KPSS Appeals to both Prime Minister Modi and HM Rajnath Singh to immediately extent the financial rehabilitation package recommended by the Parliamentary Standing  Committee to the Rajya Sabha in 2009 and then again, in 2014.

Kashmiri Pandits             Image for representation purpose only        Image: Zee News        

The Kashmiri Pandit Sangharsh Samiti (KPSS) through its President Sanjay Tickoo has appealed to prime minister Modi and home minister Rajnath Singh to urgently disburse the return and rehabilitation package meant and designed for Kashmiri Pandits who dared stayed on in the valley. Sharing this communication with Sabrangindia, Sanjay Tickoo says that the situation of about 125 families of Kashmiri Pandits out of the total 808 who have stayed on in the Valley is extremely precarious since all economic activity has been at a standstill for close to three months.
 
On February 13, 2009 (Report Nos 137) and February 14, 2014 (Report Nos 179) respectively, the Parliamentary Standing Committee of Home Affairs presented its cogent recommendations on a complete package for financial assistance to the Rajya Sabha. These recommendations came without conditions and stated that if such rehabilitation and reparation was not provided –as soon as possible — to the Kashmiri Pandits who stayed back in Kashmir, the very existence of the Community was?is under threat.(Copies of the report are already submitted with the communication dated 26.12.2015)
 
Sabrangindia has been consistently focusing on the plight of these Pandit families especially after the recent round of tensions and conflict. In an interview done on September 4, 2016, Sanjay Tickoo had spoken candidly about the dangers imminent to the Kashmiri Pandits still staying in the valley .

Sanjay Tickoo, president of Kashmiri Pandit Sangharsh Samiti
 
Nearly a year ago, last December, before the outbreak of the current round of tensions, the KPSS had written to the PMO reminding the prime minister of the long overdue promises. Again, in the recent and urgent appeal dated October 3, 2016, the KPSS states that in a detailed communication vide dated December 26, 2015, the prime minister was requested to ‘to extend PM’s Relief/Return and Rehabilitation Package for the Kashmiri Pandit families who stayed back in Kashmir  Valley despite all odds, but till date nothing stands done in this regard and we the left out Nationalist Kashmiri Pandit Community living in Kashmir Valley are living a “Neglected Life”. ‘
 

Click here for full text of letter
 
The ten month old communication as also the more recent one (four days ago) reiterates that the condition of the Kashmiri Pandit families living in Kashmir Valley is pitiable and precarious. It points to the peculiar dilemma of the community members who, braving all odds, decided to stay on, being stuck in the proverbial rock and a hard place! For the rest of Kashmiris pitted as they are against the Indian state, “being, a Kashmiri Pandit living in Kashmir is an offence, as for Majority Community we are 'Indian Agents'; and for the Kashmiri Pandit Community who chose to leave Valley in 1990, the Pandits who stayed back are treated as ‘Traitors’ as the act of staying back in Valley itself is negative propaganda for the creation of a ‘Panun Kashmir’.” 
 
Hence the KPSS has, again appealed to make good policy promises of rehabilitation / upgradation reiterated by successive governments in Delhi that have not followed through. The letter further states that while there have been raised hopes from the current local government led by the People’s Democratic Party, as they have previously also tried their best to provide some relief to the left out Kashmiri Pandit Community living in Kashmir Valley, “the bureaucratic set-up both at the Centre and in the State is a hurdle, still behaving in a step motherly way with us. It is really 'unfortunate'", says the letter, "that the Central Government is also choosing to be blind towards the plight of the left out Kashmiri Pandit Community living in the Valley despite all the big / small contributions made by this left-out Nationalist Community towards the integrity of the Country and its sovereignty. Though, we don’t have any mandate under 'Vote Politics' but being born 'Nationalist' we hope that we deserve better life than what we are forced to live in."
 
The communication further states that the government –both- central as well as state– are worried about the plight only of the Kashmiri Pandit Migrants who left the Valley or those Kashmiri Muslims who are in direct confrontation with the Administration. In this tug of war situation the 'left-out and abandoned Kashmiri Pandit population' have been marginalized and left bereft, having to fall back on their miniscule numbers for survival.
 
The current turmoil in Kashmir Valley has taken a bitter toll of this 'left out community' economically, in addition to other kinds of suffering faced by the Community, as most of the Kashmiri Pandits families living in Kashmir are on small, private jobs. As almost all the private concerns that were active in Kashmir have either closed down their offices situated in the Kashmir Valley due to prevailing conditions or they have stopped the salaries of their staff because of non-productivity in past months, people have simply no incomes. The despair faced by the families have led them to contemplate leaving the Valley permanently to earn bread and butter. If this comes to pass, states the letter, this will in no way help the rehabilitation policies of the centre or state governments. It is point of immediate concern that needs to be addressed right now else, it will be too late.
 
The KPSS also points out that the prevalent conditions and recent turmoil in the Kashmir Valley was also, among other challenges, a litmus test of the policies executed by the central and state government regarding the return and rehabilitation of the migrant Kashmiri Pandit community. However much of these were sought to be executed without any effective homework or ground work.
 
Hence, the KPSS has appealed that both the central and state governments start the policy of rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits with the 'left out population', as this will help in two major ways; one, the living condition of the Pandit population and second, an effective and permanent “branding ” of the rehabilitation policy for the rest of the world in general and Kashmiri Pandit population (who live on the other side of Pir Panjal Range) in particular. If such effective logistical support is provided, none will ever think of leaving the Valley, argues the KPSS.
 
