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| Return of Displaced Kashmiris needs deft handling | | 
By Dr. Ramesh Tamiri
The reaction in Valley to NDA Govt.’s proposed move to resettle internally displaced Kashmiris in ‘Composite Townships’ in Kashmir has been along predictable lines.The secessionist bandwagon has denounced the plan as a sinister game to alter the demographic profile of the valley.It has sought to rake up raw passions by staging protests and hartals and coercing other segments to toe its line. The two regional parties, National Conference and BJP’s coalition partner in state, PDP, have come out in the open to oppose secured rehabilitation for displaced Kashmiris.
Why has the valley reacted so stridently to the plan of secured rehabilitation for Pandit refugees? Is there a genuine attempt to welcome exiles back ,where the only contentious issue is ‘secured rehabilitation’ ?Or does it point to a well- orchestrated campaign to thwart Pandits’return by counterposing those return models which breed only insecurity and demotivate the displaced people to return home.
Secessionist groups targeted the Pandit minority with an avowed objective to create a Wahabi Islamic state in Kashmir.The members were subjected to mass threats, unwanton humiliations, kidnappings, brutal killings, etc. Subsequent to forced extirpation their property and religious places were targetted for loot, arson and fraudulent grab. The restoration of banished natives to their homes doesn’t constitute a demographic change, while their banishment and stay outside does imply it.
The other facile arguments that resettlement of Displaced Kashmiris in townships would reopen the ‘’old healed wounds’’ and ‘’further polarise the society’’ lack logic and expose the communal mindset of the vested interests opposed to return of Kashmiri Pandits. It is the Salafist, communal and hate ideologies which polarise the society.
The two regional parties, PDP and NC, never launched any campaign to build public opinion for the return of Kashmiri Hindus.They have been vague on return,issuing only proforma statements and replaying the beaten script that Pandits will return to their ‘’original homes with security and dignity’’.Where do the original homes exist?How are security and dignity to be worked out in actual implementation?The proclivity of the regional parties to play the game of oneupmanship through competitive communalism and secessionism has further vitiated the security and social environment,making it more difficult for Pandits’ to return.
Prior to their ethnic -cleansing Kashmiri Hindus lived in four major towns and were spread over 591 villages across the Kashmir valley.Exodus was a consequence of failures at many levels.Since 1980 when Pakistan began preparations to destabilise Kashmir enough warnings were sent by nationalistic Kashmiris and members of Pandit minority to the Central govt. to take comprehensive measures to put in place an effective machinery to counter possible large-scale subversion and devise well-thought out plans to provide safety to vulnerable nationalistic minorities.Obviously, these were not taken seriously.Secondly,the playing of strident religious identity politics by regional parties over the years created a groundswell for the rise of communalism,radicalisation and secessionism.This became a substrat for intense socialisation of Kashmiri society with insurgency , and nationalistic Pandit minority was identifed and condemned as ‘the other’.In 1989-90 when selective killings of the members of Pandit community started the Govt. was at sea to respond to the situation.Neither could it gauge the enormity of the problem nor was it possible to protect a widely dispersed minority. Post-exodus successive govts. failed to protect the property left behind by the displaced Kashmiris.The result was that displaced people had to resort to distress sales to prevent their properties from being grabbed by unscrpulous elements.
Congress and BJP have displayed insenstivity and lack of vision on the return question.The issue of return of Pandits is looked from symbolic perspective only. Both parties link tokenist return to return of peace, ‘secularism’ and restoration of ‘nationalistic presence’. These flawed assumptions and politicking have not only served to put the question of serious return on backburner but also invited spate of massacres for Kashmiri Hindus still holding out in valley.
Issue of the return of Kashmiri Hindus is linked with the larger questions of secular nation-building and moral authority of the state.It needs deft handling.There is need for a paradigmal shift on return question. Without bi-partisan consensus and a national resolve the resettlement of displaced Kashmiris can not be ensured.
Policy of tokenist/symbolic return needs to be given up to create durable conditions for holistic return of the displaced community. The protagonists of symbolic return claim that twenty five years is a long-time and most of the refugees have rebuilt their lives.This argument is stretched to conclude that very few displaced Kashmiris would go back.This is belied by the ground realities. Despite all the adverse conditions attached to Primeminister’s job package plan, which militate against sustainable return, there was tremendous response to it from all sections of displaced community.To ask members of the displaced community if it is interested in return, when Govt. is hesitant to provide a durable framework for sustainable return, is to hoodwink the issue.There is need to rebuild the confidence of the displaced community on return ,both by involving their popular leadership as well as incorporating all measures in return framework to ensure non-refoulment in future.
This would demand addressing the core issues connected with their ethnic-cleansing. Skirting the issues connected with exodus and treatment of displaced Kashmiris as if they were victims of natural disasters have made all govt. plans on return non-starters.Core issues are hostile security environment, social environment where forces of communalism and radicalised agenda call the shots,powerful vested interests in Valley who oppose return of displaced Kashmiris and dispersed spread of Kashmiri Hindus prior to 1990, which made it difficult to ensure desired security.Pakistan’s continued sponsorship of terrorism by involving radicalised elements poses a serious security threat to the return of a vulnerable non-Muslim minority.Security environment remains as fragile as ever.Over the years forces of radicalisation ,communalism and secessionism have further entrenched themselves at different levels in Kashmir. Sections of civil society continue to engage in vitriolic propaganda against Kashmiri Hindus.Mainstream regional parties, which revel in communal identity politics, fear losing their vote-banks in case they endorse realisitic frameworks for Pandits’ return. There is need to evolve a return model which would ensure concrete security,gurantee all freedoms enjoined by Indian constitution and ensure sustainable development to displaced Kashmiris. There can be no durable return unless Kashmir policy is reshaped to deter elements from engaging in subversion, radicalisation and minority baiting.
(Dr. Ramesh Tamiri is an Ophthalmologist,researcher, a writer)
(Opinions expressed in write-ups/articles/Letters are the sole responsibility of the authors and they may not represent the scoopnews.in)
Editor, Scoop News
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