By Ujwal Jalali
New Delhi, Jan 19 (UNI) With new political slogans, assurances and plethora of hollow promises, the Kashmiri Pandit community entered the 30th year of it's exile on Sunday.
Chased out of their homes three decades ago, the Pandits, whose plight sells like hot cakes in the political firmament, observed the trauma of their exodus by holding meetings at various places across the country, highlighting the plight of community members, particularly those living in camps in the aftermath of their displacement.
Feeling neglected by the government's 'hollow' promises, the Pandits, who believe they are a forgotten lot, recalled the memories of holocaust, which the community faced in the wake of ongoing militancy that tore apart the fabric of secularism and brotherhood towards the end of the 80's.
Blaring threats issued from Mosques and slogans ranted the air, asking Pandits "Ralive, Tsaliv ya Galive" meaning either convert to Islam, flee or perish, on the dark night of January 19, 1989.
Massive crowds had gathered in Mosques with loudspeakers, doling out highly provocative and communal slogans, creating a fear psychosis among the minorities, according to Pandit leaders. As a result, nearly four lakh people fled their homes for safety, with most of them taking refuge in Jammu and Delhi.
Later, organised killings were carried out against Pandits and the scars of mass massacres at Sangrampora, Wandhama, Nandimarg and Chittisinghpura still haunt the minds of the people, as these brutal incidents were deemed as an attack on the ethnicity of Kashmiri Pandits.
Since then, a generation of Pandits grew far from their homeland in different parts of the country, little knowing about their culture, traditions and safe return to the valley. The KPs accuse political parties of 'exploiting' their plight, to their favour.
Recently, a community outfit's chairman, in an interview to UNI, claimed that the government had not done much to mitigate their sufferings.
He suggested to encourage an inter-community dialogue - a dialogue between the Hindus and Muslims of Kashmir, to solve the present crisis.
This was necessary to prevent further divide that was created between the two communities, who spoke the same language and shared a common culture and way of living.
The outfit - Kashmiri Pandits Reconciliation, Return and Rehabilitation - urged the Centre to formulate a concrete plan and take steps accordingly, for the safe return and rehabilitation of Pandits in Kashmir.
Inter community dialogue, he said, has even been favoured by a Kashmiri separatist leader Mirwaiz Maulvi Omar Farooq, who, he added, extended his help for the return of the Kashmiri Pandits and decided to set up a Inter- community committee in this regard.
The government believes that abrogation of Article 370, considered a 'hammer stroke' in solving the decades-old Kashmir crisis, would support safe return and rehabilitation of Pandits.
Though some members of the Kashmiri Pandit community wholeheartedly hailed and celebrated the revocation of the Article on August 5, yet some were critical of the government's decision. "I do not understand how abrogation of Kashmir's special status would change anything for Pandits", a community member told UNI on the condition of anonymity. Speaking on the celebration part, he said, it is very unfortunate and looked vengeful.
Youth for Panun Kashmir, a Kashmiri Pandit outfit, while observing the 30 years of exile of Kashmiri Hindus, proposed a very unique way ahead for the community by demanding presentation of a Genocide and Atrocity Prevention Bill in the Parliament.
This youth organisation works under the aegis of Panun Kashmir, the organisation, which spearheaded the demand of separate Union Territory to the East and North of River Jehlum, for the displaced Kashmiri Hindus.
UNI JAL RJ 1720