Hence this fervent appeal to both the prime minister and the home minister for financial assistance under the PM’s Relief and Rehabilitation package to be extended immeditaly and in full to the 808 Kashmiri Pandit  families have who stayed back in Kashmir Valley.  This is imperative for their survival. 

Are the governments listening ?
 

References:

1) Beyond the Miasma: The Plight of Kashmiri Pandits
2) J&K: Dangerous Demographics: Linking Article 370 with the Pandits’ return
3) Good News from the Valley: Insaaniyat for Pandits and Yatris
4) कश्मीर में कर्फ्यू तोड़ मुसलमानों ने बचाई अमरनाथ तीर्थयात्रियों की जान
5) Kashmiri Pandits: At Home in Our Valley with Jobs
6) Kashmiri Pandit Sampat Prakash begins hunger strike against separate townships
 

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South Kahmir is today lost to us, it is a liberated zone: Sanjay Tikoo

On the evening of the first day of the All Party Delegation to Kashmir a forty minute conversation with Sanjay Tikoo of the Kashmiri Pandit Sangharsh Samiti has been sobering. Living in Srinagar, a vocal and sane voice for the minority pandits whose number has shrunk to less than 4,000 in the valley, here is what Sanjay Tikoo had to say.

“Nothing. I expect nothing to come out of this visit or this delegation. For two long months, the anger in the youth has been allowed to simmer. Somewhere it all began on July 8 when Burhan’s body and funeral were so badly mishandled. The agencies knew, the media knew, and the government knew what the social media depicted–that he had become a poster boy an icon for the youth; they had his photo and videos on their moboile phones! Now if you know he is a poster boy at the age of 20 – how can the establishment, agencies and the think tanks not know this? How do you deal with the funeral and mass presence? Either you do not allow it, use an iron hand or leave it and let it happen; you do not deal with it the way it was dealt with.

We have had this problem for 26 years now, it is not new. This afternoon news of the under construction district collectorate building was burnt down in Shopian, came in. I spoke to our people there, the pandits: what was the rationale behind the attack? Built with Indian tax payers money, Hindustan ka nishaam nahin rahega; ham mita denge: that was the message. What the media is not showing — neither Indian nor Kashmiri — what the government is not admitting is this: South Kashmir is a liberated zone today; the writ of the security forces does not run there. Pakistan has not lost a single soldier and the way India is handling things we are handing over South Kashmir on a platter. Even today on all or most buildings in South Kashmir it is the Pakistani flag that flies aloft buildings: are we blind, do we not want to see it?

We are very worried, as minorities. I am especially worried about the 400 Kashmiri Pandit families in South Kashmir; they are vulnerable today as the mind of the mob rules. In the midst of the night anything can happen; our people live under threat. The irresponsibility of sections of the Indian media is shocking. Times Now  etc will be responsible for starting a war on Kashmir..Srinagar is okay, north Kashmir is okay…but South Kashmir is gone.

The slide and rot started when even the previous government lost two windows and golden opportunities. NDA II under Modi was seen to be disastrous, is disastrous. But Chidambaram’s role was not much better. We lost 144 youth in 2010; historic opportunities to recover lost ground were lost in both 2008 and then in 2010.

The scary part today in 2016 is that the so-called movement for Azaadi  is under no one’s control. Each village has its own leader; its own mobiliser and organizer. No one is following a calendar of protests. None of the separatist leaders have any followers or say. They did earlier in 2008 and 2010. The youth is not listening to their own parents, how do you expect them to listen to Mehboobaji, Modi or Geelani? India is living in a fool’s paradise today, in 2016. Already we have news that Geelani has turned down Sitaram Yechury’s invitation to talk, so what can we expect from this visit?

South Kashmir is lost to us, to the security forces: districts of Shopian, Phulwama, Anantnag. The way the mob mentality works, the Kashmiri Pandit families are in real danger. Does India understand that for the last 60 days the national highways cannot be operated? What are the state and central government doing? Fifteen to twenty days back a bus was stopped at night on the highway and a mob asked if non-Muslims were on it. There is palpable fear even as ISIS videos are being widely circulated and a new kind of mentality holds sway.

There are strong rumours that October 25, the day of the Darbar Move – when the government shifts from the Valley to Jammu — will be used to test the authority of the government. Will the highways be open and free to run? Hundreds of vehicles, cavalcades go through every year. What if they are not allowed to pass? I don’t expect any respite for two months until winter sets in; I hope there are no repercussions or blood spills before that because these will impact India too.

It was the historic opportunity between 2004-2008 when the separatist sentiment had died down that India lost it’s big chance. Today even the National Conference and the bureaucracy that does not want Mehboobaji, a woman to be successful, are playing a cynical role. All in all, we remain worried in Srinagar. Not expecting much at all from the All Party delegation visit.

Background:

Sanjay Tikoo, president of Kashmiri Pandit Sangaresh Smiti, a valley-based group of Pandits who preferred to stay back in Kashmir when the insurgency broke out in early nineties, told Firstpost in 2015 that instead of creating a separate township the Centre should build smart cities which will help in the larger process of reconciliation between the people of the two communities. “I want Habba Kadal back where there used to be 60:40 population of Hindus and Muslims respectively, not separate ghettos. Where the azaan and the temple bells would ring out at the same time. At least Pandits who lived in villages still own their properties but in cities, there is congestion and these smart cities could provide space to people belonging to all religions,” Tikoo said.

"Those who stayed back for these 25 years are already living in a composite culture and sharing their life with their Muslim brethren, but building confidence among those who migrated and convince them to return is an uphill task. We don’t want another Palestine here,” he said.

Other References
Kashmiri Pandits: Why we never fled Kashmir
 

Home Page Image Courtesy: Al Jazeera
 
 

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