Settling for home away from home

“These are eyesores for us,” confesses an elderly shopkeeper who has seen a Pandit house gradually crumble in front of his roadside shop. “It makes us feelguilty of having failed in assuring security to our Hindu neighbours.” Does that mean his neighbours should return? His reply reflects the Valley’s dilemma: “Well, yes they can if they want to, but one never knows. Nobody from the village will harm them but how can we assure their safety from outsiders (foreign mercenaries)?”

Meanwhile, taking cue from their urban community members, the Hindus are sending feelers to prospective buyers of their properties. Houses, orchards and paddy land are up for sale. In Srinagar’s posh colonies like Bal Garden, 90 per cent of the palatial Hindu houses have been purchased by Muslims in spite of a law passed by the Farooq Abdullah Government to check the distress sale of migrant properties. Partially damaged houses, which were blasted or burnt by militants, have since been renovated by the new owners. Most of the urban property belonging to the minority community in uptown areas has changed hands.

Socially, both Muslims and Hindus are fast reconciling to thepossibility that the latter may never return to their native land. In this scenario, the claims of New Delhi and Chief Minister Abdullah that return of Kashmiri Pandits is imminent seem mere political rhetoric.

Around 50,000 Kashmiri Pandit families are living as migrants outside the Valley, the bulk of about 25,000 in the state’s winter capital of Jammu. This leaves about 5,000 Hindus in the Valley. With each passing day, Kashmir is becoming a distant dream for them. Pushkar Bhat, a landowner of Budgam, says he first thought he would be able to return home after the elections. But his hopes vanished soon and he has now decided to sell his land and entire property to construct a house in Jammu. “My children had to settle. How long could we live in tents?” he asks.

Besides, migration has proved a boon in some ways for the community which has always laid stress on education and white-collar jobs, although it was a desperate choice initially. Virinder, who had a small legal practice in Srinagar, feltreligious prejudices had stunted his career. Now based in Jammu, he feels satisfied and has no plans of returning. “I have found my liberation and am not ready to go back and become a whipping boy of fanatics again,” he asserts.

Virinder’s sentiments are increasingly becoming common among the community’s youngsters, who are revelling in new-found career opportunities. However, leaders of the community feel worried that the Pandits might end up losing their distinct identity and culture this way. Indian policy makers have another worry: if the Pandits do decide not to come back, it might boost fanatics elsewhere who have launched a drive against a community.

In the light of this, how sincere are the Government and the Valley’s society about getting the Pandits back to their ancestral land? The National Conference (NC) Government’s efforts havebeen limited to demanding more Central funds. It has sought a Rs 2,800-crore package for rehabilitating the Pandits in Kashmir, which involves reconstruction andrepair of about 19,000 destroyed houses, compensation to horticulturists and other businessmen and fresh loans. The committee which framed this plan also recommended settlement of the displaced community in security zones at district headquarters.

This initiative, however, is dismissed by the NC’s rivals. According to them, the party is using the migrant issue to inveigle more Central funds. “The NC should have instead mobilised its cadres and worked for creating social consciousness among the Muslims to ask their Kashmiri Pandit neighbours to return,” says a Leftist leader.

This is especially true as insurgency continues in the state despite an elected government at the helm. Though the Kashmiri society has occasionally voiced regret at the fall of educational standards in the Valley and the collapse of the medical set-up after the exodus of Hindu professionals, it has never actually strived to welcome them back. A leading neurologist now based in Jammu expresses the bitterness the Kashmiri Panditsfeel at this indifference. “Let’s not confuse their need for good doctors and teachers with their urge for our return,” he says.

There are a few individuals who are trying to change that and to bridge the widening gap between the two religious groups torn apart by violence. One of them is the lone Pandit NC legislator, Bhushan Lal Bhat. He even earned the title of “traitor” recently from his community members when he led a group of Pandits to their homes. “The purpose was just to offer them interaction with Muslims,” he says.

However, this means Bhat has to lead his life in a security zone, with personal security guards and a bullet-proof car. Even he admits that he would not advise the Pandits to return to the Valley now. “But,” as he adds, “we have to begin somewhere.”