Civil society members in Kashmir cutting across religious and sectarian lines on Sunday resolved to welcome displaced Kashmiri Pandits back to their homes and hearths but expressed strong reservations in Government’s plans to resettle them in “Israeli-type separate colonies”.
The resolution was passed at a seminar organised by a faction of pro-Independence Jammu & Kashmir liberation Front (JKlF) led by Yasin Malik who was on 30-hour hunger strike to protest against the proposed exclusive colonies.
The separatists’ resentment on proposed resettlement of Kashmiri Hindus brewed up since Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh told Chief Minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed in New Delhi to initiate process to bring back Pandits for settlement in “composite townships”. Though Mufti has explained that he won’t allow Israel-like ghettos for Pandits, the separatists suspect that BJP-led Central Government would go ahead with the plan. They say that resettlement of Pandits in separate colonies would create more problems and further divide Kashmiri society on communal lines.
The prominent mainstream political parties National Conference and the Congress have also opposed the idea of setting up exclusive colonies.
During the daylong seminar attended by community leaders of Sikhs, Christians and Pandits besides a battery of intellectuals and civil society members, the speakers said that the plans of separate colonies for Kashmiri Pandits would create further walls of hatred and bring distress, distrust and hatred. “Kashmiris of all castes, creed, religion and sect are unanimously against this conspiracy”, the speakers said.
“State of Jammu & Kashmir belongs to all the state subjects irrespective of their caste and creed. Every state subject who got dislocated from Jammu Kashmir in 1947, 1965, 1971 and 1990 has an inalienable right to settle in any part of the JK with honour, dignity and security”, the resolution reads.
“The Kashmiri Pandits who got dislocated in 1990 should return to their homes and hearths in Kashmir. They will be welcome to restore the proverbial ethos of Kashmir represented by amity, harmony and brotherhood among the various communities”, the gathering resolved adding, “The settlement of Pandits in separate colonies and ghettos in Kashmir is unacceptable to all Kashmiri Muslims, Pandits, Sikhs and Christians as it will create walls of hatred among the communities here and will erode the age old trust between the communities”.
The seminar resolved that Kashmiri Muslims and Pandits along-with other communities should fight together in tandem with each other against the suppression and oppression faced by the people of Kashmir.
The participants demanded credible international probe to investigate the reasons and circumstances under which the Pandits got dislocated from Kashmir in 1990. “The probe must fix responsibility for the Pandits’ exit from Kashmir and also find out the exact number of Pandits who got dislocated in 1990”.
Interestingly, JKlF is the main outfit besides Hizbul Mujahideen who are blamed by the Pandits to force them to leave Kashmir Valley. However, separatists blame that the official machinery encouraged the miniscule minority to leave Kashmir at that time. The site the example of Sikhs who stayed put in the Valley despite provocations.