Resettlement of the Pandits

Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh, in a statement on April 9, 2015, disclosed that Chief Minister of Held Kashmir Mufti Muhammad Sayeed had “assured the Union Government to provide land in the valley for setting up Composite Townships for settlement of Kashmiri pandits.”
Again on April 28 he reiterated in lower House of Representatives (Lok Sabha) that Mufti Sayeed had “promised to earmark 50 acres of land as first instalment for the resettlement of Kashmiru pandits.”
The two policy pronouncements clearly illustrate that the initiative to resettle Kashmiri Pandits has been taken by the BJP government in New Delhi with the support of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) led by Mufti Sayeed. Publicly Mufti Sayeed contradicted the statements as he claimed on the floor of the assembly that no land would be made available in the valley for creation of separate settlements for the Kashmiri Pandits. However, his assurance to the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs for providing land belies his claims and rather shows his complicity and collusion. Land in Srinagar and Anantnag -- the nerve centres of the freedom movement -- has reportedly been identified to build exclusive Pandit townships.
A closer look at the Agenda of Alliance -- a document that forms the basis for the PDP-BJP coalition government in IHK -- suggests that a tacit understanding on such construction has already been reached between the two parties. Though the document does not mention the nature of resettlement or rehabilitation of the Pandits yet it does not reject the idea of setting up composite townships. It says: “Protecting and fostering ethnic and religious diversity by ensuring the return of Kashmiri Pandits with dignity based on their rights as state subjects and reintegrating as well as absorbing them in the Kashmir milieu.”
Thus, the move for resettlement of the Pandits is in fact translating the Agenda of Alliance into reality, which will have far-reaching implications in the polity of the held valley.
Kashmiri Pandits are a small minority in Kashmir. A large number of Pandits had migrated from the valley in the 1990s, encouraged by the then governor of Jammu and Kashmir, Jagmohan, when the freedom struggle ignited was in the initial stage -- to portray it as a Hindu-Muslim conflict. It may be mentioned that Jagmohan later became a cabinet member in the then BJP’s government headed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee which shows that the party had specific goals in the state as it was instrumental in the Pandits’ migration. Still a sizeable number of Pandits continue to live in the valley, as many of those who had migrated to other Indian towns also returned to their homes later.
There exists no second opinion as far as the return of the Kashmiri Pandits to the valley -- with dignity -- is concerned. They are an inseparable part of the Kashmiri society and have every right to resettle in their ancestral houses. Kashmiris across the board, including the pro-freedom leadership, are ready to welcome them with open arms and open hearts. However, they have concerns regarding the establishment of separate composite townships for the Pandits in a bid to advance the political agenda of the BJP in the valley.
Portraying that the Pandits will be under constant threat in their ancestral homes and that the establishment of townships is necessary for their safety and security seems to be a phobia created by the BJP to advance its questionable agenda in the valley. As a matter of fact, a considerable number of Pandits still live in the valley and enjoy the same rights and comforts as the Muslim majority and are well treated and protected by the Muslim brethren of the valley.
With the resettlement of the Kashmiri Pandits in designated townships, the BJP aspires to make political gains: the party seeks to create a strategic support base and electoral pockets for its own designs to influence and re-shape the state’s political structure and create an electoral base and bring political equation to its advantage. The BJP has already mentioned in its vision document that three seats will be reserved for the Pandits out of 46 seats of Kashmir Valley in the state assembly.
If the BJP succeeds in implementing its strategy, it may then harp on the proposal of creating a Union Territory (UT), an administrative division in the Indian Union, for Kashmiri Pandits. While such a proposal will be neither viable nor acceptable to the Muslims of the valley and hopefully the majority of the Pandits will also not buy the idea, it may not be out of question for the BJP to take it up in the future to advance its political designs in the occupied valley.
The return and resettlement of Kashmiri Pandits to their ancestral places is their fundamental right but establishing separate composite townships in the name of ‘full dignity, security and assured livelihood’ may make things complex and jeopardise communal harmony in the state. The Pandits and other saner elements in PDP need to realise the potential fallout of such misadventure by the BJP.
The writer is an academic based in Islamabad. Email: mawaisbinwasi@gmail.com