Kashmiri Pandits have reacted in different tones to the recent move of PDP Chief Mehbooba Mufti seeking 'reintegration' of the community with majority community while batting for their return and rehabilitation.
PDP president, Mehbooba Mufti on Monday called on LG Manoj Sinha to discuss among other key matters the issue of return of Kashmiri Pandits back to valley. What made the move conspicuously vital is that she even wrote a separate letter exclusively for the purpose of highlighting this as important in which she has sought 'dignified' return and rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits while batting for reservation in the Assembly for the community.
The former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir said the reintegration of Kashmiri pandits must not be viewed merely as a symbolic return, but as an opportunity to build a shared, inclusive and forward-looking future for Jammu and Kashmir.
However, Kashmiri Pandits have reacted to the sudden move in a skeptical way, questioning the timing as also the data she has chosen to highlight in terms of number of Kashmiri Pandits registered as migrants.
Quoting the data from Relief Office established by the government of Jammu and Kashmir in 1990, Mehbooba said 44,167 migrant families were officially registered as having fled the Valley due to security reasons in 1990s. Of these about 90 per cent (39,782) families were of Kashmiri pandits. By 2020, the Ministry of Home Affairs said that the number of displaced Kashmiri pandit families had risen to 64,951.
Though KP organisations fighting for the return of KPs have yet to give any formal reaction, individuals are looking at this call mere 'hypocrisy' and a political gesture to gain prominence on the scene as sympathizer of the KP community. "It has been over over 30 years of exile for the community....why she did not come up with any such proposal while PDP was ruling the state...?", said Shashi Shekhar, an activist in new Delhi.
The community members have also slammed the selective few figures which they maintain are being deliberately highlighted by media along with her statement in order to establish wrongly that there are insignificant numbers of the community who were forced to leave their homes way back in 1990. The data is incomplete and government should come up with factual figures as to what is the official figure not only of the registered families, instead that of entire community who left valley because of selective killings and are now living in different parts of the country, said Anil Trisal in Jammu.
Pertinently, Mehbooba also submitted copies of the proposal to Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. In her proposal, Mehbooba said every displaced Kashmiri Pandit family should be allotted half-a-kanal (one kanal= 505.87 sq mt) of state land in their district of origin, contingent upon their willingness to return.
The families whose original homes still exist, but are in dilapidated or semi-damaged condition, should be provided targeted financial grants or interest-free loans for structural repairs and modernisation, she added.She also demanded establishment of two reserved Assembly constituencies for the community. "This issue goes beyond politics and touches the very core of our collective conscience. It is a moral imperative and a societal responsibility to ensure that our Pandit brothers and sisters, who were tragically displaced from their homeland, are provided with the opportunity to return in a manner that is dignified, secure and sustainable," she said in the letter.
Mehbooba called on Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha at the Raj Bhavan on 2 June. This was her first one-on-one meeting with the LG in about five years since the abrogation of Article 370. Mufti also submitted what she called an "inclusive and phased roadmap" to facilitate "meaningful progress" on the front.
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