Hundreds of Kashmiri Pandits took part on Sunday in an annual festival at Khir Bhawani temple, 25 kilometres from here. Most of the Pandits arrived from Jammu and other parts of the country to participate in the event that has emerged as a major congregation of Pandits in Kashmir over the past one decade. Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti received the devotees and asked them to pray for peace and welfare of Jammu & Kashmir.
The congregation took place in the backdrop of the controversy over a proposal to rehabilitate the displaced Kashmiri Pandits in the Valley. While there is consensus across the board that the Pandits must return to their homes, separatists groups oppose the Government’s plans to set up exclusive colonies for the Pandits. The Government has clarified that no exclusive colonies would be set up but Pandits would be rehabilitated in composite townships.
The receding level of violence in Kashmir has encouraged more Pandits to arrive at the famed temple. During the heydays of militancy in early 1990s, only a handful of Pandits participated in the festival. The Pandits believe that the colour of water inside a spring in the temple enclave, situated under the shade of mammoth chinars, foretells the future.
The Chief Minister, who was accompanied by her political advisor Amitabh Mattoo, interacted with the devotees and urged them to pray for peace and prosperity of Jammu & Kashmir so that it once again flourishes as a symbol of traditional harmony and brotherhood, which it used to be “before the eruption of violence”.
Special buses had been arranged for the devotees to ferry them from Udhampur and Jammu. Several Pandits had flown from Mumbai, Bengaluru and New Delhi to be part of the auspicious occasion.
Mehbooba praised the efforts of local Muslims, who despite observing their fasts in the holy month of Ramzan, were serving eatables to the devotees and providing them flowers and other material for offering the special prayers at the shrine.
Referring to an incident in south Kashmir where a bus carrying devotees was hit by a stone at Wanpoh Village, Mehbooba said that it was a stray incident. “While some 80 vehicles carrying pilgrims had already passed through the area, unfortunately one vehicle crossed at the same time when some miscreants were pelting stones at a newly-established Police Post at Wanpoh,” she said and added that two devotees had suffered minor injuries in the incident and both of them have now reached the Khir Bhawani temple to join the festivities. She said that such mindless acts of stone-pelting and other forms of violence only bring misery to the people and a bad name to Kashmir, with the tourism sector being the first casualty.
“While most of the young boys and girls from Kashmir — including the wards of Kashmiri Pandits — are toiling in various States amidst extreme hot weather to make their careers, unfortunately certain vested interests in Kashmir are hell-bent on ruining the lives and careers of young boys, especially from underprivileged sections of the society, by misusing them as stone-pelters,” she said.
“If these quarters are the well-wishers of Kashmiris, they must instead help these disadvantaged youth in their studies and in making their careers as they are doing for their own children,” she said.
On return of Kashmiri Pandits, Mehbooba said the Government was making various efforts to ensure dignified return of the migrants to Kashmir. “As a part of this programme, the Government has decided to temporarily settle the returning Kashmiri Pandits in mixed transit accommodation till the situation is feasible for them to go back to their native places,” she said and added that while the leaders and cadres of most of the mainstream parties and even separatist groups have migrated from their native places because of the security reasons, “how can we force the Kashmiri Pandits to return to their places.”
“We will provide them the transit accommodation, and as and when they feel like going back and permanently settling at their native places, they should go of their own choice and not by force,” she maintained.