come, but if their demand of a separate homeland is a conspiracy---we will oppose it strongly," Grand Mufti of Kashmir Bashir-udin had said.
The separatists said that Panun Kashmir is a Home ministry funded organization and were of the opinion that majority of Kashmiri Pandits don't subscribe to its view of having a separate homeland.
"I don't want Pandits to come and live in an atmosphere of hate and fear. We want them to live in composite culture. We should not erect a wall as is the case with Israel and Palestine," JKLF Chairman Yaseen Malik, whom Pandits blame for their mass killings and exodus, had said.
"Not a viable solution. You are creating - state within state that won't solve the problem. The disparity and polarization that is actually amongst the people that is going to ameliorate in any way, this polarization would add to the confusion," said Tauseef, Kashmiri student. He added that for rehabilitation to happen in a real way - prepare the society to actually accept the people as they lived before.
Another student Fakira while expressing her view on separate home land for Kashmiri Pandits said that "Why are you forgetting the Kashmiri Pandits are not the only minorities in Kashmir. Tomorrow the Sikhs will come up and say we want this area under Sikhs only. This will create more problems".
Nitin, a student from Jammu said, "Government makes several formulas, raises expectations and then all turn out to be a hoax. Issues of Kaunsar Nag, Amarnath yatra and other internal issues have made us believe that our return is not possible.''
Although the Narendra Modi government's fresh Rs 500 Cr package for the rehabilitation of the exiled community - this is in addition to UPA's 1900 crore package) has raised hopes of return, it has also split the Kashmiri migrant and non-migrant Pandits.
Originally from Sumbal village in north Kashmir, Chunni Lal had to shift to Srinagar for security reasons many years ago. He took up a job at a temple trust after retirement from State Government Corporation but struggles even to live hand-to-mouth. Lal's salary of Rs 12,000 goes on paying rent, his son's education and on running a kitchen. He rues that internally displaced Pandits like him who stood as sentinels of Kashmiryat and secularism were never helped despite facing enormous problems.
"Nearly 700 families are living here. They are from villages. Some of them had to migrate from villages to Srinagar. They too are migrants in one sense. They are homeless. Nearly 70-80 families have problems. They need rehabilitation, education for kids, jobs. No one has come forward to address their problems. No relief no help from government" said Chunni Lal, Publicity Secretary, Kashmir Hindu Welfare.
More than 60,000 families of Kashmiri migrants have been registered out of which nearly 40,000 put up in Jammu. A long period of being away from homes is telling on the health and psyche of the Pandits badly. Women are badly hit. Cases of reproductive problems, neuro-psychic related disorders, stress, diabetes, skin ailments and hyper-tension are increasing among them. Dr Khema Kaul, a poet and counselor, is trying hard to address issues relating to women health and society.
"To fight extinction, we need more children. I took this up in many forums. We need to spread out and not go extinct. We also need to preserve our exclusive gene pool," said Khema Kaul, spokeswoman, Kashmira Vahini.
The migration has created a cultural vacuum. The younger generation is unable to speak their native language and is detached from its culture.
Ramesh Hangloo, a Kashmiri artiste and founder of Sharda Radio, an exclusive FM Radio in Jammu - has taken upon himself to ensure the young stick to their social and cultural moorings. His radio is making waves worldwide and connecting with effect.
"The basic thing is that sense of belonging is a must for people who were connected to the land or still who are in idea of the land. All who think we are Kashmiris by birth or who want to be connected to that land, the sense of belonging was a must and Radio Sharda has been instrumental in making them understand the sense of belonging" said Ramesh Hangloo, founder Sharda Radio.
Hangloo's radio is a balm to those who are geographically away, but want to be close to Kashmiryat. Apart from the local songs, his radio often touches raw nerve of the exodus days.
"In 1993, our house was burnt. I learnt that from my friend. My wife and daughter had gone to my in-laws house. When I broke the news to them, we got emotional. Next day my wife told me our daughter who was in 2nd class then shouted in the dead of the night: My bangles have been burnt. What will I do? It was shocking. It has happened to the community people in a different ways' said Bihari Kak, film director and artist.
Officially 219 Pandits were killed by militants in Kashmir. The Pandit organizations claim the number is far greater. They say many lives were lost in brutal massacres committed on minorities.
