Kashmir
J&K wants pandits to return, but no safety guaranteed
From Khajuria S. Kant in Jammu
The Jammu & Kashmir government has constructed flats for rehabilitating those members of the displaced community who are willing to return to their homes in Kashmir. Other migrant colonies are coming up at Mattan in Anantnag district and at Tulamulla in Srinagar district'sGanderbal area. Besides the temple, the government is planning to set up schools, parks and recreation centres in these colonies. According to state government, the first batch of 220 families of Kashmiri pandits living in various camps at Jammu and Udhampur, who were expected to return to the Valley in the last week of June, would now do so in August as bad weather has delayed completion of their tenement.
The killing of Chief Minister'sand Home Minister'skith and kin and of Municipal Councillors in different parts of the Valley have exposed the claims regarding restoration of normalcy.
Opposing the government'sreturn formula, while addressing the demonstrating Kashmiri pandit migrants in front of the Relief Commissioner'soffice Shri Ashok Kangan said that the Government was not taking basic safety and security provisions into consideration. He added that the pandits? return is not a plaything but a compressive strategy, which must be dealt with seriously. The Jammu & Kashmir Vichar Manch (JKVM) spearheaded the demonstration. Ashok Kangan, state president, JKVM, led the demonstrators. The protest was launched against what they called a ?fake return formula? of the state government and transfer of displaced teachers to far-flung areas in the Valley. Shri Kangan said the killing of Chief Minister'sand Home Minister'skith and kin and of Municipal Councilors in different parts of the Valley have exposed the claims regarding restoration of normalcy. He said, ?While we want to ensure our return, rehabilitation and retention back in the Valley, so that we are not uprooted again. But the government is playing with our emotions and concerns. Till the return does not address the basic cause of uprooting from our homes, it is not acceptable to us,? he added.
Shri Kangan made it clear that all the displaced pandits want to return to their homeland, ?but it should be such a process that would address the apprehensions of the community and ensure that they are not subjected to gun-wielding touts.?
He added, ?It must be a return with a guarantee that another exile would not be foisted on the community whenever a new Yasin Malik and Shabir Shah plans another tehreek in Kashmir. Anything short of that would be rejected.? Shri Kangan took the education department authorities to task for forcing 61 teachers to report in their respective districts in the Valley. Ridiculing the order issued by Director, Education, Kashmir, he said, ?Under the prevailing circumstances, they cannot work in the Valley as the gun-wielding terrorists still rule the roost here.? Taking strong exception of the government'smove, he said that out of 61 teachers, 51 were female for whom it was not possible to work in the prevailing conditions in the Valley.
He demanded that promotee migrant male teachers be posted to Ladakh region while the women be adjusted in camp schools in Jammu. Lambasting the state government, Dr R.L. Bhat, senior vice president, JKVM termed the ?return formula? a conspiracy against the Kashmiri pandits. He warned that the community would not allow such a conspiracy that was hell bent on uprooting it further to succeed. Dr Bhat regretted that 15 to 20 members of the community could hold the seven lakh pandits to ransom for their vested interests.
Lashing out at the state government, Dr R.K. Bhat, another leader of the Manch, alleged that the community ?has become a victim of secularism and exodus of the Kashmiri pandits was the brainchild of a larger conspiracy. Demanding that the transfer orders of promotee teachers to the Valley be cancelled immediately, he said that the situation was not conducive in Kashmir as yet because over 3,000 mercenaries were still operating there. While challenging the transfer orders, he alleged that ?this is a ploy to deny promotions to displaced people.? He warned that entire community would take to the streets and launch a decisive battle if the government failed to change its discriminative policies towards the pandit community.
The protesters with placards and banners shouted slogans against the state and Central governments anti-pandit policies. They demanded immediate end of discrimination towards the Kashmiri pandits who have been the worst sufferers of the 15-year long turmoil in the Valley and have been forced to flee by the trigger-happy terrorists under a planned conspiracy.
