Editorial Return of KPs Reports of rehabilitation plan sound good but contents should guide the course of plurality ActIT Jammu, ASP.net Projects, Java, Vb.net, C# Training Jammu The report of union home ministry having embarked on an ambitious project for rehabilitation of displaced Kashmiri Pandits is a good signal. Honourable and dignified return and rehabilitation of Kashmiris displaced from their homeland two decades ago is indeed a very vital component of Kashmir resolution, though not the only one. While much more needs to be done for resolving the Kashmir issue with an open mind including resolving the human rights dimension, the significance of safe and dignified return of Kashmiri Pandits cannot be underscored. A process in this direction was initiated by the UPA government but it remained a half hearted attempt based on poor assessment and an even shoddier implementation. Few Kashmiri Pandits who have taken benefit of the existing rehabilitation scheme are reeling under the crisis of poor living conditions and a kind of ghettoisation. The fate of these Pandits is not particularly great, despite having spent a year in the Valley. They are dwelling in shabby settlements with inadequate facilities and there is precious little that has been done to increase their comfort level either by the government or the locals, both in terms of facilities and a sense of security. The problem is that the issue of displacement with regards to an effective return policy has never been taken up seriously, neither in the initial years when re-assimilation process could have been easier, nor during the comparative periods of lull when disillusionment of the valley residents had not yet started converting into anger and spilling out on the roads. Though an effective return is still not an impossibility, it needs far more consistent efforts, besides a right strategy coupled with planning. It cannot happen with sheer announcement of impressive sounding packages, nor with the bait of jobs or flats, which is how the government wants to go about it. It was in an atmosphere of fear and mutual distrust that the Pandits fled the Valley in the beginning of 90s, barring a couple of thousands, whose numbers have begun to dwindle in the last few years. The chasms of distrust have increased with new generations, complete strangers to each other, having taken over in both the communities, even as some of the fear may have ebbed. Therefore, the return policy has to go beyond the simple business of providing basic amenities or a security zone. It needs a more comprehensive policy of facilitating and laying the ground work for building bridges for which communities need to be involved, without limiting the process to a sarkari operation. There is as yet no official word on this proposed plan, reports of which appeared in media. So, its exact contents and contours are a matter of speculation but it is hoped that any move on this front is aimed to restore the plurality of Kashmir, not tarnish and break it further. If the reports are to be relied, then the home ministry plan includes a package for all displaced persons since 1947. This includes a fair share of those dislocated from Pakistan Administered Kashmir between 1947 to 1971 and the 1947 refugees from West Pakistan. As per the report, the home ministry obliterates the difference between these two set of displaced persons with different issues. While the people who were displaced from PAK have not been given adequate compensation or a rehabilitation package, the issue of the West Pakistan refugees is far trickier. While they have been an ignored lot and living under shabby conditions ever since their flight from Pakistan in 1947, they are not permanent residents of Jammu and Kashmir and an oversimplification on this count would only open a pandora’s box, especially in the backdrop of the Article 370 debate that has been invoked by a minister in the newly sworn-in government. They require different sets of solutions to their problems and it is hoped that the home ministry would take care of this aspect. The report quotes a minister as maintaining that the project “follows PM Modis poll mantra of sabka saath, sabka vikas” and that it is neither religion nor community centric. That might not be such a tall order to fulfill provided there is no hidden agenda and more importantly, that it is not selectively aimed at Jammu and Kashmir alone. Displaced persons elsewhere in the country cannot and should not be ignored whether they are people displaced in 1984 riots, Gujarat 2002 and the very recent Muzaffarnagar riots as well as those displaced due to development projects including Gujarat’s Narmada Sagar dam. Are these homeless people, many of whom have not even been benefitted with even a meager relief package, any less important for the government? A comprehensive plan for all kinds of displacement with a thorough assessment of the reasons of their flight and their needs alone will ensure whether the Modi poll mantra was indeed a genuine promise or a plain hoax for electoral gains. News Updated at : Tuesday, June 03, 2014
Posted on: Tue, 03 Jun 2014 07:09:51 +0000
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