The peak militancy era sparked so much of a fear that the Pandits had to sell their property at throwaway prices. In some cases the property was usurped and land encroached. The Jammu and Kashmir government put a stop to panic selling by Prevention of Migrant property Distress Sale Act that discouraged distress sales.
"Prior to 1997, there were some cases, but after 97, government through the distress sales act discouraged such sellings. The Divisional Commissioner was to approve sales to ensure the Pandits sold the land as per prevalent market rates. Some 5-6 thousand sales were done after the Act even as some complaints of land being grabbed are there. The district magistrates are addressing those problems" said a senior government official.
He said to attract Pandits to the Valley, the Jammu and Kashmir government has proposed revision of the rehabilitation package. "Earlier the package was Rs 7.50 lakh for reconstruction of the house, now we are proposing Rs 20 lakh for every affected family in view of the cost escalation. Enhancement of sealing for revival of agriculture and horticulture, employment package for 6000 youth - 3000 we have done but we now want centre to fund all these", added revenue officials.
The Modi government is willing to do whatever it takes to rehabilitate the Pandits. The NDA has shown the intent and is working to get the package through. The state hopes it will elicit positive response. When the UPA government cut a package 10 years back, the old Khars of Mattan were delighted. The only family to have returned officially in 2004 after they had migrated in 1990, the Khars had availed the government package of Rs 7.5 lakh to re-build their house in this Anantnag village. They have just finished the second storey.
"In Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha there was question on Pandit rehabilitation and it was said only one family has returned and that is me ... I now appeal to my community to comeback and assimilate in local population . Live in your localities and not in clusters ...'' said Jawahar khar, returnee Pandit.
The ruins of this neighborhood did not deter them to come back to his roots. The couple, their five daughters and many Pandit neighbors ran away from this village in 1990. The Khars have returned and are content. "We have no fear--- We are one. They our brothers, kids, sisters. Pandits should go back to their old neighborhoods ..." said Wife of Khar.
Some three lakh Pandits migrated out of the Valley and only 3,000 stayed back. While Khars decided to return, these youth recruited through the special drives for migrants are putting up in government quarters for the past four years.
"The rehabilitation is a total joke. We acted as a bridge between minority and majority community, got good support from Muslim community but no support from the state or centre government ... That is really a shame on the governments'' said Ranjan Jyotshi, government employee.
"In the clusters, we need facilities of school for kids, decent accommodation and security ... We cannot go to our native villages because Pandits have sold their properties long back ...that will take time '' ... Let government settle us in small clusters ..'' added another government employee Roop Krishan Sapru.
The issue of Kashmiri Pandits return to their homes and hearths it seems on the ground has always been a rhetoric--- In the past 15 years or so, the successive governments in the state and centre have failed to bring even a single family.
There are others who never needed a package or eyed for one. Avtar Krishan Gunjoo, a teacher who lives with his family near Soibug - a village near Hizbul Mujahideen supreme commander Syed Salauddin -conquered all fears and apprehensions to stay in his village. When his relatives and friends were leaving the Valley, he found support system in his Muslim neighbors. They kept guard and literally forced him not to migrate.
"My brothers, sister left for Jammu. I kept thinking. My kids were very small then. When the Pandits left there was a gap between the communities.. But not in our village. Many of our neighbors sat in my compound till late night during those days to keep a watch. That gave me confidence to stay where I am" said Avtar Krishan Gunjoo, resident of village Sebdan.
"We are proud to have him as our neighbor--- in bad times, we have come to help each other. I wish the Pandits come back to this Place. Kashmir is (peer vaer) abode of saints" said Imtiyaz Ahmad, neighbor of Gunjoo.
A bit of financial support, security and large-heartedness by the majority community coupled with intent and courage on part of Pandits to return to their home and hearths can make a crucial difference to rebuild trust and revive centuries old bond between the two communities.
The winds of change are blowing slowly and surely since last year. More than a lakh Pandits turned up at Kheerbhawani temple - Kashmir's holiest shrine - (Nat up temple bell tolling) to pray and perform yajna--- with sharp dip in militancy and a yearning to be in their land, this assembly hopefully will only grow in the coming years.
Post militancy, there has been a breakdown of trust between Hindus and Muslims. And yet the Kheerbhawani temple has stood the test of time. As with all Valley shrines--- it is been honored always by both communities. It is believed that the colour of the temple's spring water determines what future holds for Kashmiris. Red for violence and blue for peace. Hoping these waters always stay blue. |
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