Ishfaq-ul-Hassan | India Tomorrow
SRINAGAR, DECEMBER 3—Days after India’s Consul General in New York Sandeep Chakravorty called for adopting Israeli model of building settlements in the Kashmir valley, a group of influential Kashmiri Pandits has taken him head-on terming his remarks “fissiparous” and “narrow-minded thought process”.
At a private event in New York last month, Chakravorty had said India should follow Israeli model of building settlements to facilitate the return of Kashmiri Pandits who left the Valley due to violence in 1990s.
“This is totally unacceptable to Kashmiri Pandits, who have always believed in homogeneous and secular society. Before the violence raised its head in 1990, Kashmiris, irrespective of their religion, used to live together as one society. Our language, culture and way of living are similar. We cannot be separated”, said Satish Mahaldar, Chairman, Reconciliation, Return and Rehabilitation of Jammu and Kashmir Migrants.
Mahaldar, who had met detained Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq before the abrogation of Article 370 and worked hard for honourable return of Kashmiri Pandits, said “if the ruling BJP-led NDA government at the Centre is thinking in these terms, then it is highly unfortunate”.
“Kashmir has suffered a lot at the hands of sponsored violence, thousands have died and a large number of Kashmiris have been displaced and making such statements can further aggravate the situation. It seems that the ruling party is using the beleaguered Kashmiri Pandit community’s plight to its advantage. When it comes to fighting Pakistani propaganda at the international level, the plight of Kashmiri Pandits is used as a weapon”, he said.
Mahaldar noted that the government is not doing anything to encourage inter-community dialogue and interaction. Instead, he said, such statements are bound to deepen differences and ill-will.
“Our appeal to all is not to make such kind of statements that can vitiate the atmosphere. We appeal to the government to formulate a concrete plan for our return and rehabilitation in Kashmir. We urge Centre to punish such individuals, organizations who time and again give such statements and try to instigate violence and disrupt communal harmony “, he said.
Congress, too, has joined the chorus against BJP-led government at Centre for what it said encouraging people like Chakravorty to make inflammatory statements. “We have been feeling for a long time that policies on the Israeli pattern are being followed here. This will be dangerous for the country as a whole. We have mixed culture. Its consequences will be negative”, said GA Mir, president of J&K Pradesh Congress Committee.
Official figures reveal that around 41,117 migrant families from Kashmir are registered in Jammu and 21,000 others in Delhi and other states. Of the total migrant families living in Jammu, 37,128 are Hindus, 2,246 Muslims and 1,758 Sikhs.
Figures released by Kashmiri Pandit Sangharsh Samiti (KPSS), an apex body of non-migrant pandits, reveal that there are 808 Kashmiri Pandit families comprising 3,464 people residing in the valley. Non-migrant Kashmiri Pandits are living in 292 locations and most of them are putting up in four districts of south Kashmir.
