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Kashmiri Pandits seek Union territory

Onkar Singh in New Delhi

The Kashmiri Pandit's Association and the Panun Kashmir have categorically rejected the offer of the Jammu and Kashmir government to move back the Kashmiri migrants to safe settlements in the Valley.

"We have heard about the plans of Dr Farooq Abdullah. He has been offering these kind of safe colonies for almost three years now. If he is serious about the safety aspect in these so-called safe colonies then why doesn't he go and stay there himself," retorted a senior Kashmiri journalist working for a Delhi-based newspaper.

Ramesh Rajdhan of Punan Kashmir said that moves of this nature in the past have boomeranged on the state government. In 1996 when the state government made an announcement of the same kind the militants struck with vengeance and killed many Kashmiri Pandits in Kashmir. Two years later the same thing happened and many more innocent people lost their lives because of a government announcement. "This would act as a sort of challenge to the militants who strike with vengeance to announce their intentions -- which are hardly to be doubted by anyone," he said.

He said that the Kashmiri Pandits refuse to become a scapegoat for Farooq. "Why should we pay with our lives for his plans. If he thinks that we should return to the Valley then he must take some confidence-building measures first. The law and order situation in the Valley must improve beyond a shadow of doubt. The government must create a Union territory in the Valley. We are not asking for something which is not possible. It is possible provided they want to do it," he argued.

Another Kashmiri Pandit leader Chaman Lal Gadroo agreed with Rajdhan and described Faooq's offer as a gimmick which he resorts to from time to time. "I don't know why he time and again comes back with the same proposal. He wants us to believe that all is well in the Valley -- this when military personnel are being killed in cantonments!," he said.

Dr Shakti Bhan, a consultant with the Apollo Hospital, said that the Kashmiri Pandits refuse to become cannon fodder for the Pakistan-based militants by accepting the offer of the chief minister. ''He is a clever man. He must have got some money from the Centre and he wants to get some more. Therefore, he comes up with a plan and tells the world that he wants the migrants to return to the Valley and had made all the necessary arrangements but we did not go there,'' he fumes. And continues, ''Why don't they give us a centrally administered place north-east of the river Jhelum where we could live without any fear. We are asking for only 3.47 per cent of the total land of Jammu and Kashmir.''

Three hundred thousand Kashmiri Pandits live in various migrant camps in Jammu, Delhi and elsewhere in the country. While two hundred thousand of them live in Jammu, seventy-odd thousand live in Delhi. They may not be living in the best of the conditions but they are not prepared to buy Farooq's offer.

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