Omkar Dattatray
Nothing is so big to be worried about and nothing is so little to be neglected and same is true for and with the Kashmiri Pandits because the powers cannot ignore, disregard and underestimate them and their demands. It is so ironic that the BJP which used the Kashmiri Pandit card to win elections state after state and exploited the Kashmiri Hindu sufferings to the hilt for political dividends and to be specific for vote bank politics is today indifferent and reluctant to address the genuine demand of the Kashmiri Pandit package employees who only and simply demand that they should not b e coerced to live and work in an atmosphere of fear, insecurity and duress. But this genuine demand of the package employees fell on deaf ears of BJP government which seems unlikely to accept the demand of their relocation. It is very unfortunate and queer that the same BJP which cashed on the plight of the Kashmiri Pandits is today overlooking and ignoring their genuine demand. The package employees are protesting for their survival and safety and demand the right to life which stands guaranteed to all citizens and due to the prevailing conditions the Kashmiri Pandit package employees have been denied the right to life as guaranteed by the constitution of India under article-21 and as such these hapless souls should not be coerced to work in Kashmir against their free will and asking them to live and work in Kashmir where there is an atmosphere of fear, panic and in security and where the co members of this community and other Hindus from outside Kashmir were targeted and killed with sadistic pleasure by the crusaders of the Jihad. It is sad that the BJP which used to be so empathic about the sufferings of the Kashmiri Pandits is today ignoring them and paying not even a lip service to the uprooted community of the Kashmiri Pandits. The BJP government seems to be experimenting with the Kashmiri Pandits as if they are experimental animals and laboratory products and the insensitive government should stop the experimentation with the Kashmiri Pandits. The BJP government needs to come to the rescue of the protesting Kashmiri Pandits and provide a succor to them so that they will heave a sigh of relief. Thus the BJP government of the centre under which the administration of J&K is today should pay heed to the demand of the protesting Kashmiri Pandits and accede the genuine demand of their relocation/shifting to Jammu division but the government seems least interested in addressing the only and genuine demand of their shifting to Jammu because in Kashmir they feel most in secure and inconvenienced and as such cannot perform their duties across Kashmir valley. It is the height of injustice that the BJP government has no time nor inclination to attend and address the genuine demands of the Pandit package employees who are protesting for the last 75 days and to be more specific from 12th may the fateful day when the community member of the Pandit package employee Rahul Bhat a clerk was murdered in broad day light in the crowded Tehsil office in Chadoora Budgam and this assassination created fear psychosis and left no option to the pandit package employees but to leave the Kashmir for the safety of their lives and take refuge in Jammu. Not only Rahul Bhat was killed in the line of his duty but Rajni Bala, a Jammu-based school teacher was shot dead in his school in Gopalpora Kulgam in most barbaric way, besides this a non local Hindu Bank manger from Rajasthan was killed in his bank in Arreh Kulgam. Again a Hindu laborer from Bihar, a women Sikh principal Satinder Kour in his school along with a teacher Deepak Chand in a Srinagar, a renowned Hindu chemist M L Bindroo were all killed by the terrorists and all these unfortunate killings created genuine fear and panic among package employees and they were forced to fled Kashmir for their safety. The Pandit package employees are protesting in Jammu and are demanding the safety and survival but the insensitive BJP government of the centre and the LG administration of J&K are not paying any heed towards demands of the protesting employees. The height of the matter is that none of UT’s BJP leaders has paid a visit to the site of the protesting Pandit employees. It seems neither the BJP as a political party nor the BJP heading NDA government is paying any attention towards the package employees and both are disregarding and ignoring the genuine demand of the Kashmiri Pandits. The BJP government is under the wrong impression and notion that if the package employees are transferred to Jammu division, it will be the triumph of the terrorism and will be a failure of the Return and Rehabilitation policy of the government. But the government should know that the shifting of the Pandit package employees to Jammu will not tantamount to the triumph of the terrorists and will not make Kashmir a Pakistan and nor will it mean failure of the Return and Rehabilitation policy. The BJP which used to en-cash the sad plight of the Kashmiri Pandits is today mute and silent on the sufferings of the Kashmiri Pandits and has no time to redress the genuine demand of the protesting Pandit employees which is concerned with their very survival. In the two terms of the BJP headed NDA government from 2014 and 2019 it has done nothing to address the genuine demand of the Kashmiri Pandits. The Prime Minister in whom the exiled Kashmiri Pandits has high hopes did not find it proper to pay a visit to the Kashmiri Pandit localities/camps. The BJP government has done nothing for the uprooted Kashmiri Pandits during its terms. The special employment package is the creation of UPA government of Dr Manmohan Singh who announced it in 2008 and implemented it though in a faulty manner in year 2010.It is the then prime minister Manmohan Singh who had paid a visit to the migrant camp to show concern for the exiled Kashmiri Pandits. The BJP headed NDA government does not pay any attention towards the genuine aspirations, demands and sentiments of the Kashmiri Pandits including package employees who are on indefinite protest. It is very disturbing and sad that PM package employees are forced to choose between the livelihood and life and thus they are in a precarious position, if they choose livelihood they will have to face the risk of being killed and if they choose life, they cannot sustain it because of the paucity of money. The sad plight and sufferings of the Kashmiri Pandits was also the theme of the BJP politics but unfortunately today they are insensitive to the demand of the right to life and it disregards and ignores the genuine demand of the protesting Pandit employees. If the BJP government has any concern for the uprooted Kashmiri Pandits which perhaps it has not now, should pay heed towards the genuine demand of their shifting to Jammu so that they are saved from the bullets of the terrorists and this is possible only if the powers shifts /relocates them to Jammu. The fate of about 5000 package employees is at stake and the BJP government should remain indifferent to the demands and sentiments of the package employees. Asking the package Pandit employees to go to Kashmir for performing their duties is synonymous to their killing and thus the BJP government which in the past was championing their cause should now see the reason and sanity and order the relocation / shifting of the package employees. In short no employment package is practicable and worth for uprooted Kashmiri Pandits if it is bereft of compassion.
(The author is a Columnist and Social Activist).